Mary Sujith, India
Definitely, Parental involvement makes the student learn more effectively.

Liz, Venezuela
In my opinion, I think that parents are moved by the results, every time they hear or watch their kids improvement, they think that the teacher is fantastic. On the contrary, if they do not hear or watch anything, they will think it's the teacher's fault. They only think change the teacher or the learning method. If they knew about their importance, they would be able to motivate their kids to learn and help the teachers to fulfill their goals.

Ayoub, Morocco
I think yes the constant watch made by parents, especially if it is followed by presents, can be helpful to students learning and it is indeed fruitful, for their kids tend to work harder when they feel care and support.

Tunisia
I absolutely recommend the parental involvement in the student's learning which fosters motivation and communication. Students who have problems of communication within their family, will surely have boundaries in front of their communication in class and in society. Moreover, children usually imitate what their parents do, so they will be more interested in learning when they see their parents do so. As a trainee teacher I need your advice concerning challenging activities fostering parents involvement in learning English an a foreign language.

Mike, Thailand
Learning is continuous. In school teachers provide direction. Outside school the parents consciously or unconsciously direct the learning. The idea is to have consciousness for what you want the child to learn and provide for it.

Ana Portela, Brazil
For sure it may be of great value to have parents involved in our students' learning, for instance if both the family and the teacher are focusing on the student, there might be the strengthening of motivation towards the student. On the other hand, too much involvement may interfere with the teacher's autonomy and then, change the natural development of the learning process.

Hieu Tu, VietNam
I think parents Should give their children advice based on their knowledge to their Children. Then, their children have a specific direction to learn English more effective, example Work on Internet or skill of work in group,etc. and they also should encourage their children to make them interested to learn.

Orlanda Sales, Portugal
I think it's very important for parents to get involved in their children's learning as much as possible. I usually encourage them to do so with some parallel activities which include PE and Music teachers. One of them are "Participated classes" where parents are allowed to be in class doing the planned activities with their children. These seem to be very useful, not only parents become aware what is usually done during class but also pupils can enjoy their parents presence and understand that there is a link between their teachers and parents.

Sabiha Rasheed, Pakistan
I think its very important to keep parents parallel to what is going on in the class room. Parent's involvement is very needful.

Mohamed Ouhejjou
Although the ministerial circulars and recommendations in Morocco much stress the importance of involving parents in students' learning, very little effort is made to put this into practice. Thus, the majority of parents think that by sending their kids to school, learning will take place automatically. However, much effort should be devoted to accompanying the students' school achievement. What seems to me important in the affair is that parents adopt a more pragmatic stand vis-à-vis their children's' learning. They are more interested in marks and grades rather than the learning and competency of the kids to confront future situations of learning, either inside or outside the classroom. Another striking aspect of the parents-school relationship is that parents blindly mistake their roles as parents, the school's role, and the teachers' roles. They just throw the whole burden on the shoulders of teachers and suffice to assess teachers and attack them. However, recently, there has been some change, and people start assuming their responsibilities as parents, especially that they found out that learning demands more than a teacher and a school.

Venkatesh, India
Parents can take interest in their child's learning at a young age that is at pre-primary and primary levels. This will definitely improve the performance of the child. Once they understand the language in which the teacher teaches, the child can learn in the classroom itself. If the child's performance is not up to the mark, then only the parents' involvement becomes a must. Otherwise I don't think parents' involvement is necessary. Because nowadays both the parents are job seekers. So they too will become tired by then. If they teach also, everybody may not teach like a qualified, skilled experienced teacher. Anyhow, parents' involvement will definitely give the child more confidence and moral support. It will also give parents a sort of pride and make them more responsible. Parent child relationship also becomes stronger.

Sani, Nigeria
Actually the parental involvement in children's education is very important, because they help teachers and serve as guides to the pupils.

Afaf Oaf , Egypt
I really encourage active parental involvement in students learning, especially at primary stage. Parents should follow up with the school teachers, how far their children improving, doing well, which subjects do they hate/ prefer. This will help at building their Future. Parents should share the responsibility of forming the personality of their children.

Grace, Argentina
From my experience, working in a Spanish speaking country, I encourage parents' involvement but I always send them a letter to let them know what they don't have to do. For example asking for translations or interfering with pronunciation. It has happened that some children come to me puzzled because I pronounce a word in a way and their parents or relatives tell them that it is pronounced differently. That's why I agree with parents' involvement but only to a certain degree.

Dukpa, Bhutan
I work for the English Curriculum and Professional Development section. Yes I strongly support parents participation in the children's education. But it is not happening for many reasons - schools are still at the initial stage of developing guidelines for the parents; the Internet facilities are not fully established in the schools and in the homes of the parents; not many parents are fully aware that their participation is paramount in their children's education; the literacy rate is just above 55% (which means many parents still cannot read and write in English although English is the medium of instruction in Bhutan). Parental involvement will soon become a big project in Bhutan as more and more parents are feeling the economic pinch when their children fail in the schools. Fortunately the interests of the parents in finding out how they can participate in their children's learning / education is increasing and more parents are trying to explore ways to involve themselves in their children's education. Please share your ideas as how you have started parental involvement education pro gramme in your country. This would give us some ideas to start the pro gramme.

Fayrouz, Egypt
The case is a bit different here in Egypt. Parents are mostly consumed by their social life, and not like before, they dedicate very little time for supporting their children's learning. Instead, they resort to the help of private tutoring as a substitution for their follow up, which in my opinion does not take the place of parental concern in their child's learning. And with the very few examples that I observed throughout my teaching career, that the top performers, especially in the primary stage were the ones closely followed up by their parents at home, so yes, I heartily support parental involvement in child learning.

Ramon Hernandez, Mexico
Well, I always consider very important parental involvement in my student's learning, due to two things. First, affectively, parents feel proud of their son's learning and getting good grades; second, parents pay for their son's education, so they must be involved in their learning.

Shittu Kelani, Nigeria
I think parents should be involved in the learning of their children because they spend most of their formative years with parents at home. In addition parents are supposed to work in partnership with the school for the proper development of the child.

J. Al Muzzamil Fareen
It is fine that parents could be involved in my student's learning. But it is very emphatic that most of the students prefer autonomous learning and the parents indulgence in the higher studies seems to be very less and vague. Motivation and guiding force from the parents will help the student to be optimistic in nature and to do their best in studies.

Virdian Sefrizal, Indonesia
Parental involvement is of a great importance. There are several reasons why parents need to be involved and, if possibly, involve themselves in their children's learning. Firstly, teachers can get access to students' personality, learning preferences or styles, and attitude and behaviour. Involving parents in students' learning, a teacher will be able to know what her students' characteristics are since parents are assumed to have known their children better. Int this case, parents should actively share information needed by the teacher. Secondly, parental involvement will ensure the improvement of the children's learning. At home, parents can monitor their children of what their children have studied at school and whether or not their children have understood subjects learned. By actively monitoring the children's learning or study, parents help their children learn. Eventually, it will give positive encouragement to the students to learn more since they feel that their parents give an attention to their learning. Lastly, by being involved in their children's learning, parents can bring rapport with their children. Thus, this will increase motivation to learn in the students' part.

Souhair, Jordan
I think that everyone is saying the truth about this subject, we must actively encourage parental involvement in students' learning.

Jagannath Pattnaik, India
A mother is the first teacher for a child from the psychological point of view. Hence parents in general and mother in particular are involved in learning process of a child.

Afghanistan,
In my country as I observe parents have a potential role in children's learning. They are the ones who pave the way for their children's study, their moral and financial supports as well as creating a safe atmosphere at home would help the learning process.

Mohammad Ghaffari, Iran
As you know one of the most considerably important factors that helps us meet the goal of learning target language is encouragement so that learners need to be highly motivated by both their parents and instructors. That is to say pupils must be provided with a stress-free environment to put what they have been taught across. I think parents should be trained how to go about their children. This is our teachers' main responsibility to let them know about the most recent pedagogical development.

Angel, China
Yes, but depends on what age level students and what family background. Some parents don't really know how to communicate with their children. So that schools and teachers can provide them some activities on their communication.

Phurba Sherpa, Kalimpong, Inda
In todays world, the parental involvement is very much a necessity in order to create a better child. They must be taken care of at home too, because the lesson in class is not enough for the learning, and the teacher don't have much time to take care of each and every children in his/her class.
But, in the SAARC nation and in some other parts of the world there are many students whose parents are illiterate and who can't take any precipitation in their children's learning as was the case with me. So I think the service given by the British Council to improve the English language is a very good job, and I would like to thank the British Government. I think, if one can improve the English Language then we can automatically improve our other subjects too.

Nahid Aman, Sudan
I think it is very important for the parents to be involved. I am not only a mother of my daughter but also the best friend, as well as a teacher. My daughter is a curious one and she always asks 'What's this, Mummy?

Claudia Boniche, Chile
I think parents should always be involved in their children's learning. It is part of their development. They have to offer them their support, be aware of their advances or difficulties so they can help if there is a problem. School will also be grateful for this, since they need parents who are willing to help their children any time.

Aporn Koonpornpen , Thailand
I think encouraging parental involvement in students' learning is very important but it's very hard for some parents that don't know much of English to understand it. Would it be possible if somebody could help me design any documents for my students' parental involvement or give me the way to get this involvement from the parents who know very little English.

Tithsya, Cambodia
Let's see the idea of ecology. Every single thing of the whole influences each other. It cannot be denied teaching doesn't need support, motivation, concentration, good environment, etc. Thus parents do play important roles to their children learning.

Snow, China
Personally, Chinese parents think children are their hopes. They think they know too little knowledge to teach their children, so they wish children can have a chance to enjoy learning.

Sridevi Lazaras, India
Because of parental involvement a student can get good suggestions about his studies and other things and be is encouraged to accomplish his ambitions. In his/her hectic schedule, nowadays, a parent spending some precious time for his/her child means it is really a boost to the children. They will be encouraged to achieve anything in the world.

Lu Zhaofeng, China
In my opinion, the parents of most excellent students know nothing about their children's courses. What they can do is take care of their children's lives, encourage them to study hard so that they can find a good job. Especially, most parents in China know little English, as an English teacher,it's just an ideal situation to encourage parental involvement in their children's learning, but they can be mentally involved.

Maria C. Costa, Portugal
In fact, a regular and balanced parental involvement in their children's learning is the key for learner's motivation and a great contribution to enhance the learning process.We do recognise that sometimes there's either some hardships from low-income families or even some sort of prejudice from certain families when it comes to showing up at school. In these cases we really have to develop further strategies so they can feel confident and realise how beneficial it can be for both parts. We truly believe teachers should start (from the very beginning of the school term) to promote the necessary dialogue with students' parents on a regular basis. We would suggest a weekly encounter (e.g. 2 representatives per week) beyond a plenary meeting in every school term. However, other less formal encounters (sometimes unexpectedly...) - whenever we think might be beneficial for student, parent and teacher - are welcome. Prevention should come first. Another suggestion (if I am allowed to do so): Any formal/informal teacher-parent talk should happen with much respect, wisdom, caution and sensitivity! By happening so, effective and affective bonds can be gained forever!

Francis Boima, Russian Federation
In joining this discussion, I would like to state that the role of teachers and parents in particular, in the teaching of the English language is quite important since the education and training of children begin at home with the parents who are obviously expected to get their children ready for a more difficult and challenging process at school later on. However, for most parents, bringing their children to school is like transferring their absolute responsibilities of their children to the school. The teachers are expected to teach and “spoon-feed” their children to their satisfaction.
This is why the first problem for any teacher seeking to involve parents in teaching their children is how to get them involved in this process. I believe, and I actually apply this method, first and foremost, the teacher has to convince the parents by demonstrating the fact that school is an integral part of the home and it is just a continuation of the sociological and psychological development of their children. Furthermore, parents should be reminded that their invaluable efforts in helping teachers in the teaching process could always be remunerated with their children having the advantages of guidance and the feeling of self-satisfaction coming from both sides.
I think that it is appropriate for any teacher to get the parents involve in teaching their children a foreign language as this helps to alleviate the problems involve in this process making it easier for all those involve in this troika, the children, the parents and the teacher.

Hazeeera Zavahir, Sri Lanka
I strongly feel that parents should take the responsibility of sharing the commitment the teachers make. The teacher and the parent should form a partnership so that the enterprise of teaching and learning is a shared product. Anything which has a two way process is successful. I have tried the idea of maintaining portfolios where the parent supervises and is aware of all the work the learner is doing. Portfolios can be checked and signed by the parents so that they too monitor the child's progress. The July 17th British Council newsletter provides an in depth idea of how to work with portfolios.
In parents monitoring and sharing the work confidence can be built in the pupil.

Monica, Argentina
Personally, I find parents' participation & involvement in children's learning very helpfful and important. Better results are achieved when parents not only get involved but also motivate their children.

Greece
I think that it is important to be honest with parents as well as their children. You can't assure somebody that what you are doing is the right thing simply because of the position you hold, you need to convince them. So keeping parents abreast of your teaching methods and objectives will help them understand the tools that you are using. That way they won't object to visual material as a waste of time etc.

Marija Liudvika Rutkauskaite, Lithuania
Having taught university undergraduates, who are young adults, during most of my career, I did not even meet parents often and I could not encourage them in this case. In my short career as a teacher of secondary school children, I did sometimes encourage the parents' involvement, which was useful. And, finally, having taught young learners because their parents had been incompetent to help them and busy, I could not encourage them. But parents' participation, when it takes place, is conducive to learning in many ways.

India
Even if parents are illiterate, teachers can motivate even parents through various plans to generate a pro English atmosphere at home and to discourage chauvinism at home against everything alien.

Sumaya Asheer
I think that parents have the right to know everything about their children's learning. Involving them in the process will make teacher's life easy. Even if parents are not educated or don't know English at all, it will make them feel knowledgeable and might learn from their children.

Smriti, China
For YL's, parents involvement is integral because it not only helps the child but also the parent especially when learning a second language. Often parents complain that their child hasn't learned anything. This is because they don't get involved. I usually write a note in the student's diary for the parents. Parents are compelled to know what is being taught and how can she/he assist in future learning process. However, in case of more older children, I like to encourage learners independence. This results in children feeling more confident and in control.

Maricarmen Roca, Colombia
Parental involvement is necessary in primary but becomes an inconvenient interference where older students are concerned. I believe it is important for students to be independent and do their work on their own when they are older.

Ken, Nigeria
Parents should be seen as co-partners in the teaching/learning transaction. This way the home reinforces what is done in the school.

Jane Muslad,Greece
Encouraging actively parents involvement in their children`s learning is I think the most effective way of knowing their progress and weaknesses,thereby,solving one`s difficulties thus coping up with other learners.

Yony Cárdenas, UNMSM-Peru
Sometimes
Everything will depend on the level we are working at.

1. In primary level, parents generally take an interest in their child's learning, so in this case their participation would be beneficial to children's learning. I f we think carefully, here, we are talking about parents who belong to middle class, and whose income is enough to cover basic needs such as food, cloth, home and education. These parents are responsible and they know that education is important, that is why they participate actively in parents committees assuring that everything is there for the teachers to do their best. When we have economic problems, in which parents' income is not enough to cover basic needs, they have go from one place to another to earn something, and as a result, parents do not have time to look after their kids. The problem becomes worse when we deal with parents who live in extreme poverty. They don't have time to think of their kids for a moment, so kids' development and learning will depend only on what the teachers do at school. That is why we've got to be responsible of our job at state school.

2. At secondary level students are already adolescents and parents participation are not regular. They show up only in regular meetings where we need to inform how their sons and daughters are doing. The presence of parents when students are not doing well must be compulsory. This contact has to be done as soon as we detect some failure in the student's academic result. Never ever call parents for help, when there is nothing we to do about the students' failure.

Personally I believe that the presence of parents in child's learning is very important, obviously whenever we call for parents meeting, non all of them will participate actively, but still we can do important things that can benefit children's learning.

C.S.Nair , India
Yes, I believe parental involvement in a student's learning is very important. There are a number of ways a teacher can get a parent's involvement. One of them is to conduct Parents Teachers' meetings in the school every three months or so. I find this very effective especially when the parents and their wards attend the meeting together. Besides I invite parents to our cultural functions, sports meets, exhibitions etc that take place in my school. I have noticed how proud and pleased the parents of the winners look and feel among the audience. Often I instruct my students to choose their events after discussing them with their parents.

United States
I teach English as a 'New Language' to high school students. Most of their parents are recent immigrants and themselves speak little or no English. The parents also work long hours. I try to involve them with meaningful interactive homework, such as oral history assignments in which students talk to relatives to learn and write about the history of their own families, or class cookbooks, in which they might celebrate, share, and present family recipes.

Cristina Porette, Argentina
I do believe that parents are a key element in the learning process. Their role can be different depending on the activity. For instance, my students at school prepare posters about themselves with a photo. We include them in a big folder. The folder is taken by each student to their home. Students share this with their parents. Later parents have to vote for the best project. In this case, parents monitor the learning process and they feel they are part of it. It is healthy for the child to know that parents care and support their learning.

Miss Janet N.Obianyor
I do this some times especially when I think that the pupil / pupils' behaviour is getting out of hand.

Shakeel Amjad, Pakistan
Parental involvement in their children's learning is very important especially in countries with strong family relationship. This factor determines the quality of learning of the students. In fact, parental involvement reinforces the teaching /learning made at school. I try to talk with parents to know more about my students and suggest them how they can play their part in this regard.

Moe Moe Kyaw,Japan
Mother takes an important place of her children. I am not only a mother of my daughter but also the best friend, as well as a teacher. My daughter is a curious one and she always asks 'What's this, Mummy?'For Example, 'It's cockroach', 'It's a frog', 'It's an alligator' and she could say again while she meets these animals. Once, after I have finished my dinner,'It's delicious', I said. Surprisingly, she always says,'It's delicious' after her meal. The kids don't think that it's some kind of teaching spoken English. Sometimes, I read the stories in English and persuade her to interest in English reading. Similarly, I always tell a story before her sleep to polite, respect to the elders and to become a good citizen. Mother is a good guidance of her children.

Sandra Cartaxo, Brasil
I have my own experience teaching 7 year old children and I could verify the different development between the children whose parents are involved in the learning process, and the others who learn alone. It is a matter of cultural development with security and even motivation. Thanks for the opportunity to participate.

Mexico
Parental involvement would be more a thing for junior highs and high-schools. At a university level, I would say parental involvement makes students more dependent.

Lakshmi, India
The mother is a child's first teacher and it is her habit-building in the initial phases that lays down life-long learning patterns. On a regular basis, interacting with parents, leads to more openness and together the school and parent can enhance student learning.

Ruth, Ethiopia
It is crucial that parents get involved in their child's teaching and learning process to eradicate inconsistency or confusions of lessons, since sometimes what they know at home might not go along with what they learn at school.

Nikko, Taiwan
Children are mostly influenced by their parents. Like L1 learning, the more parents get involved with L2, the more the children are getting involved with L2 learning.

Shahin Vaezi, Iran
I teach young learners. I am on the verge of completing a study that proved that parental involvement in young learner English classes has a great effect on their achievement. So based on the study done here it is very important to involve parents, but parents have to be informed about how they can aid their kids. Or else, they could make the situation even worse.

Clare, Marbella, Spain
Parents / caregivers are the most important and influential educators for the learner. With younger learners they can play an important scaffolding role in the home and can use their own life experiences to extend and contextualise classroom learning. For older learners, it is equally important to have parents 'on board' to provide emotional support and to help with timetabling /prioritizing study tasks. Encourage parents to provide source material (copies of 'real' letters, reports, newspaper articles) and realia. Can they come to class to give a talk or demonstration? Would they be prepared to have learners visit their workplace as a springboard for a task, such as role play or report writing?

Catalina
The more they get involved the better their children learn because they feel their parents care and the subject is very important.

Maj Pardeep, India
I think it is very important to keep in touch with the parents of your students, especially the parents of young impressionable minds. Many times I have seen students misinform their parents about school activities and bunk classes or go on outings with friends and not informing school. A periodic meeting between the parents and teachers helps to monitor the regular progress in performance and timely corrective action if required.

Lu Yong, China
I think it is not important for our parents to be involved in the student's learning, because learning should be done by ourselves. When we are to be a man,we must take care of ourselves. We should do well in everything so that we can make a living in society.

Nidia Cecchetto Reuter, Argentina
I always encourage parents to get involved in their children's learning. Parents are children's first and most important teachers. Children acquire the bricks of education such as habits and values at home. Parents' teaching must not stop when schooling starts. Some parents withdraw from involvement in education once their children reach school age. It is impossible for us, teachers, to do a good job without parents' support. Teachers and parents should work together to get the best results for students' benefit.

George Steed, Poland
This is a hydra headed question! Children that do well in ANY school have parents (2) that read books. The problem then is to get parents to read. This is usually impossible. The best a teacher can due is to motivate students to read books. JK Rowling is the richest woman in the UK. She got children to read her books! Once a child learns what books are there is no stopping them.

Aparna Jayachandran, India
I think it is very important for the parents to be involved in the student's learning at least in the intial stages as it gives the child a confidence that he/she can get help whenever necessary. I specify initial stages because that is is foundation on which his/her future education develops. If that is not strong, the whole purpose of learning will go a waste. The parents should only be a guide when needed and not interfere too much and make the child lose self confidence.

Mostafa Mouhibe, Morocco
The affective aspect in teaching is of paramount importance. Hence parents' relationship with children can smoothly facilitate the hard job of teaching. Brothers and sisters can be involved too.

Sylvia, Germany
I think is it of great importance to answer any questions a child may have. My son knows that he can always come to me for help. If I see him struggling with any particular subject at school and he does not ask for my help, I try and offer it anyway, in a way that makes him feel that he did it all on his own. If I cannot help, I find someone that can or encourage my son to find help. The reward is a well rounded, happy student and it takes the stress out of learning.

Mehul, India
In the initial stages, the parents are the real teacher of the life.

Nora Alicia Anzora El Salvador
Parents have to be involved in their children´s learning because we as teachers need an ally at home to continue with the process and they are the ones that can encourage, motivate them and reinforce the contents studied in the classroom.

Ismail, Morocco
In fact, the area where I teach includes parents who are either illiterate or indifferent.