An overview of research on parental involvement in early childhood education and its implications

Abstract

Parental involvement is defined as any parenting practices that promote a child’s development and education. In particular, parental involvement is associated with a wide range of positive child outcomes. Much of the existing research on parental involvement, however, has focused on its influence on primary or high school students within western culture, which has limited our understanding of the nature of parental involvement and its implications in the Early Childhood Education (ECE) of Hong Kong schools. This article further defines the concept of parental involvement, reviews different parental involvement models, and discusses the influence of parental involvement on child outcomes. It also introduces the influencing factors of parental involvement in addition to the pros and cons of different parental involvement assessments. Finally, it ends with a discussion of current parental involvement trends in Hong Kong and suggestions for future research and the practice of parental involvement in ECE. 家長參與是指家長參加子女教育活動的過程和現象。研究指出，家長參與可以積極促進兒童發展。然而，這些研究大都局限於西方文化背景並集中在中小學年齡階段，因而缺乏對了解香港家長參與早期教育的情況的作用。本文為家長參與作出定義，分析了不同的家長參與模型，並討論其對兒童發展的影響。本文亦探討了影響家長參與的各項因素和現有家長參與評估的優缺點。最後討論了香港家長參與的現況和對香港家長參與實踐和研究的啟示和建議。