Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to identify parents and community expectations from schools and their children at primary level. The objectives of the study were (a) to study what parents and community expect from the children; (b) to critically examine the problems and issues related to parents’ expectations, and (c) to identify the present situation of parents and community expectations from school and children. The nature of this research was descriptive, and quantitative approaches were used to gather information. Total 300 participants, including teachers, parents and community members, were selected through convenient sampling technique. A questionnaire was used as a tool to gather information from the respondents. The collected data were analyzed with the help of software SPSS by using the relevant statistical formulas. The study explored that parents have unrealistic and very high expectations from their children they expect from children to follow and respect their opinion.

Key Words

Parents Involvement and Community Expectations

Introduction

Expectation means strong hope and desire to get something done in the future. People usually have so many expectations from the people around them. Some expectations would be realistic, but at the same time, some of them would be unrealistic While Richard S. Lazarus (1995) suggested that happiness depends on the background of the psychological status of the person and cannot be well predicted without knowing one's expectations. If Lazarus point of viewed reasonably acceptable that happiness depends upon the fulfilment of expectations, then it means that identification of expectations is very important. Observing our surroundings, this seems somehow true that identification of expectations needed to satisfy the people around us.

One example of expectations in a relationship is parents and children. Two psychologists Froiland and Davison (2014) suggested that if parents expect from their children to do well academically, their children should likely to set high expectations for their own selves. When children have higher expectations for their own grades and academic success, they became more concerned and made efforts to do well. Also, parents should provide all the tools and materials which are required and be supportive in all of the children’s academic activities. So, this is a twofold effort which starts from parents to their children. As parents’ expectations stars from the day of their child’s birth, then the efforts may also start as earlier as possible. According to Entwisle (2005) If parents have expectations as early as grade one then it will be easy for bringing up these expectations throughout the schooling and children will get self-confidence and also will be able to have a clear image of self and surroundings and will ultimately have good marks and grades. The fulfilment of children’s needs and parents’ expectations depends upon the parent’s level of interest towards education. Ritblatt (2002) research shows that well educated and economically strong families expect more from their children as compared to the poor families because they know the worth and value of academic achievements and the competitive society around them. Not only interest but also financial conditions of parents affect a lot on student’s academic achievements. Reagor and Rehm (1995) parents with the low socioeconomic condition have less involvement in education than the parents with higher socioeconomic status because poor families cannot afford the high fees of schools, so they just want their children to learn a skill and start working and get their earning as soon as possible.  

It seems true that parents are responsible for the children’s academic success, but a child spends many hours at school also. According to Mc Wayne’s educational research (2004) “parents and teachers mutually can sort out problematic behaviours of the children and as a result, can make the student succeed in school and at home.” As mentioned before that parent expectations are the main source of improvement and modification of student’s behaviour and academic achievement. On the other hand, teachers also play a vital role in the academic achievement of children. Even this will be not wrong to say that not only parents and not just teachers but both can do work and effort together for the children’s academic success.

According to Mapp (2003), the school staff and parents may have different perceptions about parent participation, activities and outcomes, so it is required to fully explore the teacher and parent viewpoints about what kind of things are suitable for collaboration and what role each can and should play for the improvement and betterment of child’s academic achievements. Along with teachers and parents, community members are also involved and are responsible for children’s academic achievements. These stakeholders may have different viewpoints about their involvement and confused about their roles.

According to Scribner, Young, and Pedroza (1999), teachers usually define parent contribution in a different way than parents do. Teachers considered the parent’s role only as a support for academic achievement, but the parents are concerned about the total well-being of the child, i.e., social and moral development. Parents and community not just want their children to get good marks but also become well educated, financially good and productive citizens of society. But schools and teachers are just concerned about marks and grades of children and required essentials to be done from the parents’ side. This is somehow true that if parents and teachers work collaboratively, the children will become successful but there are some other reasons which may or may not affects the students' success that is the community’s environment and acceptability of every act they do because chidden conceptualize and learn from every action and reaction of the people around them and this will become their permanent way of living, so government and private agencies are also responsible for the children’s academic achievements. 

Contradictory to that a number of researchers like; Mc Mahon, Ward, Pruett, Davidson and Griffith (2000), working on “Center of Mental Health in Schools, agreed upon one belief that creating connections with community members and organizations is very beneficial for the children’s academic carrier like; local health services, NGOs and community-based youth health programs and other organizations which are providing so many opportunities for students inside the school or near it. 




Current Research

As mentioned above, parents and community expectations play an important role in modifying student’s behaviour and also for their academic achievements. By identifying the parents and community expectations, we can solve many problems related to student’s behavior and achievements. Therefore, the purposed topic is on the identification of parents and community expectations from school and their children at primary level. The main objectives of the research were (a) to study what parents and community expect from the children; (b) to critically examine the problems and issues related to parents’ expectations; (c) to identify the present situation of parents and community expectations from school and children and (d) to suggest some recommendations for parents and community to set realistic expectations from school and their children. To achieve these objectives, the following research questions were prepared:

• What parents and community expect from the children?

• What are the major problems and issues related to parents’ expectations?

• What is the present situation of parents and community expectations from school and children?

• What are the suitable strategies for parents and community to set realistic expectations from school and their children?




Significance of the Study

The study provides useful information about the actual reason to study this topic. This study identifies variables that influence expectations. This study has multiple benefits for children, parents, school and community.




For Children

They would know their parents and community expectations and try to meet those expectations accordingly.




Parents 

Parents would understand the consequences of their unrealistic expectations, and it helps them to set such goals for their children that are realistic and easy to attain.




For Schools

By knowing the parents aim, it would become easier for schools to make some productive decisions for the betterment of the children and their school.




For Community

The community would have a direction to support schools and students.

Method

The nature of the research was descriptive; therefore, quantitative approaches were used to collect information. The population of the study was parents, community and schools of two categories, PEF funded schools and parents supported or private schools including both rural and urban areas of Bahawalpur. The data was collected from parents, teachers and community. The sample was taken from the whole population as a representative of the whole population. The sample was taken through covenant sampling technique. Therefore 5 PEF and five private schools were selected from each area; urban and rural. From each school, 5 teachers who were teaching at the primary level were selected. 5 parents of the students from primary level were selected, and 5 community members were selected living in the school’s community. Following were the sample distribution.

 

Table 1. Area Wise Distribution of Sample                     

Category	BWP (urban)	BWP (rural)	Total
PEF schools	5	5	10
Parents supported schools	5	5	10
Total	10	10	20

 

Table 2. Selection of Sample Size

Rural/urban	Teachers	Parents	Community	Total
PEF funded schools	50	50	50	150
Parents supported schools	50	50	50	150
Total	100	100	100	300

 

 

Research Tool

The tool for data collection was a questionnaire. It has been prepared after a detailed review of related literature. The review of related literature helped a lot to understand the issues, problems and background of the topic. The review also helps in understanding the kind and level of the proposed area of research. The research tool was created in such a way which was easy to understand for the respondents. Questions were asked about the problems and issues faced by teachers from administration, parents and community. Some teaching issues like; timetable, curriculum and syllabus. The interview was designed for parents and the community. The first two questions have three options, and the fourth option is open-ended. After validation of the tool from the expert, the researcher has checked the reliability of the tool. For this purpose, researcher selected teacher’s parents and community members from Ahmadpur and distribute or interview the questionnaire by selecting 20 members from each category from the population. After the entire process of collecting data, it was feed in excel and SPSS and draw the reliability value through percentages and (Chrone Bachalfh), respectively, and results have discussed the report. The research tool was checked by the expert PhD scholars, senior faculty members of the education department and supervisor. After their feedback, few items were deleted, and few items were included. After that, the research tool was sent to the English department for checking the grammatical mistakes according to the instructions of the supervisor and the grammatical mistakes were found and corrected. The tool was applied for pilot testing. Once the research tools were modified according to the required data for the study, the data was collected personally by the researcher, and all the research ethics were to be kept in mind and ensure confidentiality. Before going to the officers and school heads, prior approval was taken, and the data collection procedure was completed within the four months of time to interpret the results. 

Results of the Study

Table 1. Factor 1 Parents Involvement in Children's Education

Scale	SDA	DA	A	SA	Mean	S. D
Frequency	9	22	41	32	2.926	0.8522
Percentage	8.94	20.58	39.4	31.08

 

Table 1 shows the Parents involvement in children's education mostly 39.4% teachers were agreed with the statement, and 37.8% were strongly agreed with the statement which is very close to the agreed ones, and it shows that there are so many parents who happily involved in their children education. Only 20.58% of teachers were disagreed with the statement, and 8.94% of teachers strongly disagreed with the statement. So there were more teachers who agreed as compared to those who disagreed with the given statement that parents are involved in children education. The mean value is 2.926, and 0.8522 was the standard deviation.

 

Table 2. Factor 2 Teachers are Satisfied with the School and Community

Scale	SDA	DA	A	SA	Mean	S. D
Frequency	5	17	65	68	4.895	1.17
Percentage	4.85	16.5	63.5	65.5

 

Table 2 shows that Curriculum is easy to teach within time by using a teaching kit and according to the raining held in school every year. Mostly 34.4% teachers were agreed with the statement and 47.4% were satisfied with the statement which is very close to the agreed ones, and it shows that there are so many schools which do not have the teaching kit. Only 10.5% of teachers have disagreed with the statement, and 7.6% of teachers do not know about teaching kit and have a problem in teaching the curriculum. So there were more teachers who agreed as compared to those who disagreed with the given statement that Curriculum is easy to teach within time by using teaching kit and according to the training held in school every year. The mean value is 3.0, and .847 was the standard deviation.

Table 3. Factor 3. Curriculum is up to Date and According to the Mental Level of Students

Scale	SDA	DA	A	SA	Mean	S. D
Frequency	6	17	49	31	3.267	.7233
Percentage	5.5	16.83	47.23	30.267

 

Table 3 shows that Curriculum is easy to teach within time by using a teaching kit and according to the raining held in school every year. Mostly 34.4% teachers were agreed with the statement and 47.4% were satisfied with the statement which is very close to the agreed ones, and it shows that there are so many schools which do not have the teaching kit. Only 10.5% of teachers were disagreed with the statement, and 7.6% of teachers do not know about teaching kit and have a problem in teaching the curriculum. So there were more teachers who agreed as compared to those who disagreed with the given statement that Curriculum is easy to teach within time by using teaching kit and according to the training held in school every year. The mean value is 3.0, and .847 was the standard deviation.  So, Curriculum is easy to teach within time by using a teaching kit and according to the training held in school every year.

 

Table 4. Factor 4 Curriculum is Easy to Teach within Time by using a Teaching Kit and According to the Training held in School every Year.

Scale	SDA	DA	A	SA	Mean	S. D
Frequency	9	11	49	36	3.0	.847
Percentage	7.6	10.5	47.4	34.4

 

Table 4 shows that Curriculum is easy to teach within time by using a teaching kit and according to the raining held in school every year. Mostly 34.4% teachers were agreed with the statement and 47.4% were satisfied with the statement which is very close to the agreed ones, and it shows that there are so many schools which do not have the teaching kit. Only 10.5% of teachers were disagreed with the statement, and 7.6% of teachers do not know about teaching kit and have a problem in teaching the curriculum. So there were more teachers who agreed as compared to those who disagreed with the given statement that Curriculum is easy to teach within time by using teaching kit and according to the training held in school every year. The mean value is 3.0, and .847 was the standard deviation.  So, Curriculum is easy to teach within time by using a teaching kit and according to the training held in school every year.

Conclusions of the Study

On the base of the analysis of the study following are the conclusions aligned with the objectives of the study: The first objective of the study was to study parents’ involvement in their children education. Most of the parents have unrealistic and very high expectations from their children they expect from children to follow their previous ethics and culture along with new traditional learning. So children have a lot of pressure from their parents. Also, parents who are financially strong, their children have better study opportunities and better learning outputs. The second objective was critically examining the problems of teachers. According to the results of the study, it is concluded that most of the teachers have no problem from parents and school community members, and they can easily cover all the learning activities in the given time.

Discussion

It is discussed in the conclusion that parents who are financially strong, their children have better study opportunities and better learning outputs. Most of the parents have unrealistic and very high expectations from their children they expect from children to follow their previous ethics and culture along with new traditional learning. Educational achievement is believed to be an important predictor of children’s future economic well-being (Haveman & Wolfe, 1994; Hertz, 2006). So, children have a lot of pressure from their parents. Also, parents who are financially strong, their children have better study opportunities and better learning out puts. The second objective was critically examining the problems of teachers. According to the results of the study, it is concluded that most of the teachers have no problem from parents and school community members, and they can easily cover all the learning activities in the given time. Parents involvement in curricular and co-curricular activities of the children starts from home (Epstein, 2009; Greenwood & Hickman, 1991; Henderson & Berla, 1994; Rumberger et al., 1990; Swap, 1993; Whitaker & Fiore, 2001). If the home environment of the children is conducive for learning, then children will learn better in school. Research studies on parents’ involvement reveal that students perform better in their class and achieve higher grades in examination. Studies also indicate that parent’s involvement in children academic matter is more fruitful in school (Davies, 1996; Emeagwali, 2009; Epstein, 2009). 

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