Parental Involvement: Children’s Springboard to Success

Teachers face a host of challenges in the classroom. They are tasked to provideinteractive and facilitative classroom activities that will encourage pupils to participate and learn. They also deal with diverse learners with different learning abilities. Teachers’ must provide supplemental and intensive levels of support for pupils whose needs are not being addressed in the regular learning process. This concerns pupils who find difficulties and need instructional assistance to achieve the learning competencies.

However, teachers’ assistance is not enough. The involvement of parents is also relevant in ensuring that learning does not stop. According to Child Trends Data Bank (2013), involvement allows parents to monitor school and classroom activities, and to coordinate with teachers to encourage acceptable classroom behavior and ensure that the child completes schoolwork. Supportive parents can give positive feedback on the performance of the pupils. Parents perform a significant role in providing educational opportunities at home and apply what they have learned at school in real life situation. By facilitating varied learning experiences andactivities outside the school that is related to their lesson, parents become an important part in pupils’ holistic development andlearning. But parental involvement should not be construed as interference with the school or teacher’s methods.

Presidential Decree No. 603, known as “The child and youth Welfare Code,” states that the child is one of the most important assets of the nation. The molding of the character of the child starts at home. Article 3, Sec 6 states that every child has the right to education commensurate with his abilities and to the development of his skills to improve his capacity for service to himself and his fellowmen. Being primary stakeholders, parents have all the rights and reasons to be involved in their children’s schooling. This means that parents and teachers should work collaboratively to capacitate pupils with the knowledge and skills they need for lifelong learning.