Parental engagement and student acquisition of literacy skills in primary classrooms in Fiji

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ABSTRACT Teachers in Fiji's lower primary classrooms face the task of raising students’ literacy levels. Consequently, many schools are attempting to involve parents in improving students’ literacy skills. This study investigated the effects of parental engagement on students’ literacy acquisition in lower primary classrooms in Fiji. Online questionnaires were administered to 31 primary school teachers and 38 parents using a mixed-method approach. The findings highlight the importance of teaching basic literacy skills such as phonics, alphabets, blending, and decoding. Parents and teachers acknowledge the importance of parental engagement in fostering children’s literacy skills. Parental involvement motivates children, resulting in increased academic performance and fewer struggling readers. Parents indicated participating in school-based programmes, reading with their children at home, helping with literacy-related activities, and establishing good routines to increase parental engagement. However, the research also revealed obstacles to parental engagement such as long work hours and a lack of familiarity with the current literacy curriculum. This study suggests providing teachers with resources, training, and introducing local literature to engage students in their culture and environment. Such findings may be useful in convincing parents to collaborate with teachers to improve students’ literacy skills, especially at the lower primary level.