Parental involvement in a family mathematics programme at primary school

Abstract

Parents are a key role player in the success of students in school and mathematics through assistance with homework. However parental involvement with mathematics homework and their contribution toward progress within the subject is an ongoing topic of debate for many different reasons. This article focuses on a Family Mathematics Programme (FMP) and how it can assist parent involvement with primary students and their mathematics homework in a school in South Africa. This is a qualitative case study, involving convenience sampling of parents who completed pre- and post-workshop questionnaires, participated in a focus group interview, and produced workshop reflections based on the FMP. Data was analysed using pattern matching and linked to previous research outputs to determine results related to the research questions. Results indicate that parents do experience very real challenges related to factors such as socio-economic circumstances, but they were involved with mathematics homework and could be quite resourceful in this regard. They also show that a FMP helped these parents to increase parental involvement and their confidence when helping with mathematics homework. However, parents require continual guidance and support on teaching methods and strategies from teachers and school, and FMP can be a helpful way to encourage and improve parents’ participation.