Should I Use Parental Involvement or Engagement?

I spent seven years as a K-12 teacher, and one of the biggest challenges that my colleagues and I faced was how to engage and involve parents in their children’s education. The biggest obstacle to this was not the parents themselves, but how we approached parental involvement and engagement.

Because most of us never stopped to think about the difference between the two, we used them interchangeably, which means that we often used engagement when we should have used involvement and involvement when we should have used engagement. You may be thinking to yourself, what’s the big deal? Well, you are about to find out. In this article, we will discuss the difference between parental involvement and engagement.

What’s the difference?

Involvement means to include parents in activities and initiatives that have already been developed or launched by school officials. Engagement means to partner with parents to develop new activities and initiatives. Not understanding the difference between the two can cause more problems than you realize.

For instance, if you use parental involvement when you should use parental engagement, you can make parents feel as though they have no power or control over how their children are educated. This will cause them to disengage even further. If you use parental engagement when you should use parental involvement, you could be giving parents a voice in matters that should only be made by veteran teachers and administrators. This can result in decisions that are not based on best practices, but rather on the thoughts and feelings of the layman.

Next, let’s look at some simple ways that you can use parental involvement and engagement in the classroom.

Simple ways to use parental involvement and engagement

Below, you will find some strategies that you can use to keep families involved.

1. Ask parents to volunteer as classroom helpers.
2. Ask parents to serve as chaperones on school trips and at school dances.
3. Ask parents to serve as crossing guards.

Below, you will find some strategies that you can use to keep families engaged.

1. Make visits to the student’s home. These visits should be prearranged, of course.
2. Work with your colleagues and representatives from a local university to develop a parent’s university. Work with the parents to develop a curriculum that meets their needs.
3. Create a school site council, which will be comprised of parents, school administrators, and teachers. Parents who show exceptional levels of involvement will be invited to join. This body will be charged with making decisions on predetermined school matters.

Well, that is it for this article. Can you think of any other ways to use parental involvement and engagement in the classroom?