School practices as a parental involvement (DE) motivators: A case public secondary school in Mombasa

Date of Award

6-1-2008

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Master of Education (MEd)

First Advisor

Dr. Iffat Farah

Second Advisor

Dr. Jane Rarieya

Department

Institute for Educational Development, East Africa

Abstract

Parental involvement has been widely accepted as a way of improving learner outcomes. Previous research has found out that there are various factors that influence parental involvement. Among them are the general opportunities, invitations and demands presented by a school, which form a school's practice. However, most of the studies have been conducted in the developed world. This study attempts to describe school practices that influence parental involvement in a secondary school in Mombasa, Kenya. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather data from teachers, parents, students and members of the senior management team in a school. Documents relevant to parental involvement such as minutes of parents' meetings and letters of invitations were analyzed and an observation of a parents' meeting was conducted. The study describes structures and processes of parental involvement established in the school. It also describes the various sources of information parents and teachers used to decide how to participate and how to encourage participation. The findings of this study support the notion that school practices are very significant in determining and shaping the nature and extent of parents' involvement in school.

This document is available in the relevant AKU library.

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