Sustainable parental involvement in schools within the context of rurality: A story of success from South Africa

This paper presents a success story of parental involvement (PI) during COVID-19. It delves into how teachers successfully involve parents in their children’s education. The data were drawn from evaluative qualitative research to understand the effectiveness of a foundation phase supplementary teaching and learning programme (FPSTLP), which involved three rural primary schools from KwaZulu-Natal. For this paper, the data came from grade two and three teachers from each school, and two teachers from a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that sponsored the programme. This study’s findings indicate that PI’s understanding and practice need re-evaluation to dispel myths that pathologise rural parents’ involvement in education. Moreover, they suggest that a successful PI is characterised by a collaborative approach that includes multiple stakeholders and takes a ‘village approach’ that considers the communal features of rural communities, particularly in South Africa. The study also illustrates how adopting modern communication tools could transform PI. Ultimately, this paper offers a positive perspective on PI in rural settings, which have been characterised by a lack of parental involvement emanating from multiple socio-economic complexities. The findings push educational practitioners, researchers, and policymakers to reimagine rural parents’ identities and involvement in children’s education.