Page 26 - The Inquiry into the Development and Implementation of a Multimedia Resource to Help Improve Parental Involvement in Their Child’s Reading Literacy During the Primary School Years.

Figure 2.2 Barriers to Parental Involvement (Hornby and Lafaele, 2011)

Patall et al. (2008), Dumont et al. (2012), argue that parental involvement with

homework may also have negative effects. They maintain that when parental
expectations are too high or unrealistic for the academic capabilities of the child,

tension and frustration can develop between the parent and child. Obtaining results
below the expectation may lead to lower self-esteem and hinder their performance at

school. The researchers found that high parental aspiration led to increased academic
achievement, but only when it did not overly exceed a realistic expectation; this is

known as over-aspiration (Murayama et al., 2015). It is important that the teacher

communicates realistic goals and expectations with the parent.

As previously discussed, helping with homework may also have an adverse effect on
learning if parents are inadequately equipped to help; if their instruction differs from

that of the school teacher. Communication between the school and parent is key, and
it is the responsibility of the school and educators to provide parents with best

practice resources and the information they need to oversee their child’s learning at

home (Pressman et al., 2015). Epstein and other researchers expressed concern that
earlier works on the methods of parental involvement were limited and failed to

foster a direct relationship between schools and parents, with schools not facilitating

more extensive parental involvement (Dauber & Epstein, 1993). Dietz (1997) argued
that the majority of parental involvement focused primarily on fundraisers, forming

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