Perspectives of Preservice and In-Service Teachers on Their Preparation to Work with Parents in Elementary Classrooms

Abstract

This study examines preservice and in-service teachers’ perspectives on their preparation in learning parental involvement strategies and explores their opinions on what kind of experiences regarding parental involvement they think teacher education programs should provide. The data from the study suggested that the preservice teachers held positive opinions on each of the five dimensions of parental involvement and parental involvement in general, and that parental involvement knowledge, skills, and practices are most effective when they occur over an extended period and are integrated into different activities rather than compacting parental involvement into one single course.

Key words:

• Parental involvement
• teacher education
• working with parents