Parental involvement in students’ academic achievement has attracted many educators and researchers in the field of education in the world. Parental involvement emerged as compensation programme among other educational programmes to encourage low income parents to prepare their children for more successful schools and prevent education delays for children who are at risk. It was just an appeal to support lower school achievers through parents’ intervention. Parental involvement was established as the programme for low income kindergarten and first graders students to sustain compulsory education programme. Its execution manifested positive results by equipping parents with skills on how to help their children with home works for enhancement of education progress.

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Being potential in education, attempt to increase parental involvement in school had made improvement. When parents are involved in their children’s education, it enhances commitment and interests. Therefore, it is ideal for educationalist to ensure all challenges that are thought to hinder parental involvement are worked through, particularly in senior secondary schools where currently students’ academic achievement is declining. Similarly, government should promote parental involvement through policy statements that allow formulation of parent–school association with the intention of enhancing children’s education.

PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT

Parental involvement in the education of students begins at home with the parents providing a safe and healthy environment, appropriate learning experiences, support, and a positive attitude about school. Several studies indicate increased academic achievement with students that have involved parents. Parental involvement is most effective when viewed as a partnership between educators and parents. By examining parents’ and teachers’ perceptions, educators and parents should have a better understanding of effective parental involvement practices in promoting student achievement. Parental involvement and its effects on the educational process over the years has been very important. The roles of parental involvement can be summerized below:
Parenting – includes all of the activities that parents engage in to raise happy, healthy children who become capable students. Unlike teachers, whose influence on a child’s is relatively limited, parents maintain a life-long commitment to their children. Activities that support this type of involvement provide information to parents about their child’s development, health, safety, or home conditions that can support student learning.
Communicating – Familes and schools communicate with each other in multiple ways. Schools send home notes and flyers about important events and activities. Parents give teachers information about their child’s health and educational history. A school website is an additional mode of communication with parents and families. Includes: conferences with every parent at least once a year, language translators to assist families as needed, regular schedule of useful notices, memos, phone calls, newsletters, and other communications.
Volunteering – applies to recruiting and organising help and support from parents for school programmes and students’ activities. There are three basic ways that individuals volunteer in education. First, they may volunteer in the school or classroom by helping teachers and adminstrators as tutors or assistants. Second, they may volunteer for the school; for instance, fundraising for an event or promoting a school in the community. Finally, they may volunteer as a member of an audience, attending school programmes or performances. Includes: school/classroom volunteer programme to help teachers, administrators, students, and other parents, parent room or family center for volunteer work, meetings, and resources for families, annual postcard survey to identify all available talents, times, and locations of volunteers.
Learning at home – pertains to providing ideas and information to parents about how they can best assist their children with homework and curricular-related decisions and activities. Parents helping their children with homework or taking them to a museum, are examples of this type of involvement. These activities produce a school-oriented family and encourage parents to interact with the school curriculum. Activities to encourage learning at home provide parents with information on what children are doing in the classroom and how to help them with homework.
Decision making – refers to including parents in school decisions and to developing parent leaders and representatives. Parents participate in school decision making when they become part of school governance committees or join organizations, such as the parent/teachers association. Other decision-making activities include taking on leadership roles that involve disseminating information to other parent’s organizations, advisory councils, or committees for parent leadership and participation, independent advocacy groups to lobby for school reform and improvements, networks to link all families with parent representatives.
Collaborating with the community – pertains to identifying and integrating communities’’ services and resources to support and strengthen schools, students, and their families. Includes: information for students and families on community health, cultural, recreational, social support, and other programmes/services, information on community activities that link to learning skills and talents, including summer programmes for students

TRUANCY

Truancy, or the habitual act of being absent from school without permission, is a major issue affecting the overall success of the school in which I am employed. Truancy may be identified differently between districts, states, or governments; however, consecutive unexcused absences from school is the most common and acceptable definition. Hundreds of thousands of students are absent from school without permissible excuses each day, and this issue is ranked among the top ten problems facing schools across the country. Therefore, truancy extends nationally and contributes significantly towards the undermining of the educational system. Moreover, 1.5%, 1.8%, 2.0%, and 2.4% of the entire student population of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ulster respectively miss class without authorization, and one in five students are identified as committing truancy in Scotland each day, thereby expanding the matter globally. Attendance can e regarded as the single most critical variable in measuring students’ achievement levels; therefore, it is imperative that corrective action be taken against chronic absenteeism immediately. To eliminate, or at least decrease truant behavior, possible causes for the behavior must be identified. The possible short-term and long-term effects of unexcused school non-attendance are also of value in ascertaining the immediacy and importance of the issue. Next, possible solutions towards decreasing, preventing, and/or eliminating the behavior altogether should be acknowledged. After considering several solutions, a conclusion will be presented in regard to which solution, or combination of solutions would be most beneficial to initiate in my school.

CAUSES OF TRUANCY

School factors that may cause truant behavior include, but are not limited to school climate, class size, attitudes, ability to meet each student’s diverse needs, and the school’s discipline policy regarding truancy. Students that attend large schools may feel isolated or alienated in their school setting, so to escape these feelings they choose not to attend. These students do not feel comfortable, wanted, valued, accepted, or secure; they are lacking a connection to a trustworthy somebody within the school. In oversized classrooms, students’ diverse needs, whether they are instructional, social, or a various other, cannot consistently be met and student-teacher relationships cannot be developed. This leads to a school climate and attitude in which each individual must fend for himself. Economic influences that may cause truant behavior include, but are not limited to living situation and student employment. Student variables that may cause truant behavior include, but are not limited to physical and mental health problems, substance abuse, drug use, perception of self, and detachment from school.

PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT AND TRUANCY AMONG STUDENTS

Parental involvement in schooling enhances students’ academic performance, positive attitude towards school, time spent on homework and regular school attendance behaviour. If parents however, abdicate their responsibility towards their children to their teachers, the students may become delinquent. Again, parents’ inability to inculcate good moral values may also negatively affect their children’s academic achievement. Truants see the time they leave home for school as a period of freedom. Truants leave home but do not go to school or escape from school to engage in negative activities that caught their imagination and fancy. Truancy affects the school social environment creating a climate of fear and inhibiting students’ ability to learn. The entrenched truancy culture in the homes, school and society coupled with insensitive response to truancy by those in authority affects students’ attitude to truancy. This is further aggravated by the scarcity of effective techniques to prevent truancy among students by counsellors and teachers.

TRUANCY is order of the day in Northern part of country.