Final Year Faculty of Education Students' Views Concerning Parent Involvement.

AbstractThis study has aimed to determine the knowledge, skills, and views held by pre-service teachers attending different teacher training programs about parent involvement. A total of 520 4th year students receiving education in primary school teaching and in branch teaching programs participated in the study. Data were collected by the "Parent Involvement Survey" developed by Epstein and Dauber. This survey contains both open-ended questions and Likert-type items regarding the dimensions of parent involvement. A mixed research model was employed in this study. MANOVA, ANOVA and t-test were used. Qualitative data were thematically analyzed. The results show that although participants generally have positive opinions about parent involvement, participants from the primary school teaching program have higher averages in all dimensions. There is a significant difference between groups in regard to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 7th dimensions, but not in terms of the 5th, 6th, and 8th, dimensions. According to the results, branch teachers working with middle school students have more limited knowledge and less positive views on this subject. While they believe that the subject of parent involvement should be included in teacher training processes, they also think that parent involvement is not sufficiently supported at schools due to reasons stemming from both teachers and families.KeywordsEpstein's Parent Involvement Model, Family-school Collaboration, Parent Involvement, Teacher Education.Parent involvement is a continuous and systema- tic approach involving such activities as providing knowledge and skills in needed matters in order ensure and support both students' academic and personal development, the establishment of conti- nuous and active communication with teachers and school administration, recruiting and organizing parents' help and support by volunteering in the activities carried out in one's school and classro- om, and establishing collaborations involving not only school and parents, but also social resources. Different models have attempted to define the vari- ous aspects of parent involvement in detail (Bron- fenbrenner, 1979; Epstein, 1995; Hoover-Dempsey, Bassler, & Brissie, 1987). Among such models, the model put forward by Epstein (2005) stands out among others as being the model which addresses all aspects of parent involvement while also attrac- ting the most attention. The model employed in the present study treats parent involvement under the following six titles: parenting, communication, vo- lunteering, learning at home, decision making, and collaborating with the community.The literature shows that when parents are invol- ved in their children's education and when teachers and administrators allow such involvement, posi- tive changes are experienced in student achieve- ment, student attendance, student attitudes towards school, student motivation for learning, increase in social skills, and a decrease in disciplinary issues (Ashby, 2006; Aslanargun, 2007; Catsambis, 1998; Gonzalez-DeHass, Willems, & Holbein, 2005; Hay- nes, Comer, & Hamilton-Lee, 1989; Herndon, 1995; Hill & Tyson, 2009; Jeynes, 2007; Kotaman, 2008; Sarpkaya 2005; Sheldon, 2007; Sheldon & Epstein, 2002, 2005; ? ad, 2012; Wheeler, 1992). Despite the above-stated advantages of parent involvement, the current reality is that parent involvement is not at a satisfactory level. Parent involvement practices, despite certain regulations introduced in count- ries like USA and England, are far from covering all schools (Conteh & Kawashima, 2008; Gonzalez- DeHass, 2005). According to Moles (1993), there are three main reasons influencing the involvement of parents in the educational process. The first one includes psychological and cultural factors related to parents and teachers that prevent the establish- ment and development of the parent-school part- nership (Flynn, 2007; Morris & Taylor, 1998). …