Abstract
Parental engagement is a central aspect of children’s holistic education, i.e., schooling-related and nonschooling-related learning. Parents’ role in supporting such integrative learning is increasingly necessary to develop students’ social, emotional, and intellectual skills. Nonetheless, it remains unclear which parental practices support holistic learning. The purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to identify and describe the current practices of engagement with learning of four exemplar parents in Finland (N = 2) and Portugal (N = 2). These four parents of primary-school-age children were individually interviewed, and abductive content analysis was performed to analyze their narratives. Our results evidence four patterns of exemplar practices: showing active interest in the child, supporting autonomy, building a partnership with the teacher and the school, and visiting the child’s school. The study concludes that even though exemplar parents use a variety of specific engagement practices, they support holistic learning through their ownership of action in such interactions, clear awareness about their parental role, and consistency in their intentions. Exemplar parental engagement within different cultural contexts was discussed. Recommendations for teachers’ pedagogy are presented regarding the benefits of digital communication, goal-oriented invitations to school, and promotion of family time in the home for enhancing children’s holistic learning.
Highlights
Discussion and Conclusion is multiple-case study of four exemplar parents from Finland and Portugal reported on best practices of parental engagement with children’s holistic learning
We identified and described parental engagement practices and the similarities and differences between Portuguese and Finnish parents
Our findings demonstrated that exemplar parents practice engagement by showing interest in their children, supporting autonomy, building partnerships with teachers and schools, and visiting their children’s schools
Summary
Parents’ engagement practices with their children’s holistic learning may vary widely, as studies show that most teachers worldwide lack formal education on how to engage parents [6,7,8]. Our aim in this study was to identify and describe current practices of parental engagement with children’s learning, used by parents from Finland and Portugal. Exemplar parents were defined by three criteria: they were parents who evidenced an authoritative parenting style while engaging with various spheres of their children’s learning [4, 12, 13], they demonstrated a growth mindset in relation to their children’s learning [12, 14, 15], and they established an effective partnership with their children’s teachers [5].
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