ABSTRACT
The purpose of this research is to determine if there is a correlation between parents’ and
their children’ attitudes towards education and if these attitudes and beliefs affect children motivation and academic achievement. A review of the current literature examines parental involvement in four sections: what parental involvement looks like, the benefits of parental involvement, factors affecting parental involvement and why parental involvement is important for schools. The literature also examines children’ attitudes and motivation towards education and discusses types of motivation, causes of motivation and the timing of the children’s life at which motivation can be studied.
Children achievement data was gathered from the program
used by the school for progress monitoring.
Results indicate that parental decisions to be involved are statistically related to invitations from school, role construction, and self-efficacy. Additionally, results indicated that achievement data are positively correlated with role construction and invitations from the child.
Findings are discussed and compared to research in which the current study supports and refutes.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1.Background of the Study
Parents’ positive attitude towards child’s education is important in determining school attendance and academic achievement of the child. Favorable attitude towards schooling and education enhances parental involvement in children’s present and future studies (Rojalin, 2012). Parent’s attitude towards their children’s education is acted adversely by low socio-economic status and since the tribal constitute the advantaged population, it is expected that the attitude of parents of tribal children will be favorable towards education. However, the present study aims to examine whether the tribal parents, today, exhibit a positive and favorable attitude towards their children’s education as a result of increasing awareness of values of education through Government Endeavour’s and initiatives (Rojalin, 2012). Parental attitude is a measure or an index of parental involvement. A child, brought up with aection and care in the least restrictive environment would be able to cope up better with the sighted world. Therefore, the family shapes the social integration of the child more than a formal school. Turnbull (2009) has identified four basic parental roles- parents as educational decision makers; parents as parents; parents as teachers and parents as advocates. Since the parent’s attitude is so important, it is essential that the home and school work closely together, especially for children with disabilities. The Warnock Report (2007) stresses the importance of parents being partners in the education of their children.
The role of parents should actively support and enrich the educational processes. Korth (2004) states that parents should be recognized as the major teacher of their children and the professional should be considered consultants to parents. Tait (2010) opines that the parents’ psychological well-being and the ease or diiculties with which they decipher the cues that facilitate the socialization process influence the personal and social development of the child. It is the parents who exert the major influence on the development of the child from birth to maturity. One of the most important attributes of parental attitude is consistency. As children mature into adolescence, family involvement in their learning remains important. Family involvement practices at home and at school have been found to influence secondary school children’ academic achievement, school attendance, and graduation and college matriculation rates (Dornbusch and Ritter, 2011). Despite its importance, however, families’ active involvement in their children’s education declines as they progress from elementary school to middle and high school (Epstein, 2003). Research suggests that schools can reverse the decline in parent involvement by developing comprehensive programs of partnership (Epstein, 2002).