Case Analysis

Amna Abdelkarim AlQassab

ECE 3703

Antoinette Wiseman

18th September, 2018

 I am doing case analysis on the topic of family and community that influence learning.

This is my first assessment for my course Building Learning Communities, ECE 3703, the article

that I have chosen is Parental Involvement in the Education of their Children in Dubai. It

implemented in Dubai School of Government, United Arab Emirites . By Rabaa Al Sumaiti,

a bilingual inspector at Dubai's education body, the Knowledge and Human Development

Authority (KHDA). Ms Al Sumaiti support the parent-family community involvement. In her

article she write the importance of the involvement in a child's development. Ms Al Sumaiti

motivate schools to create awareness and provide more communication opportunities for parents.

she said “Too many families are unaware of the positive effects of parental engagement in their

children's well-being”. The study is about a Policy Brief of how the school, parents, families,

and communities work together to support learning. The purpose of the study is to discusses

some of the international research and, in addition, examines the impact of increased parental

involvement in the education and development of children, with a particular focus on Dubai.

find ways that parents must play in raising student performance and closing achievement gaps.

The purpose as well to show how the whole community has an essential role to play in the

growth and development of its young people (Ahmed, 2012).

 I asked the following questions in order to describe the school council, parents, families, and

communities involvement on student learning. First and the main question is What is the parent-

family community involvement means? Second question Why parent-family community

involvement are important? Third question, How do parent-family community involvement get

involved? Forth question What hinders involvement? Fifth question, How can we engage more

stakeholders? Sixth question, What is the International Research on the Effects of Parental

Involvement? Seventh question, What is Parental Involvement in Dubai?

Parent-family community involvement means when schools, parents, and the community

work together to promote the health, wellbeing, and learning of all students. Parent-family

community involvement is a critical link that advance school reform effort. Parent-family

community involvement correlates with higher academic performance and school improvement.

The best partnership to assure that the student have the support, resources to be success in his

school, life is the parent-family community partnership. The parent-family community

involvement lead student to earn higher grades, attend school more regularly. Researchers cite

that “parent-family community involvement as a key to addressing the school dropout crisis.”

Which mean that it foster higher educational aspirations and more motivated students.

Community support the educational process is considered one of the characteristics common to

high-performing schools. By addressing students’ social service needs. They called the parent-

family community involvement as a research-based framework. Developed by Joyce Epstein of

Johns Hopkins University, He describes six types of involvement. First parenting, Second

communicating, third volunteering, forth learning at home, fifth decision making, and six

collaborating with the community. Research and fieldwork show that parent-school-partnerships
improve schools, strengthen families, build community support, and increase student

achievement and success (Parent, Family, Community, 2008, p,1,2,3).

The importance of parent-family community involvement will make the student attend

school more regularly, complete homework more consistently, earn higher grades, have better

social skills, show improved behavior, have better relationships with their parents, and have

higher self-esteem. Linking community activities to the classroom, will Improves school-related

behaviors, positively impacts academic achievement, reduces school suspension rates. Parent-

family community involvement can get involved by many best practices. For instance,

collaborating with the community by using community resources to reinforce schools, families

and student learning. Communicating between home and school should be regular, it should

promote and support parenting skills. Let the parents get a chance in the decisions that affect

children. Parents play an essential role in assisting student learning. Parents can volunteer by

welcoming them to school, and their support and assistance (Why family, n.d.).

There are many hinders involvement that made the parents not getting involved in their

child’s education. For example, many parents demanding schedules and say they do not have

extra time to volunteer or even attend school activities. Some parents feel uncomfortable when

trying to communicate with school officials, because of the different language or cultural

differences or their own past experiences with school. Several parents complain that they rarely

hear from the school unless there is a problem with their child’s behavior or performance.

Others say the information provided by the school is not understandable either because of the

educational terminology or because the parent does not read or understand English. Others say

they lack transportation to attend school events or have no child care for younger siblings

(Biddulph, Biddulph, & Biddulph, 2003, p. 144, 147).

 There are numerous ways the school can engage more stakeholders, by Survey educators and

families to determine needs, interests, and ideas about partnering. Develop family-friendly

policies and laws, for instance, caregivers to participate in school or education-related activities,

flexible scheduling to encourage participation by diverse families. Provide professional

development on family and community engagement for school faculties. Offer training for

parents and community stakeholders on effective communications and partnering skills. Provide

better information on school and school district policies and procedures. Ensure timely access to

information, using effective communications tools that address various family structures and are

translated into languages that parents/families understand. Hire and train school-community

liaisons who know the communities’ history, language, and cultural background to contact

parents and coordinate activities. Collaborate with higher education institutions to infuse parent,

family, and community involvement in education into teacher and administrator preparation

programs. Develop an outreach strategy to inform families, businesses, and the community about

school and family involvement opportunities, policies, and programs. Regularly evaluate the

effectiveness of family involvement programs and activities (Stein, 2009, p.116, 117).

There are two types of educators in children lives. Their parents and their teachers. Parents

should play a role not only in the promotion of their own child’s achievements but more broadly

in school improvement and school governance. The is a research conducted by the Department

for Education and Skills in the United Kingdom (UK), demonstrated that parental involvement

makes a positive difference to pupils’ engagement and their achievement levels. “Children with

very interested parents progressed between 15% to 17% more in mathematics and reading”

(Alsumaiti, 2012, p.4). Parental Involvement in Dubai is quite mixed. Because of the cultural

background of the parents, the role of family helpers, the extent to which schools communicate
with the parents. the multicultural setting of Dubai’s population and especially since many

Emirati parents rely on nannies from mostly southeast Asia to take care of their children. Parents

need to carefully observe the impact of caretakers on their children’s acquisition of language and

on their emotional and behavioral development. Dubai Statistics Centre’s data reveals that 94

percent of Emirati families and only 5 percent of expatriate families13 employ maids and

nannies to do housework as well as look after children (Almazroui, 2014).

 in this article, I have read that Many families are unaware of the important role that parents

play in the emotional, behavioral, physical and cognitive development and wellbeing of their

children. Likewise, In many schools, the only interaction is between the parent-teacher

interviews. The school should expanding engagement activities, volunteering during school

classes and regular feedback sessions this will encourage parents to take a more active

involvement in the education of their children. I suggest for the form of government authorities

to produce a practical information booklets or holding sessions for parents on how they can

increase their role. Since the Education authorities have an important role to play in increasing

the transparency of information about schools, especially for Dubai where many newly arriving

parents have limited understanding of the quality and accessibility of schools. This transparency

of information will enable parents to make an informed choice about the school and also drive

improvements in quality in schools. Bringing government leaders together to covers parental

involvement in community, health, education, sports will ensure that children receive caring and

relevant support to enable them to develop into productive citizens (Alsumaiti, 2012, p.6).
References

Ahmed, A. (2012, February 1). Educating children a role for parents. Retrieved from The
National: https://www.thenational.ae/uae/educating-children-a-role-for-parents-1.353044

Almazroui, A. (2014). The National . Parents must be more involved in their children's lives, 6.

Alsumaiti, R. (2012). Dubai school of goverment policy brief. Parental involvement in the, 8.

Biddulph, F., Biddulph, J., & Biddulph, C. (2003). Best evidence synthesis. The complexity of
community and family influences, 223.

NEA Education Policy and Practice Department | Center for Great Public Schools | 1201 16th
St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20036 An NEA policy brief 4 2008 (PB11)

Stein, Leslie B, "The Influence Of Parent And Community Involvement On Local School
Councils In Massachusetts" (2009). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 66.
http://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/66

Why family and community involvement is important. (n.d.). Retrieved from education.nh.gov:
https://www.education.nh.gov/instruction/school_health/health_coord_family.htm