An investigation into the causes of lack of parental involvement in rural schools of Mthatha District

Parental involvement is one of the key requirements that are laid down by fundamental policies on schooling in South Africa. The policies include National Education Policy Act No 27 of 1996 and South African Schools Act No 84 of 1996. However, various schools in this country have generally not met this requirement effectively. The situation is more prevalent in the rural schools where parents either do not participate at all or their participation is minimal. The researcher investigated the factors that were behind the lack of parental involvement in rural schools. A specific focus was in rural schools of Mthatha District. The schools were chosen because of their proximity to the researcher and noted constant reports on the lack of parental involvement. The primary targeted population were the parents whose learners were schooling in the two selected rural schools of Mthatha District, which were Pazima J.S.S and Xonyeni J.S.S The researcher used stratified sampling to ensure better coverage of population and to achieve better precision or accuracy. This was done by dividing the parents into homogenous groups like, gender, age, sex and etc. The researcher used both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The designs that were used were survey and interviews. Questionnaires and interview schedule were developed and administered to parents of the two selected schools. These methods were judged to be appropriate as some of them might not be able to read and write. In addition to that, it was within acceptable procedures of collecting data in both qualitative and quantitative study. There were limitations and delineations and some of them included that the study was confined only to Mthatha District. The researcher selected only two schools and other schools were excluded. The study investigated only parents of the senior phase level and other phases were not involved. The researcher collected data from the parents of two selected schools i.e. Pazima J.S.S and Xonyeni J.S.S using questionnaires and interviews. Questionnaires were administered to parents who were able to read and write and for those parents who could not read and write interviews were conducted. The data was analysed using a pool- table method and out of 74 parents used as the sample for the study most parents were ranging between 32 and 39 years. The study was dominated mainly by female parents and most parents had learners in grade 8&9. Most of the parents in the study were married and they were unemployed with J.S.S. as their highest qualification. The six research questions asked were: (a) Is lack of relationship between the schools and the homes of learners one of the causes for lack of parental involvement in rural schools of Mthatha District? (b) Is lack of co-operation by parents in the education of their children one of the causes for lack of parental involvement in rural schools of Mthatha District? (c) Is illiteracy of parents one of the causes for lack of parental involvement in rural schools of Mthatha District? (d) Is employment of parents one of the causes for lack of parental involvement in rural schools of Mthatha District? (e) Is lack of parental participation in school governance and management one of the causes for lack of parental involvement in rural schools of Mthatha District? (f) Is lack of communication between parents and the teachers one of the causes for lack of parental involvement in rural schools of Mthatha District? The findings showed that there was no relationship between the schools and the homes of learners and parents were co-operating at all. Most of the parents were illiterate, unemployed married females who have cultural activities to perform which made them not to be involved in their schools. Communication between the schools and homes of the learners was lacking and parents were not actively participating in school governance and management in their schools. The recommendations from this study were that, for lack of co-operation workshops for both parents and teachers on team building and teacher – parent relations were recommended. For illiteracy problem implementation of ABET classes was recommended. Circulars issued by the Department relating to parental involvement should be read and discussed by both parents and teachers. Communication skills needed to be improved so as to maintain good home-school relationship. Workshops on how to elect school governing bodies and on their roles and their responsibilities were recommended. In conclusion parents are very important stakeholders in education so they need to be highly involved in the education of their children