Social Media Networks and Parents’ Motivations for Involvement

Abstract

The technological revolution has filtered into the sector of education and among other things, impacts the dynamic interpersonal connections between parents and teachers through digital means and social media networks. The current study aims at examining the relationship between teacher use of social networks for home-school communication and parent motivations for involvement in their child's schooling in Moroccan public schools. A sample comprising 430 participants, 214 parents (N214) and 216 teachers (N216) of grades 1 through 12 from both urban and rural areas, were invited to participate in two distinct and separate online surveys. The surveys adapted versions of scales used by Hoover- Dempsey et al. (2002) and Walker et al. (2005) to apply Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler’s (1995, 1997) model of the parent involvement process. The results of a Spearman Rho correlation test revealed a positive correlation between teacher use of social media platforms and most of parents perceived motivations for involvement. This finding indicates that the use of social media networks may represent an efficacious emerging strategy to surmount life-context setbacks to parental involvement.  Furthermore, a significant positive correlation was also found between teacher beliefs about parental involvement's importance and efficacy and parent perceptions of contextual invitations from the child and the teacher. This additional finding extends Keyes’ (2000) seminal work, where she identified communication as the central aspect of Epstein’s typology of the parent involvement process. Results, as well as implications, are discussed herein, in addition to suggestions for practices that may enhance parent involvement in their child scholastic experience.

Keywords: Parent involvement motivations, home-school communication, social media networks, students’ achievement.

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-12-04

Publication date: April 30^th 2022