The Stipulated Policies of Parental Involvement in School Programs and Activities in the Balibago Elementary School

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

As the largest bureaucracy in the Philippines, the Department of Education also considers the Parents-Teacher Association as a potential partner in different programs and activities of the school that are necessary for seeking additional manual assistance and funding for school needs. Statistics of parents' participation in Brigada Eskewela, Guayan sa Paaralan, meetings and conferences in Balibago Elementary School has gone down drastically. In fact, most of the attendees are other stakeholders like alumna, Sangguniang Barangay, cooperative directors and other influential people in the community who have no children schooling in Balibago Elementary School at all. Despite the efforts of teachers in reaching out to parents so that they can be part of the school activities and programs, still, the declining number of parents participating in school programs and activities can be observed, aside from the fact that the participants are the same.

METHODS

The Descriptive Survey Research method was utilized by the researchers in this study. Descriptive survey research is used to describe the existing phenomena and their association or relationships with other variables. .The respondents of the study were one hundred forty(140) parents of the students in Balibago Elementary School. The weighted mean was used to determine the level of parental involvement. The validation process of research questionnaires involved face validation and reliability test.

RESULTS

There are still parents that are actively participating in the Brigada Eskwela but their percentage is lower than those who are in actively participating. Their level of involvement during the Brigada week is observed most in performing their duties and responsibilities. The parents are experiencing challenges that influence their level of participation in school programs and activities. Parents are attending school programs in moderation and the number of attendees decreases when the respondents encounter challenges to a great extent. Similarly, a significant relationship exists between the level of parental involvement and challenges encountered by parents in joining/participating in the school activities and program.

DISCUSSIONS

Results of this study can lead to new discovery on the current status of parental involvement and their short and long term effect on students' behavior and success. Reasons of declining parental involvement are due to lack of understanding of nontraditional families on the part of the school system, shortage of time, parents do not feel welcome at school, and the parent does not have a great deal of interest in the school or his child's education, either on school programs or activities. Becoming involved at school has important effects, not just for pupils, but for the school community. Parents develop more positive attitudes towards the school, become active in community affairs, increased self -confidence, and enroll in other educational programs.