School practices as a parental involvement (DE) motivators: A case public secondary school in Mombasa

Parental involvement has been widely accepted as a way of improving learner outcomes. Previous research has found out that there are various factors that influence parental involvement. Among them are the general opportunities, invitations and demands presented by a school, which form a school\u27s practice. However, most of the studies have been conducted in the developed world. This study attempts to describe school practices that influence parental involvement in a secondary school in Mombasa, Kenya. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather data from teachers, parents, students and members of the senior management team in a school. Documents relevant to parental involvement such as minutes of parents\u27 meetings and letters of invitations were analyzed and an observation of a parents\u27 meeting was conducted. The study describes structures and processes of parental involvement established in the school. It also describes the various sources of information parents and teachers used to decide how to participate and how to encourage participation. The findings of this study support the notion that school practices are very significant in determining and shaping the nature and extent of parents\u27 involvement in school