Ouerbegeleiding — 'n opgawe vir opvoedkundige sielkundigesParental guidance — a task for educational psychologists

Abstract

Parental guidance within specific educational settings requires distinct emphasis because of parents' unique needs. In order to guide and assist white Afrikaans-speaking Christian parents effectively, it is necessary, firstly, to determine the nature and content of such intervention. This is possible only if the parents' needs regarding the education of their children are known. For this reason, white Afrikaansspeaking Christian parents' needs regarding general educational matters and their need for Christian-based parental guidance on the spiritual education of their children were investigated, with the aim of determining the impact their needs may have in respect of the practice of educational psychology. The data collected indicated that white Afrikaans-speaking Christian parents have a very strong need for guidance regarding the discipline and spiritual education of, and communication with, their children, whilst they appear to have little need for guidance concerning political issues. These findings necessitate that educational psychologists note these parents' strong, weak or divergent parental guidance needs. Educational psychologists should also consider, from the perspective of their field of speciality, which educational matters should be addressed during intervention with these parents, even though these matters are not specifically indicated by the parents as a particular need (such as the political issues). Furthermore, in the event that educational psychologists are not (or do not feel themselves) able to assist these parents on a spiritual level, they should refer them to a Christian counsellor.

South African Journal of Education Vol. 26(2) 2006: 319–332