Parental home- and school-based involvement in rural schools in the Limpopo province, South Africa

Abstract

Parental involvement increases academic success for learners, especially in early childhood education. This is true for contexts with limited resources where learners often only have their teachers and parents as resources. In these contexts, parental involvement can mitigate the effects of few resources on educational success. With this study we aimed to explore the challenges of and opportunities for parental home- and school-based involvement in rural schools in the Hlanganani school district of the Limpopo province, South Africa. A qualitative research approach and a case study design was applied in the study. The study was theoretically framed by Park and Holloway’s (2018) model of parental involvement. Data were collected from 4 schools. Three focus group interviews were conducted with parent members of the school governing body and 1 focus group interview with parents not on the school governing body. The findings indicate that parents in the Hlanganani district had different ways of parental engagement, including engagement with school activities, collaboration with educators, and leadership in the school governing body. While parents valued parent-school partnerships, these were met with some key challenges and implications for promoting parental involvement in rural schools, which are discussed.