The Importance of Parental Involvement in Teaching Salah: Developing Guidelines for Continuous Practice at Home with 6-Year-Old Children

In Malaysia, the practice of prayer (salah) is introduced at the pre-school or TADIKA level as early as five years old. Studies have shown the benefits of parental involvement in children’s education, but obstacles such as time constraints and lack of knowledge on how to engage in learning activities hinder parents’ efforts. This study aims to develop guidelines for parental involvement at home in practical prayer activities for six-year-old children. Using the Design and Development Research (DDR) approach, this study involves three phases of Needs Analysis Phase, Design and Development Phase, and Usability Evaluation Phase. In Phase One, 11 selected parents were interviewed to support the need of guidelines for parental involvement. In Phase Two, 12 experts of Early Childhood Education, Islamic Education, and Curriculum were interviewed using the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM), and four main components of guidelines were identified and developed, namely Knowledge, e-Module or reference, facilities or environment, and rewards. In Phase Three, the developed guidelines’ effectiveness was tested, and the results showed that all percentages for the evaluated components and elements were above 70.0%, indicating an appropriate level. The study concludes that using these guidelines will encourage parental involvement through practical activities in prayer, and parents can use them as a reference when helping their children at home. Overall, the study highlights the importance of parental involvement in preschool education and provides a practical solution to encourage it. Future work might include developing the guidelines into a mobile app to make it more interactive and efficient.