Opinion

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Parent participation: who needs it?

Wednesday 30 November 2011

Parents should get more involved in the school career of their children even if it means working fewer hours, says education minister Marja van Bijsterveld. Not everyone agrees with her message, writes the Volkskrant.

The paper interviewed a number of students, all attending a VWO school in The Hague, one of whom perceptively answers that it is probably a good idea to enlighten clueless parents on school business because it’s the kids that are the problem: ‘most students can’t be bothered to answer their parents’ questions after a hard day at school.’

Strained

Another student agrees but worries that if either of his parents were to work less it would mean less money and things could become 'strained' around the house.

A teacher points to the fact that many students are alone until six in the evening. ‘When their parents get home they eat and then they’re off to their rooms to do their own thing, obviously not a good state of affairs ’, she says.

Lack of communication

Pedagogue Mischa Winter finds the minister’s suggestion ‘interesting’. The lack of communication between parents and schools is obvious: ‘Look at what happened to the school director who was put into a police cell’. A 15 minute chat every six months is not going to solve things, says Winter. The parent school relation meanwhile has developed into one of finger pointing, he suggests: ‘Parents say schools are too self contained and schools complain parents are too demanding’.

Thijs den Otter of teacher’s union Aob thinks the minister has a point but only a minor one. He finds the timing of the story remarkable. ‘This comes in a week where we have been told that education will be cut back by €300m. You’d think the debate would centre on that. Instead the minister seeks publicity for something she hasn’t got the money to finance.’

Rubbish

Evert Vos, editor of J/M magazine, calls the idea of more parental involvement ‘utter rubbish’. Parents have never been so involved, he fumes. It’s not the parents, it’s the schools, he intimates. It’s fine as long as the children are little and parents are called in to check children’s heads for nits or take turns to read a story. After that it’s goodbye parent participation, Vos says.

Vos is in favour of special parent projects and classes given by parents. He does not ask what students might make of this but he thinks parents would be keen to help, even if both have fulltime jobs.

It’s true that parents are critical, he concedes and sometimes they have every right to be. But parents who take it out on the teachers if their child is not VWO material is another matter. ‘Teachers, like policeman and doctors have lost much of their authority’, says Vos.
But the suggestion that parents are selfish, work too much and are not spending enough time with their children is rubbish, he reiterates.

Parents association Ouders en Coo director Werner van Katwijk thinks parents are already doing quite a lot. After all, it’s not only schools who want a slice of parental time, sports clubs and the like also demand their share. And we mustn’t forget, says Van Katwijk, that parents in the 35 to 45 bracket are also likely to be caring for an ailing parent.

Message not reaching right people

At the same time it’s true that children thrive when parents pay more attention to them, he says. The question is, however, if the minister’s message is reaching the right people. ‘Parents who are low on the social ladder are difficult to get a grip on. It’s their children in particular who need help. In all my 28 years in education I have never come across a programme that involved these parents. They often have unpleasant memories of school or are allergic to this sort of initiative. They’re the ones we should be targeting.’