Assessing the role of parents in schools.(By Chipo Chikambura)

Introduction

The school counseling and guidance program is a part of the total school program and complements learning in the classrooms. The program encourages students’ social, emotional, and personal growth at each stage of their development. With a comprehensive developmental counseling program, counselors work as a team with parents, and the community to create a caring atmosphere whereby children’s needs are met through prevention, early identification and intervention. Parental involvement in school guidance and counseling programs helps to establish good rapport between the school and the community from which children come from , enables both parents and teachers to have a shared understanding of children’s fears, hopes and needs, enables both parents and teachers to monitor the developmental progress and challenges of children, gives room for cooperative support between parents and the school with regards the guidance and counseling of needy children, helps parents to appreciate the children’s aspirations, ambitions and wishes, enables parents to have insights into the vocational needs their children. It also enables the counselor to have insights into the family background of the child, allows for networking which promotes the cultivation of productive relationships between parents and teachers, helps teachers to learn and practice tolerance and appreciation of other people’s way of life and their perspectives, gives parents the opportunity to freely interact with and guide their children in the context of and outside the school. The essay bellow shall discuss the above points on the role played by parents in school based guidance and counseling. 

. Definition of terms

Guidance                     : is the provision of information to groups or individuals, with common problems, so that the concerned individuals can reach informed decisions and choices for personal and social development

Counseling                  : is a process that enables a person to calmly address their psychosocial problems and issues in a supportive environment so that a greater understanding can be achieved. This can assist a person to make positive changes or it may help someone accept a difficult situation and become more resilient.

School                         : an educational institution where learners and staff members are involved in classroom and school practice.

Parental involvement in school counseling and guidance program is part of the total school program and complements learning in the classroom. It is child-centered, preventive, and developmental. Parents can contact a school counselor to help their children with a variety of issues, such as academic achievement; new school registration, orientation and transition; test interpretation; special needs; student crisis situations; family transitions; and higher education issues. When contacting a school counselor, parents often have many obstacles to overcome, such as culture, language, and their own bad experiences in school, a lack of understanding or feeling intimidated. Schools encourage parental involvement, and the school counselor is the primary contact for many parents in connecting with the school. The purpose of counseling with students, parents, and teachers is to help students maximize their potential.

According to Salawu (2000) children have greater academic achievement when their parents are involved in their education. Motivation, positive attitudes about self and sense of control over their environment improve with parental involvement in the schools. Children from minority and low-income families benefit the most from parental involvement. The parent is the most important resource for the school counselor and others. Parental involvement is critical in helping their children to be successful.

Counseling and guidance programs provides elementary students with assistance in understanding self and developing a positive self- image, showing respect for the feelings of others, understanding the decision-making process, developing effective study skills, being prepared to make the transition to the intermediate school, and gaining an understanding of the world of work (Makinde 1987). Counseling is conducted with students and parents individually and in small groups when requested and determined appropriate. It is short- term, voluntary, and confidential.

Parental permission is obtained prior to any extended individual or group counseling. Students are seen by the counselor when parents request and indicate a need and desire that the counselor meet with their children, students request counseling, and teachers, administrators, or other school staff refer the student. Parents are informed of counseling groups for children and adults. Group counseling sessions for children focus on building self-esteem, learning how to make or keep friends, developing good study habits, improving communication skills, preparing for the intermediate school, and coping with changing family situations. Topics for parent groups include child-rearing concerns, child development, and methods parents may use to help children experience healthy development and success in school (Egbo 2008). The elementary school guidance counselor works with parents through individual consultation, joint consultation with the children’s teachers, and parents’ discussion groups. In these ways the counselor assist parents to understand their children’s progress in school, select strategies to motivate their children, develop realistic goals with their children, become actively involved in their children’s school life, and understand the educational program.

The counselor may lead parent education and discussion groups and serves as a resource when parents study or discuss child-related issues. The counselor consults with parents to identify students with special abilities and/or needs. In this capacity the counselor helps parents understand the services available from other school staff such as the school psychologists, social worker, and resource teachers. The counselor helps parents find other professionals within the school system or within the larger community when extra support is needed.

Parental involvement enables both parents and teachers to have a shared understanding of children’s fears, hopes and needs. Children’s problems can also be identified when parents and teachers work together. Comprehensive developmental counseling is based on prevention, providing goals, which are integrated into all aspects of children lives. Early identification and intervention of children’s problems are essential to change some of the current statistics regarding self-destructive behaviors. If they wait until children are in middle or high school to address these problems, they lose the opportunity to help them achieve their potential, as well as feelings of dignity and self-worth. For many children, the school counselor may be the one person who provides an atmosphere of safety, trust, and positive regard (Kolo 2001).

School counselors work with principals, teachers, parents, and other staff to develop and implement school safety, and to prevent school violence. Students who have counseling programs reported being more positive, and having greater feeling of belonging and safety in their schools. Guidance counseling and parental involvement studies verify that when parents or guardians are involved and interested in their child’s academic life, the student is more likely to succeed. According to Makinde (1987), parental involvement should begin early in a child’s education. By demonstrating concern and interest in what a child is learning, support and encouragement can be easily attained. Parental involvement is an issue that needs to be continuously addressed.  Schools must encourage parent involvement. For example, community volunteer programs allow parents to get involved. Information about these programs must be provided through the guidance office. Another action geared toward increasing parents’ awareness is sending out a newsletter from the guidance department specifically addressed to parents.

Parental involvement allows students and their parents to work through difficult problems. Schools must encourage parent involvement in solving serious problems such as depression and drug abuse and coping with others such as pregnancy. Additionally, counselors can provide encouragement for parents who have become discouraged when their child does not live up to their academic expectations. If a student is doing poorly, the parents may think that nothing else can be done, and will give up on their child. In some cases, the parents may be unable to provide positive support for their child due to their own personal problems. For example, divorce can cause a parent to pull out of involvement with the student. Teachers respect the rights and privacy of students, but some issues need parent involvement.  Parent involvement improves student achievement.

In career guidance the child is taught about careers by parents sub-consciously. Thus by observation the child can decide to follow a parents or guardians career path. While children observe their parents career path, they happen to have direct experience. A number of parents bring work home, others often take their children to their work places, and some do not even discuss their work with their children while others rarely spend time with their families because of work. These experiences have a substantive impact on how children decide on their careers.

Hence, by unique experiences kids can decide to follow a parents/guardians career path or not. However, other children can decide to take certain career paths because of rather indirect family career experiences. Children can witness a cruel robbery and loss of a parent or sibling and thus decide to be a policeman/woman. A child can witness the incarceration of an innocent close relative and decide to be a lawyer or judge. Children can also admire a community friend who puts on a shiny blue air force uniform and just decide to follow the career path because of the intriguing uniform. Others can just have a relative who is no-longer addressed by name but job title like Doctor and just fall in love with the career related to the title. Lastly by advice parents/guardians can help shape their children’s career paths. Parents can thus not take a leading role in career decisions of their children but they walk side by side with their children and assist them to come up with the best career paths.

Conclusion

Involvement of parents in school-based guidance and counseling programs is vital as it helps to establish good rapport between the school and the community from which children come from , enables both parents and teachers to have a shared understanding of children’s fears, hopes and needs, enables both parents and teachers to monitor the developmental progress and challenges of children, gives room for cooperative support between parents and the school with regards the guidance and counseling of needy children, helps parents to appreciate the children’s aspirations, ambitions and wishes, enables parents to have insights into the vocational needs their children. Parents provide with information about family background of the child, allows for networking which promotes the cultivation of productive relationships between parents and teachers, helps teachers to learn and practice tolerance and appreciation of other people’s way of life and their perspectives, gives parents the opportunity to freely interact with and guide their children in the context of and outside the school.

Bibliography

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Egbo, A.C (2008) Organization of Guidance and counselling in schools, Enugu; Joe Best Publisher.

Kolo, F.D (2001) Elements of psychological testing for counsellors and psychologists, Zaria; Amadu Bello Co.

Makinde O. (1987), Fundamentals of guidance and counselling. London; Macmillan publishers,

Nnabuike, E. K. (2012), Practical Guide to effective Teaching .Enugu: Hallmark publishers.

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Peters, S and Shertzer, B. (1974) Fundamentals of Guidance. Boston; Houghton Mifflin.

Salawu, A.A (2000) Introduction to guidance and counselling reading in education, Vol. 1.