Evaluating 5th-grade students’ opinions on parental involvement in the educational process

Abstract

This study investigates primary school students' perspectives on parental involvement in the educational process, emphasizing communicative competence between students and parents. While parental engagement is widely acknowledged as critical to students' academic and social development, there remains a gap in understanding how students perceive their parents' roles and communication practices within the school context. Addressing this gap, the study aimed to assess students’ communicative competence with parents and to explore teachers’ insights on familial communication dynamics. Employing a mixed methods approach, data were gathered from 80 fifth-grade students and 4 classroom teachers across public and private schools. Quantitative data were collected using a validated communicative competence scale and analyzed with statistical software. Qualitative data were derived from semi-structured interviews with teachers and examined through descriptive analysis. Results indicated no significant differences in students’ communicative competence levels based on gender or school type. However, qualitative findings revealed that while many students displayed effective communication skills, some experienced challenges stemming from parental disengagement. These findings highlight the importance of fostering consistent and supportive parental involvement and offer implications for educators seeking to enhance family-school communication strategies.

Keywords: Communication; education; mixed methods; parental involvement; primary students