Parental Involvement in Childhood Education

Importance of Parental Involvement.- Barriers to Parental Involvement.- Model for Parental Involvement in Education.- Parental Involvement in Elementary Schools.- Parental Involvement in Middle and Secondary Schools.- Guidelines for Implementing Parental Involvement Activities.- Skills For Effective Parental Involvement.- Role of Professionals in Improving Parental Involvement.

Garry Hornby (BSc, BA, MA, Dip.Ed.Psych. Ph.D, CPsychol., FBPsS) is a professor of educational psychology in the College of Education at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. He is a chartered educational and counselling psychologist, and fellow of the British Psychological Society.Professor Hornby was born in England and completed a degree in physics at the University of Leeds. His first job was as a counselor in a residential school for emotionally disturbed children in the USA. He then worked as a secondary school teacher in England and New Zealand. From there he went on teach a special class for children with moderate learning disabilities and subsequently trained and worked as an educational psychologist in Auckland.  He worked as a teacher educator at the Auckland College of Education before returning to England to work as a lecturer and researcher at the Universities of Manchester and Hull for fifteen years. He lectured for two years at the University of the West Indies in Barbados before moving to Christchurch, New Zealand, where he has been for eight years.  He is married to a Barbadian and has two secondary school age sons. His teaching and research is in the areas of educational psychology, special education, counselling, teacher education and parental involvement in education. His previous publications include: Counselling in Child Disability (Chapman and Hall, 1994); Improving Parental Involvement (Cassell, 2000); Mental Health Handbook for Schools (Routledge. 2002); Counselling Pupils in Schools: Skills and Strategies for Teachers (Routledge, 2003); Meeting Special Needs in Mainstream Schools (2nd ed.) (David Fulton, 2000).

From the reviews:"This book is a concise yet comprehensive guide in building partnerships between parents and teachers, increasing parental involvement in their children's education. ... I found this book to be very helpful in addressing the factors in building effective partnerships between families and schools. ... Individuals working in the school system would benefit from reading this book as it presents many ideas that could be easily implemented in their practice and potentially reap great results." (Sandra E. James, Journal of Child and Family Studies, Vol. 21, 2012)