Parents' conceptions of their homework involvement in elementary school.
BACKGROUND
Homework is a universal practice used in schools, and is commonly related to academic achievement. According to literature, parental homework involvement has positive and negative aspects, depending on parents&rsquo; behaviors.


METHODS
Assuming a phenomenographic perspective, this study examined 4th graders&rsquo; parents&rsquo; conceptions of their involvement in homework. With the purpose of mapping the parents&rsquo; various conceptions of homework involvement, 32 semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed.


RESULTS
The results show that parents&rsquo; conceptions of homework involvement have a positive meaning, and focus primarily on the role played in the promotion of academic learning by (a) fostering their children&rsquo;s autonomy, (b) exerting control over their learning, and (c) providing them with emotional encouragement (when children struggle with difficulties).


CONCLUSIONS
Given that parents perceive their involvement in their children&rsquo;s homework as important, it is necessary to promote parent-teacher collaboration and parent-training workshops to improve the quality of parental homework involvement.
Universidade do Minho.
Jennifer
J
Cunha
Pedro
P
Rosário
Lúcia
L
Macedo
Ana Rita
AR
Nunes
Sonia
S
Fuentes
Ricardo
R
Pinto
Natalia
N
Suárez
D000328:Adult; D002677:Chile; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006379:Helping Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D012574:Schools; D012649:Self Concept