Parents and their children's school lives - Commentary on the special issue, 'parents' role in children's school lives'

摘要

Although it is teachers who play the key role in supporting children's learning and their academic development at school, parents too can be involved in their children's academic lives in many different ways. As the vast majority of parents consider academic achievement and adjustment to be important for their children's future, parents often make an effort to support their children's learning, such as helping them with their homework. Many kinds of parental involvement have been described in the literature, although not all of them have been shown to be effective in promoting children's academic development (Chen & Stevenson, 1989; Cooper, Lindsay, & Nye, 2000; Fan & Chen, 2001; Levin et al., 1997; Patall, Cooper,&Robinson, 2008; Pomerantz, Moorman,& Litwack, 2007; Silinskas, Niemi, Lerkkanen, & Nurmi, 2013; Silinskas et al., 2012). In this special issue, a number of scholars present their empirical findings on various aspects of parental involvement, such as parental self-efficacy (Junttila & Vauras), socio-emotional support and instructional behaviours (Pino-Pasternak), parental pragmatic and socio-emotional support (Zhu, Tse, Cheung & Oyserman), parental involvement in children's homework (i.e., autonomy support, control, interference, and cognitive engagement), parental goals and perceptions of children's academic efficacy (Gonida & Cortina), and parents' emotional support (Bouffard, Cote & Vezeau).