The role of parental involvement in the academic achievement of third and fourth graders at a Uyghur primary school

Abstract

Parental involvement in children’s all rounded personality development and education is crucial. Yet, research on parental involvement in children’s education has not been conducted in the rural areas of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), China, where majority Muslims live. Thus, this research aims to examine the level of parental involvement and its role in children’s academic achievement at a Uyghur primary school. It also attempts to identify the challenges to parental involvement. The cross-sectional survey design was utilized. The parents’ of Grades Three and Four school children were selected to answer a 39-item questionnaire on parental involvement. The descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations, frequencies and percentages) and the independent sample t-test were used to answer the research questions. The results revealed high level of overall parental involvement. The parents had high aspiration towards children’s education, and they were more involved in children’s works at home than school. There was a significant difference in the mean scores of parental involvement between high and low achieving students. Low level of proficiency in the Chinese language and the complexity of the school subjects were identified as the biggest challenges to parental involvement. The results from this research provide useful information to parents, school administrators and policy makers. The same research could be conducted using bigger samples including other school grades. Qualitative research is recommended to obtain more in-depth information on parental involvement in their children education.