Developing Reading Literacy through Parent–Teacher Partnership Program in Indonesian Primary Schools

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to explore the reading literacy programs of Indonesian primary schools and examine the parent–teacher collaborations in dealing with the students’ reading literacy development in Bahasa Indonesia. Eight teachers with an average of five-year teaching experience from two primary schools and forty-six parents of four-grade students were interviewed to investigate the reading literacy practices and parent–teacher collaborations. The study revealed that the reading literacy practices in the investigated classroom or at school levels include 15-minute reading before the lesson, story-sharing, book content rewriting, and book summary writing. Book swap or book exchange program, classroom mini library, and weekly library visit some activities used to facilitate the students’ reading development. Regarding the parent–teacher partnership in facilitating or monitoring students’ reading literacy development, parent–teacher conferences (where teachers and parents discussed issues regarding students’ behaviour, progress and achievement), parenting and literacy workshops and outreach activities were conducted. In addition, parent–teacher communication books and parent–teacher online social media groups were also found to be effective and efficient in monitoring and developing students’ reading literacy. All teachers generally agreed that active parental support towards children’s education brought about children’s academic achievement. Some challenges in literacy development and their pedagogical implication at the primary education level were also discussed.
 Keywords: reading literacy, reading development, parent-teacher partnership