Parent

The Essential Role of Parents in Their Children’s Education

• Kate
• 14-Mar-2026

Parents play a crucial role in their child’s education: discover why and how parental involvement strongly influences academic success, motivation, and well-being.

The Invisible Influence Parents Have

Education is often described as a partnership between schools and families. As both a teacher and a parent, I see this partnership from both of these perspectives every day.

In the classroom, I observe how students do well when their families show interest in their learning. At home, I understand the challenges parents face when trying to balance work demands, family life and supporting our children’s education.

Many research studies confirm what teachers already see: parental involvement is one of the most powerful factors influencing a child’s academic success. It is more significant than intelligence, resources that you have access too, or even the school itself. 

Never underestimate the power that a simple question about school around the dinner table, or a 10-minute read together before bed can have. 

 

What Does Research Highlight About Parental Involvement?

A large body of research shows a clear relationship between parental involvement and children’s success in school. When parents take an interest in their child’s learning, students are more likely to: 

• achieve higher grades

• perform better on tests

• attend school regularly

• continue onto various forms of higher education

One of the most widely cited reviews of research on this topic, by Anne T. Henderson and Karen L. Mapp (2002) (https://sedl.org/connections/resources/evidence.pdf), analysed dozens of studies on school–family partnerships. Their findings showed that students with involved families consistently demonstrate stronger academic outcomes, regardless of the family’s background. In other words, parental engagement benefits students across different communities, school systems, and age groups.

More recent research supports the same conclusion. A meta-analysis by Nancy E. Hill and Diana F. Tyson (2009) (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2782391/pdf/nihms-151389.pdf) found that parental involvement has a meaningful impact on academic achievement throughout childhood and adolescence. The meaningful parent involvement was found to be aspects of home life such as having conversations about learning, sharing their expectations, and discussions about future goals. 

 

A Reassuring Finding: Education Level Matters Less Than Engagement

Sometimes as parents, we can doubt in our own abilities, especially when it comes to school subjects that are now taught differently to when we were in school, or maybe even our children doing subjects that we didn’t study for our own schooling options. However, research shows that when it comes to parental involvement, it is not about being an expert; it is about being involved.

One key finding is that research suggests that how involved parents are often matters more than their own level of education. A large meta-analysis conducted by William H. Jeynes (2012) (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0013124516630596) found that students benefit from parental engagement regardless of their parents’ educational background. When parents from different backgrounds show similar levels of interest and support in their child’s learning, the differences in academic performance tend to narrow.

For parents, this is an encouraging message. Supporting your child’s education does not require specialist knowledge, teaching expertise or a degree from a renowned university. What matters most is showing interest, encouraging effort, and making it clear that learning is important.

 

The Impact Beyond Academic Results: Motivation and Well-Being

Looking beyond the academic benefits that we have discussed above, it is also clear that parental involvement reaps more benefits than boosting grades. It also affects children’s motivation, confidence and emotional well-being.

Studies indicate that students with parents who get involved often show stronger academic motivation and greater enthusiasm for learning. It follows logically that children who feel supported at home are more likely to develop self-confidence and positive attitudes toward school. 

Moreover, thinking about when children reach secondary school ages, research has shown that positive parental involvement can positively influence adolescents’ functioning and mental health. This in turn reduces likelihood of behaviour problems and lowers disengagement. 

While it’s true that as teachers we sometimes get carried away with focusing solely on performance but education is equally about developing resilient, curious and confident young people. Parents play a role in shaping and encouraging these qualities too.

 

What Parents Can Actually Do - The Practical Part!

Now that we have examined the research and theoretical side of this topic, let’s now examine the more practical side. What does this actually mean for you at home? What are some techniques and strategies that you could start to build on straight away at home?

Start simple: supporting your child’s education and showing positive parental involvement does not require hours of teaching at home. You can approach this in three clear manners, all backed by the research findings above.

 

1. Create an Environment at Home That Values Learning

Each of these actions is pretty simple, but remember that consistency is very important. Over time these simple actions build up and really help show your children that in your home, you value learning. Think about the following:

Action 1: Discuss school experiences

Let’s start off by saying that we have all tried the ‘How was your day?’ and found it to be the most useless question at the end of a tiring school day! If you’re lucky, you might get a one-word answer! 

Try out some of these below instead:

• What was the most interesting thing you learned today?

• Was there anything today that surprised you?

• What was the hardest thing you worked on today?

• If you had to teach me one thing you learned today, what would it be?

• What made you feel proud today?

Questions like these show that you value different aspects of learning and help your children to reflect on their day. 

Action 2: Read at home

If I had a pound for everytime I have told a parent that reading at home is the most important thing they could ever do with their child, then I would be living on a tropical island by now! This is always my answer to every time a parent asks what they can do at home.

It doesn’t always need to follow the same format: you can listen to your child read, you can read to your child or you can get your child to read to themselves and occasionally discuss the book with them. Make sure you tell them about the books you are reading too - be a role model.

You can read from your home collection, school books, books from your local library, Kindle books, listen to audiobooks, read comics, chapterbooks…the list is endless. Mix and match to keep it interesting. 

Here are 8 interesting questions that you can ask to discuss books that you can use from 6-year olds to 16-year olds:

1. What has been your favourite part of the book so far?

2. Which character do you like the most? Why?

3. If you could step into the story, what would you do?

4. Is there a character you wouldn’t want to be friends with? Why?

5. What do you think will happen next?

6. Did the story remind you of anything in real life?

7. If the book became a movie, which scene would you most want to see?

8. Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

The purpose of this is to show your children that reading is a fun activity that we can all do and talk about - it should not turn into a lesson or comprehension activity. 

Action 3: Have a quiet learning space

This learning space will depend on a few factors, including the age of your child, your home set-up and how much homework they might get. No matter what your set-up is, when you are learning at home, consistency and access to a calm learning space is really important. This consistency also sets your expectations of the activity so that over time it builds up into a routine, your child knows what to expect and they can become independent with their learning. 

Here are some examples:

A young child who gets reading homework three times a week: have a set time, day and space where you read together. You could sit down together on the sofa after dinner on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday to get the reading done. 

An upper primary child who has to learn spellings, times tables and read independently: have a set time, day and space for each of these activities. Sit together and make a timetable of when you both think this would work best. Stick the time table where they will do their work - in their bedroom above their desk if you have space. Otherwise, stick it on the fridge if they work at the kitchen table before dinner. 

A secondary school child with daily homework: a dedicated desk in their bedroom. Help them to come up with a timetable of which homework they do on different days. Ensure that they know your expectations of homework time (i.e. no distractions like leisure screen time). 

Again, each family's needs and set-up will look different. The most important thing is to ensure consistency and encourage them to be as independent as possible. 

 

2. Communicate Your Expectations

Make sure that you clearly communicate your expectations to your children. Children benefit from knowing that you think that: 

• education is important

• effort matters

• persistence is valued

These will also link into to your own personal family values and beliefs so don’t hesitate to voice to your children how these values and beliefs can cross over from our personal lives to our family lives and to our school lives. 

Examples of how to show your expectations: 

• praising effort

• encouraging responsibility

• talking about goals

 

3. Stay Connected With the School

The collaboration and partnerships between families and schools are a very important way to be involved in your child’s education. 

Effective partnerships can include things like: 

• attending meetings at school

• reading school emails or newsletters

• speaking with teachers when needed

Now, as a teacher, I have seen this from all angles. I have had highly-involved and communicative parents whose children regularly struggled at school and I have had parents that I never met nor came to a single meeting and yet their children sailed through the year. However, as a general rule, the most successful children in class are those whose parents show an interest, come to meetings, ask questions and react positively when I need their collaboration to help a child. 

Together, parents and teachers can work together to see the ‘whole child’. What we see in school is often not how a child can be at home and vice versa. Open communication and the willingness to work together can help us all to empower our children by enabling:

• better support for the child

• earlier identification of difficulties

• more consistent expectations

Never be hesitant about contacting your child’s teacher - we are all in this together and it is all for the benefit of our children. 

 

Finding the Right Balance

As we have seen, parental involvement plays such a pivotal role in our children’s eduction. That said, it is also important to consider and maintain a balance. Parental involvement does not mean doing your child’s work for them or micro-managing every task that they need to do. 

Children need opportunities to develop independence and responsibility for their learning. Your role is to guide, to encourage, to support them in their efforts. 

This type of guidance will change and adapt as your child grows, and what may work for one of your children may not necessarily work for another. Younger children will often need help with reading or homework routines while teenagers may need more specific emotional support and encouragement and discussions about their future goals.

 

Final Reflection: A Shared Responsibility

Learning does not begin and end with the school bell. It is a shared journey between teachers, students and families, with each playing a vital role. 

When, as parents, you show interest, communicate expectations and collaborate with schools, your children gain the confidence and motivation needed to succeed.

From my perspective as both a teacher and a parent, the successful students are rarely those with the most resources, who do the most activities or who spend hours with tutors outside of school. The students who reach their full potential are often those whose families demonstrate curiosity in what they are learning and show a shared collaboration and belief in the value of education.

When your child sees that learning matters to all the adults around them, they begin to understand that it matters for them too.