Barriers to Parental Involvement

Some parents’ lack of presence worried the teachers, and they brought up some challenges that they had seen affect parents’ involvement in their children’s education. One major challenge that was mentioned, and which made the term ‘parental involvement’ much more ambiguous, was single parenthood or the fact that some children did not live with either of the parents. It was thought to be an issue which could often influence the students’ attitudes and lower their motivation and readiness to learn when support from home was little. Some of the parents worked in the capital or in the United States; they were funding the child’s education but were not present in their children’s everyday life to respond to their needs, expecting their relatives to take responsibility for them. These students lived with their uncles, aunts or grandparents, who were not necessarily interested in, or even capable of being involved, some not having any form of education themselves––least of all in English. Many times, the relatives felt helpless and overwhelmed. For students to have the support, someone would need to be fully responsible for them.

Here especially single parenting is a big challenge. And so, in many cases, when I say 'parent' I'm saying the grandparent, or an uncle, or an aunt... Because they don't have a parent or they just have a mother but she's working in Tegucigalpa so they're with their grandmother or something, or an aunt. (T 4)

-- whoever they live with feel very incapable of helping them. There are children who are staying with grandmothers, who don't even know how to read Spanish in some cases. So. It's very hard for the children to have the support they need in those cases, because... I mean, they're not even going to try to help their kids with their spelling homework. So those children kind of just bump along. They get what they can at school --. (T 2)

In fact, single parenthood may be negatively associated with student achievement (Pong, Dronkers & Hampden-Thompson 2003), although Amato et al. (2015) suggest that single parenthood has little effect on achievement, but rather, the mother’s educational background carry greater emphasis. On the other hand, it is proposed that single fatherhood may be a greater disadvantage in relation with achievement than single motherhood (e.g. Cheung & Park 2016;

Radl, Salazar & Cebolla-Boado 2017). Nevertheless, while many cultural, political, and economical variables clearly play a part in this phenomenon, the children living with no parents are in the most vulnerable position and do exhibit worst educational outcomes globally (Scott, DeRose, Lippman & Cook 2013).

One teacher explained, that even if the relatives were supportive, it was not the same as having the parents involved in their studies. It reflected in their academic success, knowing that they were accountable to their parents, and moreover, it could demonstrate in their attitudes and behavior as well: “I've even heard kids say, "Oh you're not my mom!" or whatever. You know, they don't respect them as much and then it just leaves them kind of on their own --. (T 3) The relatives did not always have the same kind of connection with the child, even if their basic needs were met. Parental absence seemed to increase the pressure for the teachers to take on parental responsibilities, especially when the children were growing up:

That makes it harder because, I don't mind that, but to juggle teaching, schedule, time limits and then also trying to be their counsellor and friend and their parent––in a sense that is more difficult. Especially when they are bigger, they have bigger problems. It's cute when they are small, “Oh, my finger...” But now these are problems maybe with opposite gender, these are problems with drugs, peer pressure, and this is big, this is going to affect their life, this is a crossroad––scary. (T 6)

Moreover, resources, and not only financial resources but lack of knowledge, skills, time or energy, can affect one’s ability to be involved. One reason not to get involved is related to the parents’, or caregivers’, self-efficacy as they may think that the teacher is more qualified to teach their children. (Brock 2010; Hoover-Dempsey, Whitaker & Ice 2010; Hoover‐Dempsey, Walker, Sandler, Whetsel, Green, Wilkins & Closson 2005). Green et al. (2007) corroborate that while teacher invitations predict school-based involvement, the parents’ self-efficacy is strongly related to their involvement at home—along with student invitations, and perceived

time and energy for involvement. Obviously, the families’ life context also affects the type of involvement the family chooses or has an opportunity to engage in.

In most cases, the parents, or relatives, did understand the importance of involvement and wanted to be involved but as one teacher pointed out, sometimes the lack of involvement could have resulted from parents feeling hopeless; they did not know how to help even if they wanted to: “The attitude that they have, the majority, is the attitude of hopelessness, I think. I think they have the motivation; the majority has the motivation. But they don't know how.” (T 1)

Not knowing English, in particular, was thought to be one factor that discouraged the parents, and so, the sense of hopelessness sprang from the inability to truly help their children:

“-- the majority says: I don't know English. So, I cannot help my kid, I'm sorry.” (T 1)

Also, when children grow, they may no longer want to ask for help and overall, the parents’

involvement practices and frequency often change. One teacher did mention how the parents often chose to focus more on the younger siblings.

There's one case in particular where one child has a sibling in the younger grade and the parent is putting all their focus on that child, that child is doing good whereas this child in my class seems to be regressing [in English]. And his mother is not really involved in his process because she's focused so much on the younger. (T 6)

Research confirms that parental involvement typically decreases as the children grow since the parents may perceive the subject matter to be too complex for them to help (Green., Walker, Hoover-Dempsey, Sandler 2007). Once the students start to become more advanced in English, the parents’ level of English may no longer be enough to help in schoolwork. It could result in thinking that the child is more competent and thus expecting the child to independently manage his or her education, or heavily rely on the teacher. Nevertheless, the need for someone to take responsibility, be present and supportive does not change, even if the parent couldn’t participate in doing the homework as fully as they desire. Some parents seemed to expect the older ones to take care of themselves and study independently, which, in fact, they may not be fully equipped to do yet.

In addition, being occupied by various responsibilities or challenges understandably limits possibilities to become involved, particularly at school. Many parents were described to be

“wearing a lot of hats at home” (T 4). Making the children, or their education, a priority could be difficult.

-- they understand [the importance of involvement] but... You have the same situations where the ones that need it the most still don't get it because they're too busy. I think they understand intellectually but to actually practice it... Their schedule conflicts with their child's education, it doesn't work out. (T 6)

-- oftentimes nobody's at home, nobody cares, nobody... I see that a lot with the older children. And they're themselves responsible, which they're not really able to, at that age, like... Of course, you can put your child to learn by himself but still you should be making sure certain things. You should be at home, you should be taking care. (T 5)

7.4.4 Teachers Describe Supporting Parental Involvement in English