Parental Involvement in Open and Distance Schooling: A Case Study of Parental Perceptions at NAMCOL, Namibia
The Namibian College for Open Learning (NAMCOL) is a fully fledged institution mandated by Government to address the needs for open learning. It mainly focuses on learners who did not successfully complete their grade 10 or 12 in the formal education system. Unlike conventional educational delivery methods, there are limited structured face-to-face contacts between the students and the tutor. Instead, high quality, self-directed, learner-centered instructional materials are made available to students with blocked contact time with teachers. Many of the learners enrolled range between 15 and 18 years and are still under the care of their parents or guardians. This study explored the perceptions of parents towards open and distance learning (ODL) as well as their involvement in the education of their children. A mixed method approach was adopted for this study. 200 questionnaires were distributed and 30 semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents or guardians of grade 10 learners. Random sampling was used. Frequency analysis for quantitative data and thematic analysis for the qualitative data were developed. The study revealed that parents are inherently interested in the education of their children regardless of the mode of instruction. There are barriers such relationships between the institution and parents, lack of knowledge about where to get such facilities as well as a lack of initiatives on the part of the parents. There is a need to establish a more structured platform for engagement between NAMCOL and parents to effectively manage the process of ODL. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2014.v4n3p325