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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

Parent, consists of a father and a mother, are the two individuals which are not separable from

the life of a child, no matter where a kid was born, in a very traditional or in a very modern

society; in a very poor or in a very rich family in an uneducated or in an educated family.

This is the smallest unit of a society where a kid is growing, nurturing and maturing.

Members of a family will enrich the way in which a kid is growing. Therefore, it is crucial

that parent must be involved when a kid is sent to a childhood education institution. Prophet

Muhammad SAW said that it is the parent that shape the minds and souls of a kid, to be a

Yahudi, Majusi or Nasrani. The words Yahudi, Majusi and Nasrani are not meant to be

"discriminatory" but as samples given by our prophet during his prophecy in his life time on

what do you want your kid to be.

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In another Hadist, Prophet Muhammad said that a mother is a primary and

single institution in Islam. Even the heaven is laid beneath the feet of our mother.

This indicates that parent is responsible for the birth, the growth and the well-being of

our kids. The Prophet Muhammad SAW further said that a mother is an inseparable

soul of a kid and place a mother as the third in rank to be respected after Allah SAW

as the first, the Prophet as the second and the Mother as the third and not a father.

What a marvelous statement from an illiterate prophet (Peace to be upon him) given

to us some 14 hundreds years ago.

The Indonesian Government, in this case the National Ministry of Education

of Indonesia, whether it is related to Islam or not, has adjusted the national philosophy

of education of Indonesia similar to the Hadist and Firman of Allah SAW. The 1945

Basic Constitution of Indonesia states that it is the mandatory task and responsibility

of the Government of Indonesia to protect all Indonesian people, to be involved in

general welfare, to educate the peoples to enable them participate in the world order

based on independency of its citizens, to create world peace and to guarantee social

justice for its peoples.

Based on the philosophy of Undang-Undang Dasar Negara Republik

Indonesia Tahun 1945 (the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia), the

Indonesian Government is obligated to provide opportunity for every citizen of

Indonesia to obtain fair access to education. The revision of the National Constitution

(1998) states that it is mandatory to provide 12-year of education for every citizen of

Indonesia, either with regular or with vocational skills (senior vocational schools) and

with religious backgrounds of all religions practiced by Indonesians, known as

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Madrasah Aliyah (MA) for Islam and with their own terms for other religions). By

having these laws, it will guarantee that every kid is educated and parents should be

involved to guarantee that children are properly educated with sound cooperation

between educational institutions and family.

The above laws were strengthened by the new law, known as Undang-Undang

Negara Republik Indonesian Nomor: 20, which was issued in 2003. This law is about

the implementation of the national education system, followed by government

regulations, the presidential decree and several other provisions such as the

department of education and local (provincial and district) government regulations on

education.

Indonesia is the world largest island country, stretching almost one-fourth of

the equatorial length, consists of more than 17,000 islands that links the two world

oceans; Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean with 1,904,569 square kilometers in size, and

become the 7th largest country if the sea and land are combined. It is the forth most

populous nation on earth, inhabited by over 260 million peoples. It is also the biggest

Muslim country in terms of it followers. There are more than 570 languages spoken

by more than 570 ethnic groups and cultures. They are not dialects but languages with

its own linguistics systems that vary phonetically, morphologically and syntactically.

Indonesia's economy is the world's 16th largest by nominal GDP and the 7th largest

by GDP at PPP. Indonesia is a member of several multilateral organizations, including

the UN, WTO, IMF and G20 major economies (Ismail S.T, 2017). A shared identity

has been developed between ethnic groups in the country, which includes educational

identity developed from different religions, cultures and perspectives. This shared
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identity is known as Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity) and this shared

identity is symbolized through the emblem of Indonesia "Burung Garuda".

The development of Indonesia is not as good as Singapore and Malaysia but

may be competable with Thailand and the Philippines. Many Indonesians are not

happy with its development since the country is rich in natural resources but poorly

managed due to mismanagement and corruptions by all levels of governances. Based

on development indices, as reported by the UNDP of 2016, especially on education,

Indonesia is ranked at 113 comparing to Thailand at 87 and Malaysia at 59 (UNDP

report 2016). This education index also influences the indices for human resources,

which is related to education. One of the most influential aspects is human characters

and one of the best strategies is to lay the foundation of national character building is

to shape the characters since the early life of children. The early childhood education

is the main venue for shaping national characters, as decreed by The President of

Indonesia, in his decree No. 87, dated September 2017.

The main purpose of developing or establishing an early childhood education

is to lay down the foundation of characters intended to be built by a family, a

community and a nation. This is an institution where the potentials of a child is

nurtured in accordance to the capacity that he or she inherits and in accordance to the

talents and skills that his or her environment to be achieved. In the Law No. 20, Year

2003, it is stated that the aim of developing an early childhood education is to develop

the potentials of a kid since he or she was born up to six years of age (0-6) years.

They have to go through a lot of education stimuli to help them grow and develop
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physically and spiritually till the kids are entering or pursuing further education, as

stated in article 1, paragraph 1 of this law.

An early childhood education can do through formal, non-formal and informal

education pathways. The implementation of early childhood education through the

formal pathway is the kindergarten, such as Raudatul Athfal for Muslem community

and other names for other religions, in addition to the public ones belong to the

government and accessible for the public of any walks of life.

The early childhood education through the informal institution is where kids

are shaped and educated by institutions established by the community, as stated by the

Law Number 20, Year 2003, Section 7 of Article 28. It is mandatory that these types

of early childhood education must be officially registered at Education Department of

a District/Municipality and should follow guidelines provided by the Government.

Bloom (1956) said that early childhood education can affect intelligence

development of a child. He further said that "the intelligence of children at 15 years

old was the result of education in early childhood life" Bloom (1956), either for

positive and or negative ones. On the other hand, early childhood education can also

affect the character of and personality of children. The character and personality of

children in their early childhood life will determine the characters in their adulthood

life. In the regard to this matter, Masitho et. al (2005: 112-113) said that education

and guidance of children at an early age will determine the formation of character and

personality in their future life.

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Based on explanations and opinions of experts above, we can conclude that

early childhood education has significant influence on the improvement of the quality

of education in the adulthood life, and finally will also influence a nation in the effort

of improving the quality of human resources.

1.2 Background Review

The holding of early childhood education in Indonesia, implemented by three basic

elements, namely: (1) the parents, (2) the educational institutions and (3) of the

community environment. This third element is having the role of and mutual

influence in the process of early childhood education. So that this third element

capable of affecting the process of development potential of children, in terms of

increasing capability, intelligence and his personality.

Henderson & Map (2002 : 67) said that students that study at school with

higher involvement of parents are more likely to earn higher grades and test scores,

enroll in higher-level programs, be promoted, pass their classes, earn credits, attend

school regularly, have better social skills, show improved behavior, adapt well to

school and graduate to postsecondary education. The involvement of parents in early

childhood education might have begun since a child is still in the womb his mother.

Parents have been performing various actions started from having examination of the

womb to see if the baby is growing normally; maintaining the health of the fetus until

they are delivered. In the aftermath of child birth, the role of parents grow

increasingly large, especially for keeping their child safe, protecting him or her from
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various diseases, giving intake of food enough and nutritious and conducting proper

health inspection periodically.

Parents continue to play roles after the birth of a kid, proper parenting, giving

guidance and education to their kids to enable them understand their environment and

intelligently interacting with their environment. Other roles of the parents to teach

good behaviors and manners, lead proper movements when they are interacting with

their human/social environment, especially when speaking and acting in front of their

peers, parents and other members of family with an aim of shaping socially accepted

characters and with good personality.

Parents with good skills of parenting have been proving that kids will grow

healthily and physically, intellectually, socially and emotionally. Henderson and

Mapp (2002) state that the involvement of parents have contributed to the child

development both in cognitive and other aspects. Park, Byun, & Kim (2011) said that

parents have important roles in an effort to expand the potential of children to

improve their intelligence and personality. Parents are role models for the kids to

imitate and act it out to make it proper socially and culturally at home and

intellectually and cognitively at schools with the guidance of teachers and other

formal instructors.

In most society, traditionally parents only take part in the early child

development up to the age of 24 months, some up to the age of 3 years, 4 years and 6

years the most, especially the mother for breastfeeding them. It is the responsibility of

an education institution after certain cultural ages believed by a society. Parents feel
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only liable when their child is at home while the involvement of parents in the early

childhood education, is actually, the best variables in an effort to expand and to bridge

education at home and at school.

The parents must engage themselves not only at home but also at an

educational institution at any level. Both sides, school and home, must be linked and,

in most cases, be matched between the two institutions. Once a kid is registered, the

parents would receive explanation regarding school philosophy, concerted regulation,

school programs, and the role of parents in making programs workable for both sides.

In regards to this, Soemiarti Padmonodewo (2003) said: “Orangtua akan menerima

penjelasan mengenai falsafah sekolah, peraturan yang disepakati bersama, program-

program yang mungkin akan dilakukan satu semester ke depan, dan memberikan

kesempatan kepada orangtua untuk mengajukan program terkait atau sejenis”

Soemiarti (2003)

The involvement of parents in children learning will have an impact on

achieving the aims that have been set up in the curriculum nationally, at the state

level, at the school level and at the family level. Santrock (2008 : 57) said that the

involvement of parents in education has various levels from simplistic to the question

of the progress of a child at school; their participation in classroom activities, in

making evaluation of a program and in making decisions with other programs. Vaden-

Kierman and McManus (in Patrikakou, 2008:1) stated that parents may involve in all

kinds of curricular activities at school and in all kinds of co-curricular activities that

have been designed by a school. Things mattered at school be also mattered for the
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parents at home since both can identify matters that help a kid to grow. Both will not

only educate them but also nurture them.

Teachers can frequently communicate with parents especially on matters that

are considered crucial for children development, such as when detecting learning

difficulties that may happened among children at school. Parents with less skills and

knowledge on learning difficulties may approach teachers to know why and how to

solve them. Having close contact between the two sides will also help teachers to

inform the parents if other experts are needed to solve certain and particular problems

that a kid may encounter. The most effective liasion in the communication process

between the two sides is by using book communication, known as "students' log

book" where teachers and parents are communicating each other. Slamet Suyanto

(2005:226) further said: “Buku komunikasi harus dimanfaatkan sebagai penghubung

antara guru dan orang tua dengan tujuan untuk memberitahukan apa saja yang

sedang dipelajari oleh anak di sekolah, kendala yang dihadapi oleh anak dan guru”.

The communications book will be very useful to convey things related to the

conditions, habits, learning difficulties, interests, talents, and other problems related to

learning and adapting or adopting themselves with school and social matters at

school. It is also a book where none education aspects are communicated, such as

problems faced by children in regards to health, whether the children is allergic to

certain food or certain objects, whether the children are having problems when

interacting with his fellows at school.

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Parental involvement should be of an ideal relationship as guided formally by

Codes of Conducts developed by a school and agreed upon by both sides. Teacher

and parents have to know each other, to respect each other and mutually support each

other in the process of teaching and learning (Jennifer Wee Beng Neo, Sharifah MD.

Nor, Zakaria Kasa, & Foo Say Fool, 2001). Joice Epstein (2013:25-27) describes six

the areas of school relations between teachers, school administrators and parents,

namely: (1) Parenting, (2) Communicating, (3) Volunteering, (4) Learning at home

(5) Decision making (6) Collaborating with the community.

Many parents, who want to help teachers at schools, but teachers have no

interests to respond, do not want cooperate heartily, and they do not want to be

criticized and told on what to do with their jobs at the school. Therefore, the

relationship between parents and teacher are sour and they cannot develop a team

work that bridges school and home. Par et al. (Slamet Suyanto, 2005: 227).

To develop good communication between parents and teacher, parents need to

be given knowledge and a wide variety of skills by the teachers, and may be a

counselor hired by the school management. This counselor become mediator between

the two institutions. Aswarni (1998: 106) said that the parents, especially the parents

of an early childhood education, should develop sound cooperation and

communication to exchange matters that have happened to a child at school to the

parents at home so that they can mend the matters related to academics, emotions and

learning difficulties.
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1.3 Subject of Study

The subjects of this study are the teachers and the parents of the PAUD Bayyinah. It

is one of well-established early childhood education in the City of Banda Aceh, the

capital city of Banda Aceh. The writer will also briefly describe the school location,

the history of the school, the demography of students and teachers and the facilities of

the teachers.

1.4 The Statement of the Problem

The writer has an assumption that many of the parents are keen on developing sound

communication between themselves and the teachers at the school. Different

backgrounds of parents (education, experiences, skills, personality backgrounds, and

their social environment) may have hindered them from cooperating with the early

childhood education. The teachers, on the other hand, also have problems of their

own. Some believe that having parents involved in their tasks and duties will further

burden their duties.

The involvement of parents at early childhood education, especially the

parents with limited knowledge and experiences in child-rearing and parenting, is not

easy to implement. It is affected by various problems especially when both sides have

different views of parenting and childhood education. The different may also lie on

cultural differences, religious differences and environment. Sometimes, the problems

are not only on the parents' side, but from the teachers' side. Teachers do not want to
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be bothered by the outsiders and consider that teaching is their own tasks and away

from parenting, therefore, it is difficult for parents to be involved at the school.

Cooperation between parents and school is not easy to develop, each have

their own views towards their opponents, if such relation may be considered as being

competitive. One of the causes of distinction is their views on the process education

for their children. Some teachers may feel that they are more professional and they

know what to do with the children. Some parents, mostly with higher education

backgrounds, may feel that some of the teachers are too young and may not have

sufficient experiences to cope with the matters that may arise at school. Such

differences do occur at many schools that the researchers visited during the last six

months, especially when the visits for this research were done, prior to choosing the

Bayyinah PAUD in Banda Aceh as the target of this research.

1.5 The Purpose of The Study

This study attempts to investigate the efforts made by the teachers at the school in

developing cooperation and communication with the parents of children pursuing

their early childhood education at PAUD Bayyinah Kota Banda Aceh and the

understanding of parents on the efforts made by the teachers in educating and

nurturing their kids at the school. The study was also intended to find out how the two

sides develop sound cooperation to help their kids nurtured at the school and become

responsible individual in their future life.

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1.6 Objectives of The Study

The objectives these studies and reviews are to:

1. Identify the school efforts in working with parents.

2. Examine the form of cooperation that may be developed between the school

and parents.

3. Find out the barriers in implementing cooperation between school and parents.

4. Identify the efforts made the schools to solve the constraints between the two

sides.

The researcher will try to focus her research on the four objectives above,

except if proper advices are given by her academic advisors. Focusing on objectives

that have been identified will help the writer aims all her efforts to finish her study on

the given time. The writer will use interviews and observations as her methods or

techniques for collecting data. It may take longer time but the writer can confirm any

matters not clear when the respondents are responding to the questions being asked.

1.7 Research Questions

The following are the research questions for the study conducted by the researcher at

the PAUD Bayyinah, Banda Aceh.

1. What are the scope of school’s effort in developing cooperation with parents?

2. What is the form of cooperation that the school and parents that have been

developed.
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3. What are the obstacles that faced by schools in establishing cooperation with

parents?

4. What are the efforts made by schools to address the constraints when

working with parents.

1.8 The Concept of Research Framework

The researcher developed a conceptual framework for this research based on several

theories related to the research questions that have been developed and based on the

limitations that have been made. Having a framework will also help the writer focus

her research.

Early
Childhood

School

Teacher
Parent

Cooperation

School’s effort Types

Barriers

Solution

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework

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1.9. The Term of Definitions

Some of the terms used in this study are based on references from dictionaries, from

journals, from books and also from real life conditions of the matters or terms.

1.9.1 The School Cooperation

According to the Indonesian dictionary, the word "cooperation" means activities or

the work done by some people (institutions, governments, and so forth) to achieve a

common goal. Soekanto (1990) said that the cooperation is intended as a

collaborative effort made between individuals or groups of people to achieve one or a

common goal. Cooperation is a business or work to achieve a result (Baron & Byrne,

2000).

Furthermore, Epstein and Sheldon (in Grant & Ray, 2013: 6) states that the

cooperation of schools, families and society is a concept that is multidimensional in

which families, teachers, administrators and community members jointly bear the

responsibility to improve and develop the student's academic so will result in the

education and development of children. Multidimensional means of cooperation

carried out in various ways or dimensions. Cooperation is not just a parent-teacher

meeting in the distribution of the annual report but involving parents in a variety of

roles at all the time, at school and at home.

It is necessary to improve the school climate and school programs, to develop

leadership skills of parents and teachers, to accompany the family in dealing with the
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school matters, and to assist the teachers in making the learning process in schools

successful. Some of these reasons lay emphasis on how important the roles of parents

in children's education and to establish strong and positive relationship with the

school in general and with teachers in particular.

Briggs and Potter (in Slamet Suyanto, 2005: 225) said that cooperation

between schools and parents in relation to kindergarten program, can be divided into

two, namely engagements (parent involvement) and participation. The involvement of

is the minimum level of cooperation, for example, when parents come and help with

the school program, where parents are invited to participate in a program or a

meeting. The participation is a broader cooperation and mostly at a high level. Parents

and schools may discuss various programs and activities for the children with an aim

of developing the potentials of the children.

From the above samples, it can be concluded that cooperation between school

and parents is important. It is a business of a school where parents are responsible in

promoting and developing educational programs for the children. It is purposely

aimed at maximum child development to reach an agreed purpose. Activities at the

school are carried out cooperatively between schools and parents and they are

classified into involvement and participation.

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1.9.2. Types of Cooperation between School with Parents

The form of cooperation of a school with parents can be divided into six types

according to Epstein (in Coleman, 2013: 25-27): parenting, communication, and

volunteer, the involvement of parents learning a child at home, decision-making, and

the collaboration with community groups.

1.10 The Expectation of The Study

The importance of parental involvement in early childhood institutions is undeniable.

Educational experts, such as Wolfendale (1983), Epstein (2002), Bhering (2002) and

Nikko (2004) said that the involvement of both parents in order to cooperate with the

teachers at school can improve emotional intelligence, behavior and self-concept of

children. Although many studies have proven that parental involvement in early

childhood education is very positive, there are still problems facing by the parents and

teachers at schools in Indonesia, which includes the school where the study was

conducted by the researcher. In many cases, many school do not conduct such an

involvement and cooperation. Through this study, it is expected that many schools

will start developing cooperation and involvement between the two institutions.

This is an initial research. It can be a reference for the future study, especially

for early childhood education level, particularly for school cooperation and

involvement between the teachers and parents. Schools and teachers should

coordinate and respond to varying conditions that the parents intend to be developed
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and quickly give form of cooperation in accordance to the conditions of each school.

Parents can plan and improve his involvement at school. Teachers can develop

programs to involve parents and other sources of education from the community led

by the parents for the benefits of the children.

1.11. Research Limitations

This research is a case study and was conducted at the PAUD Bayyinah Branch 2,

Kota Banda Aceh, Indonesia. This study focuses only on the cooperation and

involvement between schools (principals, teachers) and parents at the PAUD

Bayyinah Branch 2, Kota Banda Aceh. School principals, teachers and parents were

selected and interviewed with regards to the cooperation and involvement between the

school and parents.