002 FAMILY MATTERS
Studies have shown that students whose parents are involved in their education perform better in school. They do better at the time when their parents are involved and they do better later on, when they reach the higher grades or even enter college.
Sadly, it seems that so many Filipino parents fail to understand the value of their involvement in their child’s education. They think it’s all about attending PTA meetings or volunteering in school clean-up drives under the banner of Brigada Eskwela. They don’t realize that the most important aspect of family involvement in education is that of parents helping their children with school work at their respective homes.
It must be noted that so many teachers have expressed their frustration with how the values they teach in school are immediately untaught the minute the child gets home. Yes, as much as the child, we may have to teach a thing or two to their parents, both in terms of values and in terms of the crucial role they should play in their child’s education.
And this is so evident during the pandemic, when you hear so many parents complaining about how much time and effort they have to spend on helping their own children cope with the many challenges of learning from home.
We can only hope that this new normal situation can serve as an eye-opener for many parents. Perhaps they’d have a better appreciation of teachers? Perhaps they’d realize the value of getting involved in their child’s studies—at home—that they continue to get involved, even after the pandemic and their kids go back to school.
This is something that our educators in the field should promote among parents.
More than the financial or sweat equity contributions to the school, what’s important is that they get involved in the teaching and learning process. And not just the parents, but the whole family. They have to realize that education should be a team effort (Yes, that’s why they say it takes a village!).
There are good models of family involvement in education in Philippine schools. Alas, they’re more exceptions rather than the rule.
We must therefore make the effort—from the level of the head of the education department all the way down to each teacher in each school—to champion this cause so that more parents, in more schools, get more involved in their own child’s learning.
As much as family involvement in education shouldn’t be limited to volunteerism and participation in school activities,
it also shouldn’t be limited to serve only as a response to the child’s learning difficulties during the pandemic.
It’s a potent weapon for ensuring the child learns, during and after Covid-19.
All educators must be aware of this and they must all learn how to institutionalize this in their respective schools.