Involvement of Parents in Early Childhood Education for Positive Influence on Children’s Learning Outcomes

Abstract

This chapter is based on a study that was conducted in public Early Childhood centres in Nairobi City County, Kenya, that aimed at investigating the influence of parental involvement in pupils’ learning programmes on children’s learning outcomes. The problem that made the study necessary was that, a number of parents do not seem to understand that their involvement in the education of their children at the early childhood level is significant. Furthermore, teachers do complain of lack of parental support in the learning of their children at the early childhood centres. The objectives of the study included an assessment on the extent to which parents were involved in pupils’ learning programmes and the influence of parental involvement in children’s learning programmes on learning outcomes. The study was a descriptive survey targeting the 21 public stand-alone early childhood education centres, 2243 children aged 3-5 years, 21 head teachers and all teachers at the learning centres. Data was collected by use of structured interview schedules for head teachers, closed questionnaires for teachers, and document analysis guide to process pupils’ learning outcomes (performance). After the analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data, the conclusion was that, whenever parents were involved in the learning programmes of their children, learning outcomes were higher. Based on the conclusion, the study suggested that, it would be necessary for various governments and education stakeholders to develop a framework for engaging parents more significantly in the learning programmes of their children at the early childhood centres. There is also need to enhance the head teachers’ management skills to improve their planning capabilities.