Parental Engagement and Foundational Learning in Kenyan Primary Schools

Abstract

Kenya's competency-based curriculum repositioned parents and communities as co-producers of early-grade learning, a commitment formalised in the Ministry of Education's Guidelines on Parental Empowerment and Engagement. How far primary schools convert that policy into routine practice, and which engagement dimensions track with foundational learning, has remained unclear. This study examined the implementation of the guidelines and its association with parent-reported foundational learning. A cross-sectional survey of 49 parent representatives, one drawn from each of 49 public primary schools in nine sub-counties across four counties, supported the construction of five guideline-aligned domain indices covering participation and governance, informing the community, shared decision-making, accountability for improvement, and learning-at-home support. Each index was tested against two parent-reported proxies for foundational learning using correlation, regression and group comparison. Governance structures were almost universal, with a Board of Management reported in 98% of schools and a Parents' Association in 94%. Operational routines lagged well behind. Communication was predominantly termly (61%), written notices reached 46% of respondents against 93% for meetings, and only 49% of schools were reported to engage parents actively in supporting struggling learners. Shared decision-making was the strongest correlate of perceived end-of-Grade-3 reading proficiency and the only significant predictor in regression, while schools taking concrete steps for struggling readers were rated substantially higher on overall performance. The study concluded that Kenya has largely established the structures of parental engagement but has not yet routinised the participatory practices that most plausibly drive foundational learning. The findings are exploration and hypothesis-generating.