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IJEM
33,6 The role of creativity in
principals’ leadership practices
towards parental involvement
1352 The mediating role of school practices
Received 8 November 2018 and school climate
Revised 19 March 2019
Accepted 17 April 2019 A. Keetanjaly
University Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia, and
Suhaida Abdul Kadir, Wong Su Luan and Arnida Abdullah
Department of Science & Technical Education,
Faculty of Educational Studies, University Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia

Abstract
Purpose – The involvement of parents in schools and their contribution towards their children’s academic
learning have been a focal point in educational research. The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors
that influence parental involvement in secondary schools and subsequently proposed a comprehensive
parental involvement model.
Design/methodology/approach – Research articles, reports and dissertations on the factors that
influence parental involvement were reviewed to obtain related empirical evidence for the development of a
workable model.
Findings – A conceptual framework was proposed to understand the factors that influence parental
involvement. The role of creativity in principals’ leadership practices and parental involvement in secondary
schools were found to be related. Additionally, this relationship was found to be mediated by school practices
and school climate.
Research limitations/implications – A framework on the factors that influence parental involvement
guided by literature review and three main hypotheses for testing were proposed, which require further
empirical assessment.
Practical implications – The school–parent partnership shares a common understanding of the
educational needs and social development of the children. The school administrators, school community,
stakeholders and related policymakers can effectively leverage the findings of this study in the effort to
enhance parental involvement within the school context.
Originality/value – Only a handful of research-based studies probed into the factors that influence parental
involvement in secondary schools within the Malaysian context. This study identified several significant
factors that enhance parental involvement in secondary schools.
Keywords Parental involvement, School climate, Creativity in principals’ leadership practices,
School practices
Paper type Conceptual paper

1. Introduction
Education is an important part of today’s society in order to achieve a certain level of
educational achievement, and one can venture into these conventional paths to succeed and
gain financial establishment. With the increasing need for quality educational achievement,
the Ministry of Education (MoE) Malaysia has taken various measures to improve the
educational landscape, increase the quality and equity in schooling and ensure equal
opportunities to productive and fulfilling lives for the future generation (United Nations
International Journal of
Educational Management Report, 2015). The Malaysia Education Blueprint (MEB) 2013–2025, which were launched in
Vol. 33 No. 6, 2019
pp. 1352-1365
2012, have imbued schools with a new responsibility, specifically to elevate the country’s
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0951-354X
education system based on 11 key elements. One of the listed elements focuses on the
DOI 10.1108/IJEM-11-2018-0348 involvement of parents in schools with the emphasis on students’ academic success and
support system (MEB, 2013, 2014; GTP, 2013). The parental involvement programmes in Principals’
schools have become prolific with the continuous development of new initiatives by leadership
policymakers and educationists. Subsequently, in 2013, “SARANA IbuBapa” and practices
“SARANA Sekolah” programmes are among the initiatives launched by the MoE under
GTP 2.0 with the aim of increasing parental involvement in schools. With that, the
participating schools that meet the criteria are awarded as “Excellent PTA (Parents
Teachers Association)” and achieving such recognition is a pride for every school. 1353
Studies showed parental involvement as one of the most prominent indicators for school
effectiveness (Rutter and Maughan, 2002; Shannon and Bylsma, 2007; Scheerens, 2013;
Ghani, 2014). Apart from that, it has been broadly acknowledged that, throughout the
schooling years, parental involvement has a significant contribution towards children’s
academic and social development (Hanafi, 2004; Howland et al., 2006; Hornby and Witte,
2010; Ellis et al., 2013). Although many studies on parental involvement focused heavily on
primary schools ( Jennifer and Wee, 2001; Carpenter et al., 2016), this aspect is equally
important in secondary schools (Hornby and Witte, 2010; Rode, 2014). Findings from
previous studies have found that parental involvement is likely to be rejected in the middle
and secondary schools (Hoover‐Dempsey et al., 2005; Hill and Tyson, 2009; Shumow et al.,
2011; Kandasamy et al., 2016) due to parental insecurities, as the subject matters
become more challenging (Barton et al., 2004). Hence, schools do not welcome parental
involvement (Rosenblatt and Peled, 2002) and adolescents are becoming more independent
(Carpenter et al., 2016).
Nevertheless, school is seen as an institution that carries an important agenda to build a
bridge that connects families, community and private sectors via collaborative programmes.
The involvement of parents in schools and their contribution towards their children’s
academic learning have been a focal point in educational research. Researchers, policymakers,
practitioners and educationists, especially teachers, pointed out and agreed that student
achievement comprises the gist of parental involvement, which has been benefited in broader
perspectives particularly in school effectiveness and school improvement( Jennifer and Wee,
2001; Rosenblatt and Peled, 2002; Vaden-Kiernan, 2005; Epstein et al., 2009; Shannon and
Bylsma, 2007; Shumow et al., 2011). Past studies highlighted that parental involvement
facilitates schools in producing excellent students (Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler, 1997;
Fan and Chen, 2001; Jeynes, 2011; Ismail and Abdullah, 2013) by preventing disciplinary
problems (Bear et al., 2014; Ahmad et al., 2017) and reducing the dropout rate (Kratochwill
et al., 2004). In addition, Hill and Tyson (2009) highlighted that students are also more
competent and motivated (Khan et al., 2014). In conclusion, the encouragement and support
from parents in school activities are advantageous to students.

1.1 Parental involvement

The concept of parental involvement has recently gained a growing interest among
educational researchers due to its pervasiveness in schools. The term is widely and
synonymously used as parental engagement, family engagement, parent–school
involvement, family–school partnership, and teacher–family partnership among the
educationist, theorists, and practitioners (Deslandes, 2006; Epstein et al., 2009; Yonson,
2016). Similarly, certain studies labelled parental involvement as a home-school partnership
and parents as partners (Patrikakou et al., 2005). According to Jeynes (2018), parental
involvement was identified as school-based involvement whereas parental engagement was
identified as home-based involvement through his meta-analyses. The parental involvement
is also extended to school, family and community partnership, which emphasise the
integration of these three influential contexts in every facet of the academic growth of
children (Keyes, 2000; Deslandes, 2006; Epstein, 2008; Epstein et al., 2009). Nevertheless, the
significance of parental involvement in supporting students of all ages has been widely
IJEM acknowledged by numerous researchers, practitioners and policymakers, regardless of the
33,6 terminologies that emanate from the literature. Despite the conceptual differences among
these constructs, identical measurement scale has been widely used to measure parental
involvement, as it is one of the few components in education, which receives universal
agreement (Nichols-Solomon, 2001). Therefore, the term “parental involvement” was used in
this study to explore the involvement of parents in school-based activities within the context
1354 of secondary schools.

2. Literature review
2.1 The role of creativity in principals’ leadership practices and parental involvement
International studies pointed out that the central role of a principal, as a school leader, in
facilitating parental involvement, is through leadership style, communication, attitudes and
expectations (Barr and Saltmarsh, 2014; Lazaridou and Kassida, 2015; Povey et al., 2016;
Jeynes, 2018). Several models explained the relationship between leadership practices and
parental involvement. For example, the High Performing School model developed by
Shannon and Bylsma (2007) posited that effective leadership practices are positively related
to family and community involvement. According to Robinson and Fevre (2011), principals
are the prime movers to facilitate partnerships between multiple stakeholders at the school
level. Lloyd-Smith, (2008, p. 3) asserted that “principals must not only recognise the inherent
barriers associated with parental involvement in high schools, but also develop meaningful
opportunities for parental involvement”.
Despite the social background of parents, certain educational leadership practices must be
able to mobilise parents to collaborate with the school. Puccio et al. (2011) opined that effective
leaders in this increasingly complex world are committed to new ways of leadership that are
built around the creative process. Currently, schools encounter certain challenges that need to
be addressed using innovative solutions, especially in involving parents in school-based
activities. This is supported by Appleseed’s report, which concluded that:
[…] creative, multifaceted communication and engagement strategies can promote better parental
involvement in schools. Apart from that, school leaders do not uniformly value parental
involvement as a key accountability strategy. (2006, p. 2)
Besides that, tumultuous school surroundings call for school improvement, which require
the principals to lead and manage (Kowalski, 2010; Puccio et al., 2011; Botha, 2013). In order
to keep up with the pace, the growing number of studies linked the focus of transformational
leadership practices in schools (Sagnak, 2010; Balyer, 2012; Ghavifekr et al., 2014; Md Nasir
and Sin, 2016) and creative leadership practices in the business approach (Amabile et al.,
1996; Kuan, 2012; Puccio et al., 2011; Petrie, 2014; Mainemelis et al., 2015). Although several
studies recognised the magnitude of creative leadership practices in schools (Botha, 2013;
Stoll and Temperley, 2009; Ubben et al., 2004), only a few studies examined this area within
the context of educational institution. It is vital for principals, as school leaders, to initiate
changes to keep up with and survive the rapid educational progress towards the
twenty-first century.
Indeed, empirical studies identified that principals’ leadership is consistently a strong
determinant of parental involvement (Lazaridou and Kassida, 2015; Arar et al., 2016). Arar
et al. (2016) carried out a study to identify principals’ leadership style and parental
involvement from the perspectives of teachers. Data were collected from 200 elementary
teachers who were mostly female teachers (61 per cent). The study showed a significant and
moderate relationship between transformational or transactional leadership and parental
involvement. Overall, a positive relationship was identified between principals’
transformational leadership style and parental involvement (α ¼ 0.45). At the same time,
it was reported that laissez-faire leadership did not contribute to parental involvement
(α ¼ − 0.02). However, Griffith (2001, p. 62) argued that the empirical examination Principals’
of the relationship between the behaviour of principals and parental involvement was leadership
considered absent. practices
Apart from that, Povey et al. (2016) investigated the role of principals in promoting
school-home partnership using a sample of 385 principals across 618 schools in Queensland,
Australia. The findings indicated that the overall approaches of principals were positively
significant and only one-fifth of them did not engage in promoting parental involvement. 1355
The study further recommended that parents should be invited to participate in school-
based activities and the principals must create a positive atmosphere to build an effective
teacher–parent relationship. A principal sets a tone for the school by establishing a positive
atmosphere for stakeholders and helping out teachers and parents to obtain the required
skills to work collectively towards realising the students’ success (Schechter and Shaked,
2017). In this regard, prior studies revealed that the support received from the leader for
ideas was positively related to staff creativity (Oldham and Cummings, 1996; Wang et al.,
2010). Hoover‐Dempsey et al. (2005) recommended that when the principal is more visible,
dynamic, and effective in supporting parent–teacher relationship, the school is more likely
to build solid programmes for the parents and community to participate.
According to Kelchtermans et al. (2011), a principal is viewed as a person who stands at
the school doorstep, connecting the internal and external school community. It is a
challenging accomplishment for the principal to bridge the connection between the internal
and external school communities, as they often have different demands, opinions,
expectations, and goals (Kelchtermans et al., 2011; Botha, 2013; Schechter and Shaked, 2017).
Moreover, the present role of a principal is generally judged by the ability of the principal to
preserve harmony among school stakeholders and school community (Kowalski, 2010).
Effective school leadership can have a direct positive effect on parental involvement in
schools. Thus, this shows that parental involvement in schools can be achieved when the
principals have creative ways to initiate and monitor partnership programmes and activities
for the parents to participate. This would provide opportunities for parents to be involved in
school-based activities with the aim to improve the students’ achievement. As a result, one
of the key aspirations of the Malaysian Government is to restructure the education system
based on the highest standards with good quality educational leadership. Therefore, the
following hypothesis was proposed:
H1. The role of creativity in principals’ leadership practices has a significant influence on
parental involvement.

2.2 The mediating role of school practices in the relationship between the role of creativity
in principals’ leadership practices and parental involvement
Significant evidence indicated the major role of principals in planning and initiating
activities and strategies for parental involvement at the school level (see Shannon and
Bylsma, 2007; Lloyd-Smith and Baron, 2010; Barr and Saltmarsh, 2014; Lazaridou and
Kassida, 2015; Povey et al., 2016; Robinson and Fevre, 2011). Similarly, the results of
meta-analysis studies indicated that principals’ leadership was significantly related to the
effort of schools to involve parents in school events (see Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler, 1997;
Fan and Chen, 2001; Griffith, 2001; Hill and Tyson, 2009; Jeynes, 2011).
School practices were also found to affect the outcomes of parental involvement, such as
students’ attitude and high rate of homework completion (Dauber and Epstein, 1993),
reduced absenteeism (Hamid et al., 2011; Lazaridou and Kassida, 2015), increased student
achievement ( Jeynes, 2011), and enhanced school programmes (Henderson and Mapp, 2002;
Epstein, 2008). The variable of school practices was chosen as one of the independent
variables in this study given its link to the effort of schools to address a meaningful parental
IJEM partnership in the school system by educating parents, communicating school programmes,
33,6 assisting and supporting parents at home, encouraging parents to volunteer, providing
information and ideas on interactive activities, bringing in parents as school
representatives, and collaborating with the community to fortify school programmes
based on Epstein’s six types of parental involvement practices.
With respect to the Generativity Theory, Epstein et al. (2013) highlighted the importance
1356 of a leader to preserve ideas by providing essential training for the subordinates. Therefore,
trained teachers will be able to distinguish the inputs received and develop their skills
through the training. As a result, trained teachers are able to expand these ideas through
programmes designed to enhance parents’ skills and competencies in student’s academic
and social development. It may be necessary for the principals to apprehend the roles of
teachers in developing parental involvement activities and motivating parents to be more
involved (Lloyd-Smith, 2008; Lloyd-Smith and Baron, 2010). The participation of parents
increases when principals actively implant the school vision that values the role of parents
in educating their children (Mleczko and Kington, 2013). This creates a challenging task for
teachers to accomplish the goals of working together and supporting parental involvement
in schools. The principals also need to set a good example and manage teachers’ creativity
skills (Epstein et al., 2013), which encourage certain qualities that support creativity in the
workplace and embolden trust among teachers. Moreover, it is important that principals
encourage teachers to optimise and broaden their teaching and learning activities by
collaborating with parents as part of the learning activities ( Jeynes, 2011; Costa and Faria,
2017). This periphery can be improved by encouraging parents and community to work
together as volunteers in organising school-based activities as well as assisting parents
using specific strategies and approaches to accommodate in the classroom or school.
One of the key responsibilities of a leader is to provide adequate resources and manage
teams efficiently (Epstein et al., 2013). Providing adequate resources to teachers and school
personnel helps them to develop ideas better, which allow them to work collaboratively with
the parents. With adequate resources, it is essential for teachers to assist and facilitate school–
parent partnership programmes by sharing information sharing, utilising professional
networks to obtain information, planning and developing activities, and maintaining their
knowledge base (Epstein, 2008; Olsen and Fuller, 2008). Since entering the information age, the
World Wide Web (WWW) has opened many avenues of communication between home and
school. The internet and e-mails have joined the ranks of being one of the most used methods
among teachers to build rich partnerships between home and school (Olmstead, 2013; Rode,
2014; Jeynes, 2018). Robust resources such as ICT tools enable parents and community to
communicate with school easily.
Besides that, Meier and Lemmer (2015) conducted a cross-sectional survey among parents
over two consecutive years from 2012 to 2013 in a public primary school in Gauteng, South
Africa. The purpose of the survey was to identify the perceptions of parents on their children’s
schooling. The results indicated that parents generally felt satisfied with the school culture,
home-school communication, classroom instruction and classroom organisation. However, Meier
and Lemmer (2015) claimed that parents were concerned about the ways to assist their children
at home, academic achievement opportunities, and their social and emotional wellbeing at school.
This led to the suggestion that schools should regularly improve and emphasise two-way
communication with parents. Furthermore, other significant studies also revealed that the key
propeller to improve parental involvement in school is through communication (Lazaridou and
Kassida, 2015; Jeynes, 2018). The most fertile ground in maintaining positive relationship with
parents is through communication, which greatly contributes to school-related outcomes as well
as creating caring and responsive school environment (Lazaridou and Kassida, 2015; Povey et al.,
2016). Giving parents the authority in decision making on their children’s schooling life carries a
great weight on parental involvement (Epstein et al., 2009; Costa and Faria, 2017).
 It was deemed appropriate to conclude that one of the essential factors that influence Principals’
parental involvement in secondary schools is the school practices. Therefore, schools must leadership
emphasise practices that engage parents in schools. Based on the literature review and practices
justification provided, the following hypotheses were proposed for testing:
H2a. The role of creativity in principals’ leadership practices has a positive relationship
with school practices.
H2b. School practices have a positive relationship with parental involvement.
1357
H2c. School practices mediate the relationship between the role of creativity in
principals’ leadership practices and parental involvement.

2.3 The mediating role of school climate in the relationship between the role of creativity in
principals’ leadership practices and parental involvement
Over the past decades, substantial attention has been given to school leadership. Generally,
school leaders or principals are seen as the linchpin of school effectiveness and success
(Sammons et al., 1995; Shannon and Bylsma, 2007; Ghani, 2014). Their role in fostering and
encouraging a positive school climate for students, educators, parents and stakeholders is
seen essential, especially in conveying the school mission and vision of the way a school
should be (Keyes, 2000; Pashiardis, 2000).
According to Tajasom and Ahmad (2011), the principals’ leadership practices were found
positively related to school climate, which demonstrates a significant influence on student
outcomes and work involvement. Their exploratory study, which involved 141 teachers from
17 urban secondary schools in northern Malaysia, reported a positive association between
transformational leadership and three main school climate dimensions out of six (Affiliation:
r ¼ 0.2243, po0.01; Professional interest: r ¼ 0.324, po0.01; Innovations: r ¼ 0.269, po0.01).
Meanwhile, transactional leadership was not affected by the school climate. Most studies with
diverse samples from various countries discovered that school principals did not directly
influence parental involvement, but indirectly cultivated a dynamic school climate (Alhosani
et al., 2017). Similarly, Povey et al. (2016) found that “creating a respectful and welcoming
environment” was most likely to be rated as effective in creating an effective partnership.
This is consistent with the findings of prior studies on school leadership and school climate
(see Rosenblatt and Peled, 2002; Mohd Yusoff and Saidin, 2017; Cohen et al., 2009; Tajasom
and Ahmad, 2011; Birds et al., 2012; Lope Pihie and Bagheri, 2012; Pourrajab et al., 2015).
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory emphasised the importance of direct and indirect
influences on layers of the environment in learner’s life (Keyes, 2000). A possible justification
for its influence is that principals who desire to improve their school climate may be
required to display both high task-oriented behaviours and high relationship behaviours
with their teachers and parents. Prior studies equally accentuated the magnitude of the
leadership approach of principals to develop a positive school climate, which consequently
increases parental involvement (Lunenburg and Ornstein, 2011; Ellis et al., 2013;
Pourrajab et al., 2015).
The school climate was listed as one of the recently developed SARANA Sekolah
standards and became the primary focus of MoE initiatives to enhance parental
involvement in primary and secondary schools (MEB, 2013; SARANA Sekolah, 2013). These
initiatives encourage creative and innovative planning at the school level. As a result,
“Excellent PTA Award” is given to schools that have effective designs, plans, and school
programmes for school/family/community partnerships. The characteristics and practices
displayed by the schools build the climate of the school. Principals who practice an open
door policy would create a positive school climate that is able to foster effective school
programmes for the development of successful school–parent partnerships.
IJEM Hence, the following hypotheses were proposed based on the literature review:
33,6 H3a. The role of creativity in principals’ leadership practices has a positive relationship
with school climate.
H3b. School climate has a positive relationship with parental involvement.
H3c. School climate mediates the relationship between the role of creativity in principals’
1358 leadership practices and parental involvement.

3. The proposed model

This paper proposed a conceptual framework to analyse factors that influence parental
involvement in Malaysia’s daily secondary schools (see Figure 1). The proposed model was
based on the six proposed hypotheses in the prior section. H1 explained the role of creativity
in principals’ leadership practices, which was proposed to have a positive relationship with
parental involvement. However, in order to enhance the hypothesised relationship in H1, it
was proposed that school practices and school climate mediate the relationship between the
role of creativity in principals’ leadership practices and parental involvement (i.e. H2c and
H3c). A considerable amount of studies that indicated the connectivity between the role of
creativity in principals’ leadership practices and school practices was reviewed for the
development of H2a. Moreover, the available literature also pointed out that school practices
have a significant linkage with parental involvement (H2b). H3a referred to the significant
and positive relationship between the role of creativity in principals’ leadership practices
and school climate. The important relationship between school climate and parental
involvement was indicated in past studies (H3b). These six hypotheses were reflected in the
proposed model of parental involvement, as displayed in Figure 1. This proposed
framework described the factors that influence parental involvement in secondary schools,
including the mediating role of school practices and school climate in the relationship
between the role of creativity in principals’ leadership practices and parental involvement.
It should be noted that all the mentioned variables are linked to parental involvement.
Accordingly, the tendency for parents to be involved in schools increases when principals
initiate to carry out activities that encourage them to be involved (Vaden-Kiernan, 2005;
Jeynes, 2011; 2018; Kandasamy et al., 2016). Previous studies reported that perceived school
leadership was positively related to parental involvement (see Mleczko and Kington, 2013;
Boatwright, 2014; Povey et al., 2016). Jeynes (2018) argued that the involvement of parents at
school and home depends on the role of the principal in organising and executing the plans.
It is the responsibility of the principal to encourage strong partnerships among families,
teachers and students. Therefore, it is essential for a school leader to collaborate with

H2c
School Practices

H2a H2b
The role of
creativity in
H1 Parental
principals’
leadership Involvement
Figure 1. practices
A conceptual H3a
H3b
model with factors
that influence
parental involvement School Climate
H3c
teachers and initiate programmes creatively and innovatively in order to encourage parental Principals’
involvement, especially when it involves adolescent autonomy. leadership
The school climate was embedded in school organisational networks. Despite the focus practices
of various empirical studies on school climate, relatively few studies explored the
relationship between school leadership and school climate (Dinham et al., 1995; Henderson
and Mapp, 2002; Pashiardis, 2000; Schaedel et al., 2015). School climate is often targeted in
programmes that are designed to promote parental involvement and their children’s 1359
academic, social, emotional development and to avert disciplinary issues (Henderson and
Mapp, 2002; Bear et al., 2015; Lazaridou and Kassida, 2015; Povey et al., 2016). Studies
showed that strategies initiated by principals to create a positive school climate can
facilitate family partnerships (Henderson and Mapp, 2002). Parents’ perceptions change
when schools, especially teachers, make the effort to contact them via e-mail, phone calls,
memo and letters (Vaden-Kiernan, 2005). This creates a welcoming situation whereby
parents feel wanted and comfortable to communicate with the school personnel.

4. Conclusions
Based on prior data-driven studies, efforts were made in this study to understand the factors
that influence parental involvement in secondary schools. School is an open system
institution that receives influence from its surrounding. Parents are naturally part of the
school community. This predictive model accentuates a comparison of the role of creativity
in principals’ leadership practices, school practices, school climate and parental
involvement. It can be said that the proposed factors contribute an important impact on
parental involvement in secondary schools. Considerable evidence from numerous studies
were used to propose six hypotheses, which were later used as a basis to test the validity
and salience of the proposed conceptual model. In a nutshell, the proposed model, as
illustrated in Figure 1, has yet to be tested empirically, but it can help the school community
to identify potential new casual mechanisms that enhance parental involvement.

5. Implications
The proposed conceptual model in this study has implications for both academics
and practice.

5.1 Academic implications

Addressing the recent educational needs and demands, the findings of this study can assist
principals to embrace creativity in their leadership approach. It would be an eye-opener for
school leaders to cultivate these practices in their daily role to direct changes, cultivate
problem skills, and execute creativity in their leadership approach. In the current school
settings, conflict is known as a potential catalyst for the institution to improve, while the
underlying stress demands in favour of changes, which are more palatable for many
stakeholders in schools. Hence, it is important for the principals to navigate between the
school and parents, especially in planning, developing, monitoring and evaluating the
initiatives and strategies taken to enhance parental involvement, as well as to maintain
unity among school community and stakeholders.
Most importantly, the findings of this study can be utilised by school leaders and school
members on its applicability and effectiveness to improve parental involvement in
secondary schools by taking hold of the existing school–parent partnership and evaluating
those settings that lead to active and continuous parental involvement in schools.
Additionally, this study elicits the suitability of schools to expand their horizons by
improving their current strategies of involving parents as part of the school community.
IJEM It can also foster and facilitate meaningful parental involvement in schools across urban and
33,6 rural areas in Malaysia.
Therefore, the teacher–parent and school–parent relationships are central to the realisation
of a positive school climate. Gradually, parents would also be able to suit accordingly and have
a better understanding of how the school operates, apart from valuing the quality and
character of the school life. Parents, teachers, and school personnel should be well-prepared
1360 in assisting one another on issues related to students’ academic, disciplinary problems,
volunteerism, school governance and opportunities provided by the community. This study
offers a clear path to schools, teachers, and parents on ways to augment the partnership for the
benefit of the children; thus paving the way towards a collaborative culture.

5.2 Practical implications

Form the theoretical point of view, the present study uses a different approach to gain new
insights into parental involvement research, pertaining to student’s academic, emotional, and
social development. This research will also make a clear path to schools, teachers, and parents
on ways to augment the partnership for the benefit of the children, thus paving the way
towards a collaborative culture. Accordingly, this study expects to add value to the Malaysia
Blueprint 2013–2025 and SARANA Sekolah policy. The output of this study would serve as an
evidential base, especially by putting the policy into practice and ensuring the policy execution
goes as planned. Moreover, it would build further discussion on the reform taken towards
improving and developing the existing policy on the involvement of parents in secondary
schools. The framework of this study sheds light on secondary schools to take into account the
creativity role in principals’ leadership practices, school practices, and the importance of school
climate intended for planning, preparing, and implementing programmes that enhance the
participation of parents as effective school partners.

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Further reading Principals’
Al-Taneiji, S. (2013), “The role of leadership in engaging parents in United Arab Emirate schools”, leadership
International Education Studies, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 153-165. practices
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and Learning, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 57-76, available at: www.pakeys.org/uploadedContent/Docs/
Higher%20Ed/Quick%20Parent%20Involvement%20for%20Marginalized%20Families.pdf
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to support family involvement”, Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, TX.
Hamlin, D. and Flessa, J. (2016), “Parental involvement initiatives: an analysis”, Educational Policy,
pp. 1-13, doi: 110.1177/0895904816673739.
Harris, A. and Goodall, J. (2008), “Do parents know they matter? Engaging all parents in learning”,
Educational Research, Vol. 50 No. 3, pp. 277-289, doi: 10.1080/00131880802309424.
Thapa, A., Cohen, J., Guffey, S. and Higgins-D’Alessandro, A. (2013), “A review of school climate
research”, Review of Educational Research, Vol. 83 No. 3, pp. 357-385.

Corresponding author
A. Keetanjaly can be contacted at: keetanjaly@gmail.com

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