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International Journal of Early Childhood Education Care Vol.6, 2017ISSN 2289-3156 /eISSN 2550-1763 (41-50)PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES: A REVIEW OFLITERATURESMelissa T. Bartolome1, Nordin Mamat2, Abdul Halim [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Normal University, Philippines1, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan IdrisABSTRACTParental involvement refers to the amount of participation a parent has when it comes to the schooling of his/herchildren. Some schools foster healthy parental involvement, but sometimes parents has hesitations if they willinvolve themselves with their children's education. It has been advocated in Western countries. However, there isa body of literature that examines the significance of social and cultural influences and the effects of parents’involvement in and expectations of their children’s development and learning. It is important for schools torecognize the existence of cultural variations in parent involvement because there are differences among parentswith diverse background on when, why, and how they are involved in their children's education. Parenting isimportant in the Philippine society because family is viewed as a center to one's social world. But, social contextsin which Filipino families are embedded have changed rapidly over the past ten years (Ochoa & Torre, n.d.).Children’s learning is increasingly moving toward a broader vision of the 21 st century learning. As children’seducations increasingly occur across a range of settings, parents are uniquely positioned to help ensure that thesesettings best support their children’s specific learning needs. Thus, parental involvement researches remainmisrepresentative of parents and the involvement that they have with their children’s education (Jackson, 2010).The present study is using a qualitative research design that will investigate existing literatures on parentalinvolvement in Early Childhood Education in terms of communicating from the school, volunteering andparticipating in school’s activities, and learning at home. The study will rely on the analysis of documents in orderto gain deeper understanding about parental involvement in the Philippines and propose a School-facilitatedParental Involvement (SPIn) Framework.Keywords: Parental involvement, Philippines, School-facilitated Parental Involvement (SPIn) FrameworkINTRODUCTIONEach child is vulnerable and can either be molded to be successful or made to fail in life.According to the Child and Youth Welfare Code of the Philippines, the child is one of the mostimportant assets of the nation, the promotion and enhancement of the child's life and welfareis also anchored on the moral supervision and support given by his parents or guardians.In order for a child to succeed, parents exert a lot of influence on their child's cognitivedevelopment in the early years and thus, the contact between home and school should bemaintained, especially during the primary school years. Although family background appearsto be a powerful determinant of parental involvement, most parents, if duly encouraged, areable to devote extra time and effort to assisting with their children’s education, both in thehome and school settings (Ho, 2009). Parent support and participation are well defined if the41
Parental Involvement In The Philippines: A Review Of Literaturesprincipal, teachers and parents go hand in hand in achieving the progress of the pupils and ofthe total school community (Evangelista, 2008).Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler describes parental involvement as a “rich vein” ofcontinued parental influence in the lives of children as they develop through the elementary,middle and high school years. This implies that benefits of a strong home-school relationshipdon’t end with children’s achievement in early years of education but it persists through theiradult life.Importance and Benefits of PIMany schools involve parents in school-based or school related activities. This constitutesparental involvement rather than parental engagement. According to Harris and Goodall(2007), parental involvement can encompass a whole range of activities with or within theschool while parents view parental engagement as offering support to students while teacherstend to view it as a means to improved behavior.Peters (2012) notes that “when schools have reputations for being successful, theygenerally have lots of engagement from parents” (p.46). Mwai Kimu (2012) concludes in hisqualitative study on Parent Involvement in Public Primary Schools in Kenya that a societyneeds to increase its level of educational involvement and that starts with the support by theparents. He claims that parent-school linkages can be enhanced through the teacher/parentrelationship because teachers are the main linkage of parents to the school, the teacher/parentrelationship is critical to pupils’ success and parent involvement.Parents must be considered a constant and principle component of curriculum. (NihatŞad & Gürbüztürk, 2013). They add that success at school is guaranteed if school-basedinstruction is supported by parents’ involvement at home. Involving parents in education hasbeen reported to yield positive outcomes in many aspects including increased studentattendance to and satisfaction with school, better academic achievement, motivation, schoolattachment, responsibility and confidence, better social adaptation and less disciplineproblems.According to Sapungan, and Sapunga. (2014), if we involve the parents in educatingtheir children, it is tantamount to saying that the school is proactive in implementing changesor development among the students. As parent’s involvement is increased, teachers and schooladministrators also raise the chance to realize quality reform in education.Background of PI in the PhilippinesFamily in the Philippines is perceived as an important part of the society. It has been shapedby the unique history, values, experiences, adaptations, and ways of being that characterize the42
International Journal of Early Childhood Education Care Vol.6, 2017ISSN 2289-3156 /eISSN 2550-1763 (41-50)Filipino people and their culture (Alampay, n.d.). Coupled with the long history of politicaland social strife, it would seem that Filipino parents face insurmountable challenges in raisingtheir children (Blair, 2014).According to Alampay (n.d), Filipino parents, in general, subscribe to authoritarianattitudes. Her study reveals that the foregoing cultural values of kapwa (helping others), hiya(shyness), and utang na loob (paying back) are among the interdependent themes that pervadesthe dynamics of Filipino parenting and parent- child relationships, which are characterized byrespect for parental authority and obedience on the part of children, family cohesion, andmeeting familial obligations. In her qualitative study on Parenting in the Philippines, findingsshow that Filipino parenting behaviors may shift in the years to come. The consequences ofthese emergent beliefs and behaviors for Filipino families and children’s development willneed to be fully examined before coming out with policies and framework for PI.Although Filipino parents across all social class levels typically regard education asessential to their children's success and are willing to go to great lengths to help their childrenthrough school, retention is a major concern in Philippine school, as many students do notcontinue past their elementary grades (Blair, 2014). In his Comparative study of Filipino andU.S. Parents which uses Questionnaires from six different measures, it concludes that Filipinoparents are engage in their children's education, and want them to succeed, yet the filialresponsibilities engrained in their culture necessitates the needs of the family ahead of the needsof the individual child. In his study, it uses theories which envision the flow of family capital.It recommends future studies to attempt to examine more international samples, so as to explorecultural variations, and develop theories which can more readily account for both structuraland cultural traits.Challenges of PI in the PhilippinesDue to the prevailing problem of the country which is poverty, a substantial number of studentsdo not make the transition from elementary school to high school. The Department ofEducation (DepEd) data shows that for every 100 children who enter Grade 1, close to 15 donot make it into Grade 2, and roughly one-quarter or 24 percent have dropped out before Grade4 (Luz, 2007). Meanwhile, on December 2013, the NSO Census of Population and Housing(CPH) shows that out of the 71.5 million individuals who are 10 years old and above, 97.5percent or 69.8 million are literate or could read and write (Selangan, 2015).Under-investment in children is an identified problem in low-income developingcountries (Monteflor et al., 2006) and because of the emerging economic problems of thecountry, both parents tend to work harder to earn money for them to meet the needs of thefamily (Evangelista, 2008 ; Ochoa & Torre, n.d.).In Monteflor (2006) study, parent interview and survey questionnaires in Cebu,Philippines is use to determine some over-weighting of parents on the academic achievement43
Parental Involvement In The Philippines: A Review Of Literaturesin their children. It reveals that parents’ motivation is associated with preschool performance.It recommends that longitudinal studies on parent–child developmental strategies should bedone to help learn more about early childhood education. These future researches cancontribute to the later growth and development of children, income generation and occupationalsuccess, and offsets for observed vulnerabilities in disadvantaged environments.However, the social contexts in which Filipino families are embedded have changed rapidlyover the past ten years, possibly shaping in turn the ways in which parents and children thinkabout and relate with each other (Ochoa & Torre, n.d.). Nowadays, Filipino parents makeenormous efforts to be involved in their children’s schooling.In the mixed method study of Evangelista (2008), it aims to find the relationshipbetween academic involvement of grade one parents and their children’s scholasticperformance. It shows that academic involvement of parents is still visible to their children interms of peers, school activities, and others. Because of this, parents are still involved in theirchild’s learning with regards to other linkages he/she is in. It recommends that parents shouldparticipate and be involved in the development of their children’s education especially duringtheir fundamental years because this stage will be the foundations of children for them toaccelerate in the next level of higher education and the school should consider informingparents on how much involvement they should give to improve their child’s scholasticperformance.According to Nierva (2009), parent involvement in the Philippines is vague becausethere is still a need to improve parent involvement practices, especially those promoting theparents’ active involvement in the child’s learning at home and in school. Much of the practicesof Filipino are brought about by history including the ways parents race their children. ThePhilippines are facing different problems that are cause and greatly affects families. Thus, ourcountry, like other countries continually seeks for solutions to bridge the gap.Ochoa and Torre (n.d.) recommend that “parenting programs may focus on facilitatingcommunication between parent and child, training parents to communicate in a nonconfrontational manner, while also giving children an opportunity to express their thoughts andfeelings” (p.49). In their study, it review published and unpublished researches on parenting,child-rearing and discipline conducted among Filipino families from 2004 to 2014 usingdocument analysis. However, other researches have been more critical of the relevance ofconceptions of parenting, as Filipino children may have different interpretations of parentalcontrol.PI Programs in the PhilippinesLike in other countries, in the Philippines, public or private schools have PTA or the ParentTeacher Association. It is guided by the Department of Education Memorandum No. 74 seriesof 1999. Every PTA provides mechanisms to ensure proper coordination with the members ofthe community, provides an avenue for discussing relevant concerns, and provides assistanceand support to the school for the promotion of their common interest. Regular meetings are44
International Journal of Early Childhood Education Care Vol.6, 2017ISSN 2289-3156 /eISSN 2550-1763 (41-50)conducted with local government units, civic organizations and other stakeholders to fosterunity and cooperation. As an organization operating in the school, the PTA adheres to allexisting policies and implementing guidelines by the Department of Education. The PTAserves as support group and as a significant partner of the school whose relationship shall bedefined by cooperative and open dialogue to promote the welfare of the students.Another program held by Department of Education is the Brigada Eskwela. It is anannual program that brings together nationwide voluntary efforts of different stakeholders.Parents, teachers and other members of the community where a public school is located helpone another for the school’s maintenance and beautification every two weeks before the officialstart of classes. It started on 1998 upon the implementation on Republic Act 8525 or the AdoptA-School program (ASP). Its mission is to practice shared governance, bring the spirit ofeducation to the community level, and utilize local resources to improve public schools.(www.deped.gov.ph)Home-School Connection in the PhilippinesThe home as a learning support has been found as an important variable in child development(Arriero, 2006). Children perform better in school when they have opportunities to learn fromtheir two primary contexts of development, namely, the home and school (Nierva, 2009). Whenparents, teachers and schools support one another and build a strong partnership, it will resultto academic success.According to Pineda (2008), mutual effort toward a shared goal implies sharedresponsibility of families and educators for supporting students as learners. In his study of thecomparison of the parents’ and school personnel’s perceptions on the existing home-schoolcollaboration program of a private school in Muntinlupa City, Philippines, it notes that formingconnections among families and schools foster positive school and learning experiences forchildren and youth.Meanwhile in the study of Arriero (2006), findings show that there are two main issuesthat arise from the amount of involvement the parents in their children’s learning in the home-- the first is the type of communication the parents are able to sustain with the children andthe second is the general influence of the parents in the home environment in terms of creatinga learning environment. This implies that communication with parents tends to range eitherpositive or praising of the children to negative disciplining for them to learn.Although public or private schools have PTA in the Philippines, an organization whichshows parents support and participation on school activities, parent practices are limited.Nierva (2009) study shows the relationship between parental involvement and family statusvariables of grade one parents in one of the private schools in Quezon City, Philippines usinga survey questionnaire. It finds out that in order to facilitate a better home-school partnership,policies to guide practices regarding home-school collaboration at national, regional, division,45
Parental Involvement In The Philippines: A Review Of Literaturesand school levels must be developed. Thus, this study has a small number of participants anddidn’t use other instruments to validate the result of the survey.ModelsBrofenbrenner (1994) argues that in order to understand human development, one mustconsider the entire ecological system in which growth occurs. He further notes that this systemis composed of five socially organized subsystems that help support and guide human growth.They range from microsystem, which refers to the relationship between a developing personand the immediate environment, such as school and family, to the macrosystem, which refersto institutional patterns of culture, such as the economy, customs, and bodies of knowledge.Parents, teachers and school should be working hand in hand in preparing childrenspiritually, socially, emotionally, physically and intellectually. According to the works ofEpstein, parents and schools recognize their shared interests in and responsibilities for children,and they work together to create better programs and opportunities for students. She explainsthis connection through her theory of overlapping spheres of influence which expresses thatthe external model of overlapping spheres of influence recognizes that the three major contextsin which students learn and grow—the family, the school, and the community—may be drawntogether or pushed apart.In the theory of overlapping spheres, there are some practices that schools, families,and communities conduct separately and some that they conduct jointly to influence children’slearning and development. The internal model of the interaction of the three spheres ofinfluence shows where and how complex and essential interpersonal relations and patterns ofinfluence occur between individuals at home, at school, and in the community. These socialrelationships may be enacted and studied at an institutional level and at an individual level.Connections between educators or parents and community groups, agencies, and services canalso be represented and studied within the model.From this theory of overlapping spheres of influence comes a framework of six majortypes of involvement which evolves from many years of continuous studies. This frameworkhas been a great help for educators around the world in developing home-school partnershipprograms and for researchers as well in finding ways on how to improve parenting involvementpractices. Epstein typology of PI comprises Parenting. Assist families with parenting skills,family support, understanding child and adolescent development, and setting home conditionsto support learning at each age and grade level; Communicating. Communicate with familiesabout school programs and student progress and create two-way communication channelsbetween school and home; Volunteering. Improve recruitment, training, activities, andschedules to involve families as volunteers and as audiences at the school or in other locationsthat enable educators to work with volunteers who support students and the school; Learningat Home. Involve families with their children in academic learning at home, includinghomework, goal setting, and other curriculum-related activities; Decision-Making. Include46
International Journal of Early Childhood Education Care Vol.6, 2017ISSN 2289-3156 /eISSN 2550-1763 (41-50)families as participants in school decisions, governance, and advocacy activities through schoolcouncils or improvement teams, committees, and parent organizations; and Collaborating withthe Community. Coordinate resources and services for families, students, and the school withcommunity groups, including businesses, agencies, cultural and civic organizations, andcolleges or universities. Enable all to contribute service to the community.Hamunyela (2008) concurs that “for an education system to be in tune with change itneeds to be flexible, adaptable, and responsive to constantly changing circumstances and needs.Furthermore, he notes that the concept of cultural capital gives us significant insight inunderstanding the role schools can play in fostering parental involvement; influences parentalparticipation in education; and helps us understand the power relations that occur within aschool” (p.18).Cultural factors have great impact on effective parental involvement. Therefore,understanding the culture of a specific group of people to be studied should be seriously takeninto consideration for better understanding of parental involvement in a particular context.However, it is also important for schools to recognize the existence of culturaldifferences in parent involvement. The attitudes, practices and values at home influence howparents involve themselves in school which results to the achievement gap of their children.Applying the concepts of social and cultural capital to the home-school mesosystem maypromote a greater understanding of the gap and eventually how schools can address it.Consequently, Figure 1 below is the representation of the School-facilitated ParentalInvolvement (SPIn), a framework which the researcher opt to develop. In this framework, thechild who is the most important asset of the society is placed at the center of the paradigm torepresent that he is the reason and at the same time one of the beneficiaries of the parentalinvolvement framework. Surrounding the child is the two primary contexts in his life – homeand school. The home where parent-child interactions happen, and the complex roles,meanings, and consequences associated with parenting, are embedded in and shaped by broadercontexts such as extended kin networks, neighborhoods, socioeconomic class, and culture(Alampay & Jocson, 2012). The school where the process of teaching and learning occurs andthe rapport, camaraderie and assistance of parents and teachers, are formed. Relationshipbetween the home and school are in Brofenbrenner’s Bio-Ecological system which proposesthat the sociocultural environment represents blueprints or prescriptions that influence andsupport the particular practices of parents as they interact with their children, and in turnchildren’s responses to and behaviors towards their parents.To bridge the connection of home and school, Epstein typology of parental involvementdevelops aspects in which the current study is investigating. These includes Communicating(design effective forms of school-to-home and home-to-school communications about schoolprograms and children's progress), Volunteering (recruit and organize parent help and support),47
Parental Involvement In The Philippines: A Review Of Literaturesand Learning at home (provide information and ideas to families about how to help students athome with homework and other curriculum-related activities, decisions, and planning).The existing literatures and stakeholders’ viewpoints on the three aspects stated whichare of equal value and revolves around the child will be used and highlighted in developing aSchool-facilitated Parenting Involvement (SPIn) Framework.Figure 1: SPin FrameworkCONCLUSIONParent involvement placed a vital role in the education of children as well as the contributionit gives to the society. Although, there are programs and current practice on parentalinvolvement in the Philippines, national policies and framework are not in placed to supportEarly Childhood Education. Statistics shows the low level of reading competence of children,studies reveal the gap in understanding PI in parents’ perspective, and the Philippine EFA goalsrecommends to expand access of parental involvement programs in every barangays.Literatures on parental involvement are primarily on American and western literature whichare of great benefit in this area. However, it yields effects which need to be contextualized.Although different researchers state its importance and positive effects, there are still somestudies that noted the barriers in promoting and doing it. Some of the studies did not considerparents’ perspectives, while some have language and cultural limitations in data gathering.There are miscommunications between the schools and parents and shows the different viewsof each side. This gap brings a meaningful component in the development of a framework that48
International Journal of Early Childhood Education Care Vol.6, 2017ISSN 2289-3156 /eISSN 2550-1763 (41-50)will improve the relationship between parents and schools, and educational outcomes ofchildren.Thus, programs and activities should not just focus on the established models, but alsoin cultural factors that influences the holistic development of a child. Education alone cannotcompletely meet the needs of the changing society and the school alone cannot fulfillcompletely what is needed and relevant for the education. For the sake of a holistic education,parents need to play a supportive role in education and Philippine government must take intoaccount the enactment of a council or policy for family affairs.REFERENCESAlampay, L. (n.d.) Parenting in the Philippines. Ateneo De Manila University (Research).Arriero, M. L. (2006). Beginning Learning in the Home and School Readiness. University of the Philippines(Dissertation).Blair, S. L. (2014). Parental involvement and children's educational performance: A comparison of Filipino andU.S. parents. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 45(3), 351-36. Retrieved ner, U. (1994). Ecological Models of Human Development. International Encyclopedia ofEducation,Vol. 3, 2nd Ed. Oxford: Elsevier.Epstein, J. L. (1994). Theory to Practice: School and Family Partnerships Lead to School Improvement andStudent Success. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Evangelista, A. D. (2008). Academic Involvement of Parents and their Children’s Scholastic Performance. TrinityUniversity of Asia (Thesis).Goodall, J., & Vorhaus, J. (2010). Review of Best Practice in Parental Engagement. Department for Children,Schools and Families (DCSF) which has now been replaced by the Department for Education (DFE), UnitedKingdom.Hamunyela, M. (2008). A Critical Analysis of Parental Involvement in the Education of Learners in RuralNamibia. University of Pretoria (Dissertation).Ho, E. S. (2009). Educational Leadership for Parental Involvement in an Asian Context: Insights from Bourdieu’sTheory of Practice. The School Community Journal. Vol.19, No.2.Luz, J. M. (2007). A Nation of Non-readers. Literature and Literacy Report. Retrieved Monteflor et al. (2006). Parent motivation strategies and the performance of preschoolers in a rural Philippinemunicipality. Early Childhood Education Journal, 33(5). DOI 10.107/s10643-005-0035-1Nierva, M. (2009). Relationship between Parental Involvement and Family Status Variables of Grade OneParents of Siena College Quezon City SY 2006-2007: Implication for the School Shared Responsibility of theHome and the School. Ateneo de Manila University (Thesis).Nihat Şad, S., Gürbüztürk, O. (2013). Primary School Students’ Parents’ Level of Involvement into theirChildren’s Education. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 13(2) Educational Consultancy and ResearchCenter. Retrieved from www.edam.com.tr/estpOchoa, D., & Torre, B. (n.d.). Parenting in the Philippines: A Review of the Research Literature from 2004 to2014. PETA Arts Zone Project Terre de Hommes Germany.Peters, M. (2012). Parental Involvement: How Much is Enough and What Can Schools Do to Encourage It?William Paterson University of New Jersey (Master Thesis).49
Parental Involvement In The Philippines: A Review Of LiteraturesPineda, K. (2008). Comparison of the Parents’ and School Personnel’s Perceptions on the Existing Home-SchoolCollaboration Program of Woodrose School, SY 2006-2007, Implications for the Program. Ateneo de Manila(Thesis).Sapungan, G., & Sapungan, R. (2014). Parental involvement in child’s education: importance, barriers andbenefits. Asian Journal of Management Sciences & Education, 3(2).Selangan. (2015). The Reading Profile of Children in the Philippines. Literacy and World Languages Article.Retrieved from -children-philippines50
Parenting is important in the Philippine society because family is viewed as a center to one's social world. But, social contexts in which Filipino families are embedded have changed rapidly over the past ten years (Ochoa & Torre, n.d.). Children’s learning is increasingly moving toward a broader vision of the 21st century learning. As .
