The Structural Relationship of the Basic Decisions of Parents' Participation and the Forms of their participation in Elementary School Students

Abstract

Background and Aim: The dimensions of parents' participation in their children's education are of the variables that can have a major impact on the education of students. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the structural relationship between the basic decisions of parents' participation and the forms of their participation. Methods: The design of the study was descriptive-correlational type. The statistical population was the students of Tehran in the academic year 2020-21. The participants were 384 students who were selected by cluster random method. Parental involvement questionnaires (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 2001) were completed by the participants and the data were analyzed with the structural equation model. Results: The findings showed that parental role construction and self-efficacy are sufficient indicators of the structure of parents' motivational beliefs. The structure of parents' motivational beliefs had a positive structural effect on the forms of parental participation. The structure of parents' understanding of inviting others to participate has three indicators that are significantly loaded on this structure. This structure had a significant structural effect on parental participation with two indicators of school-based and home-based participation. The structure of parents' perception of the context of life has two indicators of perception of their time and energy, and perception of their skills and knowledge. This structure had a positive and meaningful structural effect on the forms of parents' participation in their children's education. Conclusion: Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler's model can provide a suitable basis for parents' participation. The antecedents of this model in the field of increasing parental participation should be taken into consideration by school administrators and education decision makers.