Abstract:

Parents are willing to devote resources to contribute to their children's educational development, as many of them perceive education as the safe pathway to a successful future in the current unpredictable reality (Ule et al., 2015). The term of parental engagement has various and inconsistent definitions (Bonk et al., 2018). To reinforce their involvement, parents are required to use different forms of capital. Capital refers to a resource belonging to the individual which enables a steady foundation from which power can be attained through holding or operating it (Bourdieu, 1986).

Distance learning, during the outburst of COVID-19 pandemic, has faced the parents with a new reality where they have become an important influencing factor over their children learning.

The study includes three questions:
1) what are parents’ perceptions regarding the forms of capital required to achieve a good distance learning for their children and what are the types of capital they used during the closures?
2) what is the relationship between the level of use of different forms of capital (cultural, educational, and economic) to parental engagement in distance learning?
3) how do the following variables affect this relationship: parental pedagogical involvement, number of children in the family, and parents’ education?

A mixed method design was chosen. Ten parents were interviewed, and 151 parents filled a questionnaire. The questionnaire included four different sections: background details; parents’ pedagogical involvement; parental engagement; and the use of forms of capital.

The interviews revealed four central themes of types of resources required to achieve good distance learning: creating physical conditions; non-physical conditions; technical; and pedagogical actions. The first theme has two categories-appropriate learning space and equipment; the second theme has three categories-availability, collaborations between family members, and educational knowledge; the third theme has two categories-follow-up and supervision and creating rules and learning regulations; the fourth theme has two categories-giving assistance suited to the age of the learners and establishing relations with the educational team to support the learners.

A positive, moderate, and significant correlation was found between the level of parents’ use of forms of capital and the level of parental engagement in distant learning (r=.462; p<.0001). Two variables were found to be significant moderators for this relationship: the number of children in the family and parents’ pedagogical involvement in distance learning. The relationship is strengthened in the presence of these variables.

This study provides an elaboration of knowledge regarding patterns of parental engagement, while referring to various aspects of distance learning.

References:
[1] Boonk, L., Gijselaers, H. J., Ritzen, H., & Brand-Gruwel, S. (2018). A review of the relationship between parental involvement indicators and academic achievement. Educational Research Review, 24, 10-30.
[2] Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital.‏ Cultural theory: An anthology, 1, 81-93.‏
[3] Creswell, J.W., & Creswell, J.D. (2018). Research design – qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches (5th edition). London: Sage.
[4] Ule, M., Živoder, A., & du Bois-Reymond, M. (2015). ‘Simply the best for my children’: Patterns of parental involvement in education. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 28(3), 329-348.

Keywords:

Parental involvement, parental engagement, forms of capital, COVID-19, distance learning.