Parental Involvement in Education and Young Children’s Well-being in Singapore

A wealth of research documents the benefits of parental educational involvement on school-aged children’s learning and academic achievement. By contrast, relatively less is known about how parental educational involvement is associated with emotional, psychological, and social well-being during the early years. In this chapter, we first review research conducted internationally on how different types of parental educational involvement are associated with well-being outcomes in pre-school children. Next, we contextualise parental involvement in early childhood education in the Singapore setting, noting the beliefs and practices that parents engage in to support their children’s success in a highly competitive educational environment. These studies suggest that parents devote a significant amount of time, energy and resources to their children’s education partly due to structural systems and cultural views that emphasise very high levels of achievement. We discuss these findings in the context of initiatives that support holistic education and the implications of these parental educational goals, concerns, and practices for young children’s emotional, psychological, and social development. We end the chapter by highlighting the need for various stakeholders to foster effective school-home-community partnerships that can empower families, educators and community partners as active agents in young children’s well-being, development and learning.