Parental Involvement in the Education Development of Indigenous People in Selected Elementary Schools in the Northern Part of Mindanao, Philippines

Abstract

Parents play a vital role in increasing the performance and ensuring the good manners of their children in school. In the context of Indigenous People (IP), parental participation in educating their children is a meaningful involvement that benefits student learning directly. This study aims to determine the parental involvement of indigenous people in selected elementary schools in Northern Part of Mindanao, Philippines. The study specifically identified the profile of the IP parents, parents’ contributory factors and involvement on the aspect of communication, learning at home, and financial support. The extent of parental involvement on the behavior of their children and significant relationship between respondents’ profile were also measured. The study utilized a descriptive-quantitative method to explore how the IP parents extend their support to their children through survey, actual visitation and interview to validate the accuracy of the data gathered. Selected IP parents from IP elementary schools were surveyed using a researcher-made questionnaire as the main tool in the study.  Data were analyzed using frequency counting, simple percentage, weighted mean, and Pearson R correlation. The IP parents fall to marginal classification in terms of educational background (45.83% are elementary undergraduate) with monthly income of less than fifteen thousand (less than the minimum wage). Regardless of race and background, IP parents’ instincts are the same with common parents in supporting their children in school-related activities. However, issues on communication, learning at home, and financial support extended by IP parents to their children still need to be improved. In addition, parents’ involvement influence academic endeavor of the students because they are given chances to enjoy the opportunity of free and supportive education. Thus, parents should constantly monitor the performance of their children at school to help them improve in their studies and build confidence to do better.