ENCOURAGING PARENTS INVOLVEMENT IN THEIR CHILDRENS LITERACY DEVELOPMENT - A LITERATURE-REVIEW WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PRACTICING EDUCATIONAL-PSYCHOLOGIST

Research has found that parental involvement can be a cost-effective w ay of raising children's literacy achievements at school (e.g. Tizard et al., 1982). Some researchers have advocated the use of specific tra ining techniques to help parents with this work (e.g. Topping, 1993; W hitehurst et al., 1988). However, there is a lack of consensus about t he form such training should take which is related to differing views on teaching and learning particularly with regard to literacy. This ar ticle argues that since, in practice, parental involvement normally me ans mother's involvement much of value can be learnt from research on the social context of young children's development which invariably fo cuses on mother-child dyads. Knowledge of the crucial role played by t he mother in parental involvement also helps alert school personnel to the different conditions under which the work is done at home which, in turn, may have important implications for task selection.