An improvement of parent involvement in early childhood education

Abstract

Parent involvement in early childhood education has been proven to be beneficial for students, the society and the country. It can establish a healthy parent-teacher relationship and improve students’ success and also teachers’ work. However, research showed a reduction in parent involvement in children’s education. This action research aims to understand the issue of parent involvement in Kinderkids Education Centre and implement a solution to solve it. “My Time with You” and “My Time with You 2.0” programme were implemented as interventions in the kindergarten’s curriculum to improve the parent involvement in early childhood education. Interviews were carried out with principal and parents and analysed using thematic analysis. The barriers hindering parent to get involved in their children’s education and solutions to increase parent involvement were identified from the interview. Moreover, survey questionnaires were used to determine the improvement of parent involvement after the intervention. 4 elements in parent involvement showed significant improvement in the end of cycle 2, namely parenting, communicating, learning at home and decision making. In conclusion, the major contribution of this action research is the improvement in parent involvement in early childhood education. We expect the students will have better performance in terms of academics, soft skills and behaviour improvement. We strongly believe that outstanding future generations nurtured today will highly impact our country's wealth and the society at large one day in the future.