Abstract:

This study investigated parents as partners in the provision of quality educational services for primary school pupils with hearing impairment in Akwa-Ibom State, Nigeria. A sample of two hundred and twenty (220) parents of children with hearing impairment in Akwa-Ibom State, Nigeria was selected through a multistage sampling technique. A sixteen (16) item questionnaire with a four-point rating scale and reliability coefficient of 0.78 and 0.79 was used to collect opinions of parents on their roles and challenges in partnering with schools in the education of their children with hearing impairment. The data collected were statistically analyzed using descriptive statistics of means and percentages. The findings revealed that parents have a range of roles such as monitoring and setting realistic educational goals as well as participating actively in Parents Teachers Association (PTA) decision making process among others. The study also revealed that illiteracy and educational level of parents as well as negative attitudes of teachers towards parents’ contributions were some of the challenges parents encounter in their partnership with teachers in Akwa-Ibom State, Nigeria. The authors recommended among others that the school should help parents overcome undue challenges of parent-school partnership by seeing them as cardinal stakeholders in their children's education.

Keywords:

Educational services, parents, partners, provision, quality.