Exploring the impact of parental engagement on academic achievement in South African primary schools: A qualitative case study

The main aim of this study was to explore the impact of parental engagement on learner achievement in primary schools. A case study was used as a qualitative research design. Data were gathered through semi-structured in-depth interviews. The data collected through interviews was systematically analyzed using thematic analysis, a qualitative method that involves identifying, analyzing, and interpreting patterns or themes within the data. The key findings of the study highlight the concept of parental engagement, the role of parents in helping children with homework, parent-teacher communications, and parent-teacher partnership as aspects of the impact of parental engagement. The findings further indicate that working parents are less interested in their children’s education due to work responsibilities and a lack of time, which proved to be a difficulty for parental engagement. The findings suggest that effective parental engagement can be positively impacted by a strong parental-teacher relationship. However, implementing parental engagement presents several difficulties that, if specifically handled, could enhance parental engagement for the benefit of the learners. Key Words:Challenges of parental involvement, communication, effective parental engagement, parental engagement, parent-teacher partnership