Leveraging Information and Communication Technologies to Enhance Parental Involvement in South Africa

The potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to improve teaching and learning is gaining traction in South African schools. Previously, economic, social and geographical factors constrained parental involvement and participation in school. However, the ever-increasing ICT-based innovations offer ample opportunities for expanding parental involvement. This article uses the Technology Acceptance Model as a theoretical lens to highlight how ICTs can enhance PI in former Model C schools in South Africa. The study adopted a mixed methods approach and a convergent parallel design to collect quantitative data from 100 parents using structured questionnaires. Additionally, in-depth interviews were used to generate qualitative data from 20 purposively selected teachers from five Tshwane South District schools. The study explored the challenges of PI, the utilisation of ICTs in schools, the impact of ICTs on PI, and proposes how ICT can be used to strengthen PI. The findings show that most parents used phones, followed by emails, and other platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook to communicate with schools. The study concludes that ICTs can be used successfully to enhance PI. Since many parents have ICT gadgets, schools should use these tools to communicate with them to improve PI.