Leveraging Parental involvement in the Education of their Children as a Conflict Resolution strategy in selected Secondary Schools, Zambia
- August 8, 2020
- Posted by: RSIS
- Categories: Education, IJRISS
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume IV, Issue VII, July 2020 | ISSN 2454–6186
Daliso Mwase, Eunifridah Simuyaba, Godfrey Mwewa, Gistered Muleya & Francis Simui
Institute of Distance Education, University of Zambia
Abstract: This study explored parental involvement in the education of their children as a conflict resolution strategy in the Kafue district of Lusaka province in Zambia. 28 participants were purposively engaged within a qualitative research methodology to generate evidence. Key among the findings revealed that factors that affected parents’ involvement in education of their children at school were negative attitude, lack of understanding and financial constraints. Similarly, when school authorities are not communicating effectively with parents, it created a vacuum of information which all stakeholders needed. A challenge in some situation was distance, sometimes distance becomes a hindrance for parents to participate in the affairs of the school. Distance to the school was one other contributing factor that affected parents’ involvement in education of their school going children. Thus, the study recommends among others that, Parents should provide their children with basic needs such as food, shelter and clothes, learning materials like exercises books adequate academic and moral attention, unconditional love and the opportunity to develop responsible citizenship. Equally, Teacher should demonstrate friendliness, respect and recognition of parents of students registered in secondary schools in order to encourage them to get involved in school activities. Further, Education policy makers are urged to develop a parental involvement policy in secondary schools to guide practice.
Key Words: Parental Involvement; Children; Education; Conflict Resolution; Zambia.
I. CONTEXT
This article is an extract from the principal researcher’s Master of Science in Peace Leadership and Conflict Resolution dissertation. The Masters programme was offered by the University of Zambia (UNZA) in collaboration with the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) and had been running since 2014 (Manchishi, Simui, Ndhlovu & Thompson, 2020; Simui, 2018; Simui, Kasonde-Ngandu, Cheyeka, Simwinga and Ndhlovu, 2018; Simui, Kasonde-Ngandu, Cheyeka & Kakana, 2018).
It is argued that parental involvement in their children’s education is an important ingredient in improved learner achievement and building democracy in the schooling system, as well as in the wider society of most developing countries Zambia inclusive.
