Educational Statistics

Topics of Parent Education Needed by Parents

Author: Park Keun-Young (Researcher, KEDI)

 

Almost every modern nation implements a public education system as compulsory education, and thus, parents formally entrust their children’s education to schools and teachers for a certain period of time. However, one cannot overlook the fact that ‘parents’ are included among the three key agents of education, along with students and teachers, who directly engage in teaching and learning. In other words, parents are indispensable participants who must actively engage in the entire educational process in order for today’s public education system to function ideally.

 

In reality, efforts to define parents’ role as agents of education and to provide adequate policy support have been insufficient (Lee Hee-hyun et al., 2024). Recently, however, the necessity of parent education has been emphasized, leading to growing public interest and increasing research on the subject (Hwang Min-seon, 2025). This paper seeks to examine, among the various themes or contents of parent education, which areas are perceived as relatively more important by each educational agent (parents and teachers), based on recent research finding.

 

The first study to review is the “Study on Strengthening Parent Education” conducted in 2019 by the Seoul Educational Research & Information Institute under the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education. The study surveyed 330 teachers and 660 parents through an online questionnaire. After presenting specific contents of parent education, the study measured levels of agreement on a five-point scale.

 

 

The results showed that, among the 9 themes, excluding ‘others,’ the area with the highest parental agreement was ‘Children’s Career/Academic Path and Aptitude’ (mean score: 4.50). This was followed by ‘Desirable Parenting’ (4.47), then ‘Children’s Character Education’ and ‘Rights and Responsibilities in Child Education.’ In contrast, ‘Education on Community, including Multicultural Acceptance,’ was the only theme scoring below 4.0 (3.96), while ‘Democratic Citizenship Education’ also recorded relatively low agreement compared to other topics.

 

Teachers also considered ‘Children’s Career/Academic Path and Aptitude’ (4.55) most important, followed by ‘Children’s Character Education’ (4.44) and ‘Desirable Parenting’ (4.34). These top 3 themes were largely consistent with the parents’ rankings. An interesting finding was that although teachers generally showed lower or similar agreement levels than parents across most items, in the top two areas, they expressed distinctly higher agreement than parents. Another notable difference was in ‘Consideration and Sharing as Democratic Citizens,’ where parents rated it near the lowest (8th), whereas teachers placed it relatively higher (=6th). Aside from such differences, the perceptions of parents and teachers on the importance of parent education were very similar overall, as evidenced by the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient (Spearman’s Rho) of 0.933.

How do these tendencies appear in more recent, nationwide studies?

presents results from the “Study on the Status and Needs of Parent Education Participation” conducted in 2024 by the Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI). The study surveyed 1,500 parents of elementary, middle, and high school students nationwide to assess their participation status and needs regarding parent education. Participation intention for each proposed topic was measured on a 5-point scale. Although the items and topics presented differ somewhat from the 2019 Seoul study, the general purpose – identifying what content is needed for parent education – remains consistent.

 

 

The survey showed that the topic with the highest parental intention to participate was ‘(Children’s) Career/Academic Path and Learning’ (4.1), identical to the top result in the 2019 Seoul study. The next highest was ‘(Children’s) Mental Health and Counseling Guidance’ (4.0), which is broadly similar in content and purpose to ‘Desirable Parenting’ and ‘Children’s Character Education’ that was ranked 2nd ~ 3rd in 2019. By contrast, the lowest participation intention was for ‘Parent Education for Multicultural, Special Education, and Single-Parent Families’ (3.1), likely because respondents felt the topic did not directly apply to them or was less relevant to their circumstances. This mirrors the 2019 finding where ‘Community Engagement, including Multicultural Acceptance’ was rated the least necessary by both parents and teachers, with mean scores in the 3-point range.

 

Another noteworthy finding is the shift regarding digital education. In 2019, ‘4th Industrial Revolution and Artificial Intelligence’ related education was ranked near the bottom (7th among parents, 8th among teachers). However, in 2024 survey, participation intention in Digital Literacy (Smart Education, Game Addiction, Internet Ethics) ranked relatively high (3.7 points, 6th place). This reflects the growing social and educational interest in digital technologies over recent years and suggests that demand and interest in parent education topics can evolve with the times.

 

                                                                

[References]

● Lee Hee-hyun, Kim Rang, Lee Seon-young, Lee Jin-woo, and Kim Eun-young (2024). Study on the Status and Needs of Parent Education Participation (Policy Report OR 2024-04). Korean Educational Development Institute.

● Seoul Educational Research & Information Institute, Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (2019). Study on Strengthening Parent Education, SERI 2019-34.

● Hwang Min-seon (2025). Analysis of Research Trend in Parent Education Using Text Mining, Journal of Parent Education, 22(1): 111-138.