Parents’ and Teachers’ Perceptions of Collaborating for Successful Family Engagement for Children with Learning Disabilities

Abstract

This study investigated the perceptions of teachers and parents about the concept and implementation of home-school collaboration as a best practice to improve family engagement in the education of children with learning disabilities (LDs). While there is some research on home-school collaboration in the United States and other nations, there is an apparent paucity of research attention on the subject within Saudi Arabia. This situation has occurred despite mandates from the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia to increase efforts to ensure greater family engagement in the education of children with disabilities. Studies in the field of family engagement have identified the importance of home-school collaboration and show that students with LDs are in deep need of mutual collaboration between home and school, a central element of child and adolescent well-being, to support their learning and healthy growth and development (Cortiella & Horowitz, 2014; Lambie & Milsom, 2010; Lerner & Johns, 2011; Sormunen et al., 2011; Wong, 2011). The literature unequivocally shows that family engagement makes a significant difference in educational achievement and suggests that collaboration systems that promote the sharing of experiences between school and home are important (Almoghyrah, 2015; Alobaid, 2018; Alothman, 2014; Alyahya, 2018; Somaily et al., 2012). A basic qualitative approach was employed to answer the research questions, as this study sought to understand how teachers and parents perceive collaborating for vi successful family engagement and what they believe encourages, discourages, and improves collaboration for successful family engagement for children with LDs. The targeted population in this study was teachers and parents of students identified with LDs enrolled in elementary special education schools in Medina City. The data strongly supported research that has shown that understanding the challenges that prevent educators and family from building trust and effective relationships is the first step of successful collaboration and emphasized the role of government to invest in establishing collaboration programs for parents and teachers to work together in a systematic way and focus on the development and support of collaboration practice. Further research to advance knowledge on home-school collaboration within the domain of special education is warranted based on the findings of this study.