Abstract:
Background: Early childhood education has become a vital integral robust part of education
literally around the world. Child development and education are intrinsically linked and greatly
influenced by the behaviour of parents. The education system and social expectations influence
parenting style and parents’ involvement in education of pre-school children.
Objectives: To explore perceptions of parents regarding parental involvement in pre-school
aged children’s education in Sri Lanka.
Methods: This qualitative study involved ten in-depth interviews and two focus group
discussions with 24 parents. They were purposively selected parents of pre-school aged children
from Kandy district. Interviews based on a pre-tested semi-structured interviewer guide were
audio-recorded with permission, transcribed and analyzed by thematic analysis approach.
Results: The major theme “Parental involvement in pre-school aged children’s education” was
classified under three subthemes; parental responses on children’s achievement, parental
responses on children’s failures and parental aid for education. Parents have diverse approaches
to address their children’s physical, cognitive, literacy, psychological and social aspects of
development. Parents’ behaviours correlate with authoritative, authoritarian, permissive or
neglectful type of parenting.
Conclusions: This study recognizes a range of effective and ineffective behaviours of parents in
dealing with children’s pre-school education. These findings will be useful for parents’
education programs and to design tool for quantitative study at national levels.
