The Role of Home-Based Parental Involvement in Student Learning in Cambodian Secondary Schools

This study investigates the influence of home-based parental involvement on secondary school students’ academic achievement, accounting for factors including gender, grade, repetition, siblings, parental literacy, working in paid jobs, family resources, school type, and location. It focuses primarily on four activities at home, namely (a) discussing school performance, (b) eating meals together, (c) encouraging children to get good grades, and (d) talking about future education with children at varying frequency levels. It uses Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) to assess the associations between these activities and academic outcomes. The findings reveal that activities such as discussing a child’s performance, eating meals together, and encouraging children positively correlate with test scores. In contrast, frequent discussions regarding future educational plans are negatively associated with academic achievement. These results underscore the nuanced influence of home-based parental involvement on educational outcomes, providing evidence to inform targeted parental engagement strategies in the context of developing countries.