Abstract
Parental involvement is essential for achieving quality school and academic performance. Parental involvement entails the ability of a parent to support and guide the learner holistically as the learner develops toward independence. However, this is not the case for most public schools, especially in a low socioeconomic environment (Madzinga, 2021). This study explored the role of parental involvement in Intermediate Phase learners’ academic performance in a low socioeconomic context in the North West province, South Africa. The current study intends to assist schools with strategies that could be used by the schools to involve parents to enhance the academic performance of learners.
This study was underpinned by the interpretivism paradigm. Data was gathered using semi-structured individual and focus group interviews. In addition, I used document analysis to collect data relevant for the study. The research participants were parents in a low socioeconomic environment. Three parents were purposively selected to participate, from each grade (Grades 4,5, and 6). Thus, the total number of participating parents was nine, comprising six females and three males. The study was underpinned by the Epstein (1987) model of school, family, and community partnership. The theory was found suitable for this study because it encourages parental involvement through mutual collaboration between different stakeholders.
The findings of this study reveal that the parents are interested in being involved in their children’s education, but they do not have adequate time due to various commitments. Furthermore, findings indicates that parental involvement is affected by inflexible school meeting times, lack of communication, and teachers attitudes toward parents. It is also recommended that schools use extracurricular activities to enhance parental involvement in schools, whereby parents are invited to come to support their children at school and also compete with teachers during sports. To maximise parental involvement, the school should hold meetings during weekends to accommodate parents who are working.
Keywords: parental involvement; support; academic performance; intermediate phase learners.