PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT AND ITS INFLUENCE IN LEARNING PROCESS

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine parental involvement and its influence in the learning process of learners with hearing impairment. The study was conducted in Kambui School for the Deaf in Kiambu County, Kenya. This study was guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior. The study adopted descriptive case study design. The target population comprised of the Head teacher, Deputy Head teacher, teachers, parents and learners. A total sample of 187 respondents participated in the study whereby purposive sampling was used to select the administrators while simple random sampling was used to select 15 teachers, 80 parents and 90 learners. Questionnaires and interview schedules were used to collect data. Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected, coded and entered for analysis. The study findings revealed the following: First, parents were involved in assisting children to do their homework, training a child in productive activities as well as guiding and counseling them. Second, majority of them were not aware of their role in the learning process of children who are hearing impaired such as signs and curriculum offered. Third, several benefits accrued from parental involvement such as proper cognitive improvement leading to holistic development. Finally, it was revealed that parental involvement in the learning process of children with hearing impairment was faced by challenges identified as financial constraints, use of signs to communicate, negative attitudes and stigmatization, scarcity of schools for persons with hearing impairments and unmodified environment. The study recommended that, the government should establish more schools for persons with hearing impairment and improve this one so as to accommodate more learners. More sign language courses to be offered more frequently and decentralized within the regular schools. There is need for current curriculum to be reviewed in order to accommodate the views of persons with hearing disabilities. Finally, there was need to train parents in assessment, observation and reflective skills in order to start early learning provisions to the child with hearing impairment before he/she joins school.