Investigating how parental involvement influences learning outcomes of their children in early childhood education in Taita Taveta County

Parental involvement is very essential in children’s learning at school and it should not be overlooked. For effective learning to take place, teachers, parents and all other education stakeholders should work collaboratively. Parents are supposed to provide their children with all the required materials for learning either at home or at school. At home, parents should provide a suitable learning environment for their children by helping them in carrying out homework assignments and also by making sure that they have scholastic materials like books and pens. It is also the responsibility of parents to provide basic needs for their children. At school, parents are obliged to attend all school events like parent meetings, parents’ school workdays, and award-giving ceremonies. In addition, parents are required to check pupils’ exercise books and to monitor their learning progress by frequently communicating with teachers. Schools are required to involve parents in decision making during BOM meetings, PA meetings and in general parent meetings. The involvement of parents in their children’s education promotes learning outcomes of children at school. When parents are engaged in their children’s learning, the discipline of learners improves, the academic performance of children improves, the talents of children develop, and learners’ self-efficacy and expression also improve. In promoting the learning outcomes of children at school the government should not only conduct seminars and workshops for teachers but also it should consider sensitizing parents through such forums. The study used a qualitative approach and a case study design to gather data from respondents to investigate the roles played by parents towards the support of their children’s learning, factors that promote the involvement of parents, the impact of parental involvement in children’s learning and factors that inhibit parental involvement. The study revealed that most parents understand their roles in supporting children’s learning, but their full participation is limited by factors like poverty, low level of education, nature of work and ignorance. Since poverty was discovered to be a major challenge for most parents, there is a need for sensitizing parents on how to come up with income-generating projects which will provide them with some money to support their children’s education