Insights and Challenges for Educational Leaders Supporting Families in Home Reading Practices

Abstract

Educational leadership plays a pivotal role in fostering effective home reading practices for families with children in kindergarten to Grade 2. This study examines the literacy environments of 135 families across four schools and includes in-depth interviews with 20 parents to identify key challenges in early reading development. The findings reveal that many parents struggle with supporting their children in decoding unfamiliar words, establishing consistent reading habits, and understanding the reading acquisition process. The research highlights the need for targeted guidance and structured strategies to enhance home literacy practices. School leaders and educators are essential in bridging the gap between classroom instruction and home reading support. By strengthening family–school partnerships, enhancing parental engagement, and implementing sustainable systems, educational leaders can empower families and improve early reading outcomes. This study provides practical recommendations for school leaders and administrators to create environments that support collaborative reading efforts, ensuring that children receive the necessary reinforcement both in school and at home.

1. Introduction

The development of a child’s reading skill relies not only on effective instruction at school but also on extensive exposure to diverse print materials outside the academic setting. The variety and frequency of such experiences significantly contribute to reading fluency (Castles et al., 2018). Prior research has consistently demonstrated a positive correlation between the time children spend reading outside school and their reading proficiency (Anderson et al., 1988; Cunningham & Stanovich, 1997; Mol & Bus, 2011). Families play a pivotal role in offering time, encouragement, and guidance, fostering an environment conducive to a child’s reading practice. Substantial evidence supports the positive impact of the home environment on children’s language and reading skills (Bracken & Fischel, 2008; Melhuish et al., 2008; Sénéchal & LeFevre, 2014; Silinskas et al., 2012).

The investigation of home literary environments has become a topic of global interest, with pioneering research from Canada and the US complemented by recent contributions from Europe, Asia, and Australia. The primary focus of these studies revolves around the factors within the home that enhance children’s reading abilities. Two broad categories encompass these factors: the reading activities families undertake and the parental beliefs and attitudes that support reading. This paper will delve into each of these categories sequentially.

1.1. Reading Related Activities

Shared book reading, a cornerstone of the home literacy environment, has consistently demonstrated positive effects on children’s emergent skills (Bus et al., 1995; Lonigan & Whitehurst, 1998; Niklas et al., 2016). Recognizing the complexity of home learning beyond shared book reading, Sénéchal and LeFevre (2002, 2014) created the Home Literacy Model, classifying parental activities into formal and informal categories. They suggest that these activities contribute differently to a child’s development. Formal activities center on print, where parents tutor children on tasks such as letter-sound correspondence, fostering emergent skills like decoding. Informal activities, like shared reading, emphasize the story over print and assist in oral language development, crucial for comprehension skills. Studies have corroborated the distinctive roles parents adopt, with more passive activities like reading to a child having a lesser impact on reading mechanics than active parental tutoring and child–print interaction (Sénéchal & Young, 2008; Silinskas et al., 2020b; Skwarchuk et al., 2014). Nevertheless, continued research is crucial, as recent findings from Finland suggest that both shared reading and parental teaching in kindergarten predict children’s future independent reading (Silinskas et al., 2020a).

Current research also indicates that parental roles are dynamic rather than fixed, adapting to the child’s needs and characteristics. Parents modify their reading behavior based on the child’s reading interest (Boerma et al., 2018; Martini & Sénéchal, 2012) and literacy ability (Majorano & Lavelli, 2014; Sénéchal & LeFevre, 2014; Silinskas et al., 2020a, 2021). For instance, Sénéchal and LeFevre (2014) discovered that parents amplified their literacy teaching efforts when a child lagged expectations from Grade 1 onwards and reduced their teaching when a child exceeded reading norms. This finding suggests that parents consciously gauge their child’s reading proficiency and adjust their support accordingly.

In summary, these studies suggest that parental support varies and evolves based on the child’s perceived needs, age, and skill development. While our understanding of this reciprocal parent–child relationship has expanded, less is known about the quality of parent–child interactions and parents’ sentiments about their supportive roles.

1.2. Parental Beliefs and Attitudes

The activities parents participate in, formal or otherwise, are largely shaped by their attitudes and beliefs concerning their role (role construction) and their perceived ability (self-efficacy) to perform that role (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1995). Factors such as parents’ value for reading, expectations for their child, and self-efficacy are all generally dictated by their beliefs and attitudes. Positive attitudes towards literacy (Skwarchuk et al., 2014), constructive early parent–child interactions (Baker & Scher, 2002; Niklas et al., 2020; Sonnenschein & Munsterman, 2002), and the encouragement of reading (Weigel et al., 2006) all correspond to more frequent reading engagement. On the contrary, negative attitudes towards reading, low self-efficacy, and negative parental involvement are associated with diminished child academic performance and emergent skills (Dobbs-Oates et al., 2015; Pomerantz & Moorman, 2010; Yeo et al., 2014). Martini and Sénéchal (2012) crucially found that parents’ insufficient knowledge of reading instruction negatively affected their teaching frequency.

Yeo et al. (2014) suggest that parents’ self-efficacy and belief in an enjoyable reading experience are indicative of children’s reading competence and interest. Higher parental self-efficacy predicted more direct engagement and support for their child’s skills. Positive engagement with a child, rather than disciplining during reading, was also linked to stronger skills in their Singaporean study. Parents’ own reading history and past school experience were shown to influence their beliefs and attitudes. Myrtil et al. (2019) revealed in a study of low-income rural families that the home literacy environment suffered significantly when parents had a history of reading difficulty. This situation led to less interest in reading for the child and fewer opportunities to participate in literacy activities, despite not affecting library use or book access. Weigel et al. (2006) further substantiate the consideration of parents’ personal history, associating parents’ positive school experiences and literacy skills with higher child language ability.

While children’s language skills have been linked to parents’ demographic characteristics (Bennett et al., 2002; Davis-Kean, 2005; Weigel et al., 2006), other research has also connected parental beliefs (DeBaryshe, 1995) and attitudes with family socioeconomic status (Niklas et al., 2020). Niklas et al. (2020), in their longitudinal German study, found that not only did parents with a more positive attitude towards shared reading provide a higher quality home learning environment, but that parents from higher socioeconomic backgrounds also exhibited more positive attitudes. Parental beliefs about literacy milestones their child should achieve also correlated with the frequency of parental teaching, with attained benchmarks at the end of kindergarten predicting reduced parental teaching (Silinskas et al., 2021).

This research underscores the multifaceted nature of family involvement in reading, with factors such as parents’ self-efficacy, their expectations for their child’s ability, and their own reading history shaping their engagement. Understanding these dynamics is crucial not only for educators but also for educational leaders, who play a pivotal role in fostering collaboration between schools and families. By championing policies and practices that support family engagement, educational leaders can bridge gaps, enhance literacy outcomes, and ensure that every child has the foundation for reading success.

1.3. Research Gap

The existing literature, based exclusively on quantitative studies, consistently illustrates that the frequency and nature of parental activities at home can predict children’s literacy development. It also suggests that parental beliefs and attitudes contribute to, and are associated with, at-home literacy activities. However, current research focuses primarily on characterizing these home environment features, rather than exploring parents’ perspectives, particularly regarding any challenges they might encounter while interacting with their child. Despite this information gap, schools and individual teachers often actively promote and expect parental involvement in reading at home (Colgate & Ginns, 2016; Colgate et al., 2017), without a clear understanding of how parents respond to these expectations. This study, employing a qualitative approach, offers an original contribution by delving into how parents manage the literacy support encouraged by schools, and the issues they confront. Given the exploratory nature of this study, three research questions were formulated:

• How do parents perceive their role in assisting their child’s reading development?
• How capable do parents feel about supporting their child’s reading skills?
• Which aspects of home literacy support do parents find most challenging, and where do they seek additional help from their schools?

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Recruitment

This study took place in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. After obtaining ethical clearance from the University of Victoria and the participating school board’s approval, four interested school principals were briefed about the study details. The researchers conducted presentations for teachers from kindergarten to Grade 2 in these schools to explain the study’s purpose and address any queries.

Recruitment commenced with teachers distributing an information sheet, a consent form, and a home literacy survey to the students’ families. There were no exclusion or inclusion criteria, with grandparents and other family members welcomed in lieu of parents. Families willing to participate returned the signed consent form and the completed survey to their classroom teacher, who subsequently passed them on to the researchers. Parents with more than one child in the relevant grades or with twins were requested to select one child and respond with that child in mind.

Participating families were invited to attend a series of three workshops on growth mindset, sourcing and selecting reading materials, and fostering a supportive reading environment. Subsequently, they were also invited for in-depth interviews, with 20 families consenting to participate—7 each from two schools and 3 each from the remaining two schools.

In this respect volunteer sampling was used in this study as all parents were invited to participate, but only those who chose to opt-in were included. This method was selected because it allowed for the recruitment of engaged and willing participants while ensuring ethical and low-coercion involvement. One key advantage of volunteer sampling is that it is easy to implement, cost-effective, and enables access to motivated participants who can provide rich insights into parental involvement in literacy.

2.2. Participants

The study involved 135 families who attended the workshops and completed the home literacy survey, an anonymous questionnaire designed to gather background data and information on home literacy practices. The participating families had children in different grades: 30% in kindergarten, 38% in Grade 1, and 32% in Grade 2. Most of the survey respondents were mothers, accounting for 90% of the sample. The age distribution of parents was as follows: 67% were between 36 and 45 years old, 24% fell in the 26–35 age group, and 9% were in the 46–55 age range. In terms of child gender, slightly more than half of the respondents (54%) completed the survey for a boy.

The participating parents generally had a high level of education: 1% had not finished high school, 21% were high school graduates, 24% held a college diploma or certificate, and 54% had at least a university degree. Much of the sample (86%) reported that English was the primary language spoken at home. When it came to library usage, nearly half of the families (46%) reported visiting the library once or twice a month, and 24% claimed weekly visits. Concerning access to books, including library books at the time of the survey, 32% of the families reported having between 51 and 100 children’s books, and a further 54% estimated owning 100+ children’s books at home.

2.3. Qualitative Interviews

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 family members, including 16 mothers and 4 fathers. These interviews, each lasting approximately 45 min, involved families with children across the three grades: one child in kindergarten, 11 children in Grade 1, and 8 in Grade 2, comprising 9 girls and 11 boys. The broad interview guide (available in Appendix A) facilitated open sharing of experiences and perspectives from the parents.

Interviews were recorded and supplemented by fieldnotes. Transcription occurred immediately after each session. The interview structure started with general questions, progressively focusing on specific content. Probing questions were used for clarification or to delve deeper into certain points. Periodically, participants were prompted to share any additional experiences.

The interviews, although simple in structure, focused on essential aspects, such as families’ perception of their role in supporting their child’s reading, their assessment of home reading progress, and the challenges they faced in providing support.

Data analysis adopted a thematic approach, appreciated for its systematic, rigorous, and transparent nature, as well as its simplicity, flexibility, and inductive process (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The process involved multiple readings of transcripts, initial coding of noteworthy data segments, and identification of broader patterns of meaning to generate potential themes. Some of these themes were consolidated, others were further divided, and some were discarded due to insufficient supporting data.

A second researcher, from a different academic background, independently analyzed the transcripts, providing alternative insights and challenging initial assumptions. Together, the researchers discussed their findings, continuously referencing the original data, until an agreed upon refined list of themes was established. Each theme was then further clarified and aptly named to capture a specific aspect of the data.

2.4. Reflexivity Statement

The authors acknowledge that they enter this research with prior knowledge of the science of reading and its evidence-based principles. They recognize that these principles are not always consistently applied in the school settings of the study’s participants. Specifically, approaches such as the 3-cueing system and Reading Recovery, which have limited support in current research, are known to be in use in these schools. Given this background, the researcher remained reflexive throughout the study to ensure that data analysis and interpretation were guided by the participants’ lived experiences rather than personal perspectives. To enhance rigor, several strategies were employed, including critical self-reflection, engaging a third researcher in data analysis, and maintaining an open dialogue about assumptions and potential biases throughout the research process.

3. Results

3.1. Theme 1: My Child Resorts to Guessing Unfamiliar Words

Through the interviews, parents expressed apprehension over their child’s limited problem-solving strategies for reading difficult words, resulting in the child frequently guessing the words. This theme was raised by 45% of the interviewees (9 out of 20). A related subtheme focused on how this habit led to the child’s reading frustrations. Both the theme and subtheme are further explored below.

Nine out of 20 parents (45%) acknowledged that their child fell short of adequate strategies when encountering unreadable words, some thought their child had no strategies at all to decipher words. The limited tactics parents noted typically involved guessing words (occasionally using the first letter) or using accompanying illustrations to anticipate the words. A mother of a second grader stated, “I would like to know how I could help him sounding out words so he will remember to break up the sounds in a word. He forgets words he just read within seconds, and he uses the pictures to guess words.” (Participant 11). The reliance on images instead of the letter-sound code was a recurrent concern among these parents. The mother of another second grader mentioned, “My child looks at the pictures and guesses and says sounds and words which aren’t there because she isn’t looking at the letters. I am lost on how to help her”. (Participant 4). Similar sentiments were echoed by another mother of a first grader, who noted her daughter’s primary strategy was to guess the words. She stated, “My main concern for my daughter is her strategy of guessing the words and not sounding them out. She looks all over the place, looks at the pictures and guesses what it might say instead of looking at the letters and it is not even close to what it should be.” (Participant 20). This child, as the mother reported, was a reluctant reader who often became upset during their reading sessions.

A third of these parents suggested sounding out the words when their child could not read them, but felt their child lacked the skills to execute this strategy. One mother of a second grader emphasized the disconnect between her own and her child’s reading strategies, expressing her frustration, “When my son went to school to learn to read, the teachers talked about chunky monkey, and slippery snake, all of these things. So, I am saying ‘sound it out’ to my son, and he is saying, ‘I don’t know what you are talking about’. He doesn’t know what I am talking about, and I don’t know what he is talking about, and I don’t know how to help him to read, but at the same time, the school is saying, ‘Help your son to read’.” (Participant 11). Another parent, a university graduate who enjoys reading, felt conflicted about her child’s reading strategies, noting that her older child frequently contradicts the home approach to reading homework with, “we don’t do it that way at school”. (Participant 18). A parent of a first grader lamented her son’s lack of knowledge of the letter-sound rules stating, “He wrote a story for his teacher recently but there were no real words in it. And when we play hangman, when it is his turn, he makes up words with letters that make no sense.” (Participant 19).

Subtheme: My Child’s Difficulties with Reading Tough Words Leads to Frustrations. Nearly half (40%) of the parents revealed that their child’s reading sessions were marked with frustration, often associated with their child’s guessing approach to reading. A mother of a second grader, who found her daughter’s reading sessions only sporadically enjoyable, mentioned, “At night I find she lashes out in frustration if she struggles on a bigger word and doesn’t want to try and sound it out on her own.” (Participant 10). Another parent described the challenge of getting her daughter to practice reading due to her intense dislike of it and associated frustration, “My daughter won’t read for me, my husband, or grandma. We can’t get her to practice because she just hates it. She gets very frustrated when she can’t read the words and angry with me when I try to help.” (Participant 20). A middle school teacher, whose first grader once loved books but had grown to dislike reading, expressed her concern, “He never hated books before, but now that he is at a spot where he is supposed to be reading, he hates it…. For kids like him who struggle with reading or who have taken a bit longer to learn, how do you keep them from getting frustrated? Reading feels like we are butting our head against a wall and getting nowhere.” (Participant 3). This child was receiving extra reading support through Reading Recovery at school but was removed from the programme due to lack of progress. A father, sharing his frustrations regarding his kindergarten daughter’s reading approach, admitted, “My daughter doesn’t focus on the letters and tends to guess a lot without paying much attention to the text. I need to learn how to support and encourage her because sometimes I lose my patience which doesn’t help.” (Participant 2).

3.2. Theme 2: Parental Challenges in Encouraging Children to Read at Home

Over half of the participants, 55% (11 out of 20), voiced concerns about their child’s lack of interest in reading at home, seeking insights on how to motivate their child to read more frequently. Aware of the vital role practice plays in reading proficiency, parents expressed worry when their child showed reluctance, or in some cases, outright resistance towards reading at home. Furthermore, parents discussed various strategies they employed to combat this reluctance, the success of which varied. Among the 11 parents, 91% (10 out of 11) described the specific strategies they used to engage their reluctant readers.

All parents acknowledged the significance of reading, with efforts to foster a conducive reading environment at home, such as regular library visits, book purchases, reading to their child, and encouraging their child to read aloud. However, for half of the participants, the primary concern was how to motivate their child to read on their own initiative. For example, a mother of a first grader, despite being an avid reader herself, noted that her son was unlikely to read voluntarily and wished to understand how to stimulate his interest. She stated, “My son doesn’t like it when I try to get him to read out loud, and he is unlikely to pick up a book himself if he has spare time. I don’t want to force it, but I’m hoping he will eventually want to start reading to me.” (Participant 5)

Out of the parents who expressed concerns about their child’s reading motivation, 82% (9 out of 11) felt their child was lagging their peers in reading proficiency. In contrast, two parents believed their child lacked motivation but did not consider them to be behind in reading. Parental comments varied in their descriptions of their children’s attitudes toward reading. Some expressed frustration over their child’s resistance to learning, such as Participant 1: “My child doesn’t want to learn to read, and it often turns into an argument as he doesn’t want to try.” Others described a strong interest in books but only when read by parents, as noted by Participant 19: “He loves books, and there is no lack of interest. Unfortunately, his interest is limited to having them read to him. Right now, he is not interested in participating at all.” Some parents also reported reluctance to read despite an abundance of books at home, stating, “She doesn’t want to read any books to me. She won’t read the books sent home from school and we have tons of books in the house, but she doesn’t want to read anything. She feels like she can’t read anything, but I can still read to her.” (Participant 20).

Subtheme: Parental Strategies to Foster Reading Interest. Most of these families 91% (10 out of 11) described using varying degrees of coercion to encourage their reluctant readers to practice reading at home. Strategies employed included rewards, threats, timers, and attempts to regulate the reading experience. For 65% (7 out of 11) of these families, the home reading experience was perceived as negative by the parent.

One parent described resorting to the threat of withdrawing privileges to engage her daughter in daily home reading, “My daughter is in Reading Recovery. I have read to her every night since she was a toddler, and I felt like I was doing all of the right things, so the situation has been very difficult for both of us. Often the only way I can get her to participate in our daily home reading is to threaten to take away privileges.” (Participant 18). Another parent acknowledged resorting to pressure to encourage her daughter to read, “She hates reading, and we force her to read, but it isn’t fun. We have really tried to push the reading at home. Like, ‘You have to do this before you can do anything fun’.” (Participant 4). Similarly, some parents focused on reading accuracy, which sometimes led to criticism of their child’s efforts. One mother feared she might be pressuring her son too much, leading to a negative reading environment, “I think I have been putting way too much pressure on him and I am finding that every word he waits for me to say if it is right or wrong…. And I say things like, ‘Come on, it’s not that hard’, and then reading ends in tears” (Participant 1).

Three parents recounted their struggles to engage their children in reading, describing it as a “power struggle” (Participants 5, 6, and 9). One father of a second grader stated “We have had a lot of struggles with reading in the past and it became a bit of a power struggle about just trying to get it done.... My son has always been like, ‘Are we done yet, are we done yet?’ I have to set a timer to get him to finish our reading.” (Participant 9). Another parent tried to incentivize reading with promises of screen time, facing resistance from her son who would dismiss the books as “stupid”. She stated, “I say to him, ‘this is the book you have to read for Reading Recovery, so let’s read it and then you get 5 min of iPad time’.” (Participant 3). Lastly, a father of a first grader mentioned a period of considerable negativity surrounding his efforts to encourage his son to read, leading them to momentarily halt reading sessions at home, “Around December we were having major problems with reading at home. There was a lot of bad kind of energy around it, it was very negative, and we had to not do it anymore”. (Participant 6)

3.3. Theme 3: Understanding of Children’s Reading Acquisition Process

Even though 65% (13 of 20) of participants held a graduate degree, only 5% (1 out of 20) felt they comprehended how children learn to read well. The remaining 95% distributed their understanding as follows: 30% (6 of 20) had moderate understanding, 40% (8 of 20) claimed to have a little understanding, and 25% (5 of 20) felt completely uninformed. Of the 65% (13 of 20) who admitted to having little or no understanding about reading acquisition, they also expressed uncertainty about their home-based reading support. A significant majority, 85% (17 out of 20), stated that their primary technique was to prompt their child to recognize the letters and their corresponding sounds or sound out words when their child came to an unknown word. This theme gave rise to two subthemes which will be explained below: (A) pressure from the school despite limited personal knowledge, and (B) anxiety stemming from personal reading history.

Many parents, 60% (12 of 20), expressed a desire for more insight into the process of reading acquisition. Doubts about their ability to help their child effectively and a desire for affirmation from educators were common among these parents, most of whom had little to no understanding of the reading process. An example was a university graduate mother with a daughter in Reading Recovery, who admitted to having no understanding of how children learn to read. She wanted to help her daughter overcome her reading frustrations but doubted her ability to do so. “I see the frustration my daughter experiences when it is reading homework time, and I would love to be able to help her, but I question if I am doing it right…. I often wonder if I’m doing more harm than good. It’s devastating to watch her confidence shrink before my eyes at reading time, and I would love to learn to help her”. (Participant 18).

Parents also expressed a need for guidance on how best to support their children’s reading development. A university-educated father, for instance, expressed uncertainty about the right method to use in teaching his kindergarten daughter to read. He stated, “I have been teaching my daughter the frequently used words. For less frequently used words, I tried teaching her to sound it out. I am not sure if this is the best approach. I think she needs to get a better understanding of the alphabet first, and letter sounds, but I’m not sure. I need advice about what method will be successful.” (Participant 2). Similarly, another parent sought guidance on where to start in teaching her soon-to-be reader son. “How do I help? How do I actually get him going? Do I start with phonics and really simple stuff? Where do you kind of start when they are just learning?” (Participant 12).

In some instances, parents actively sought advice from their child’s teacher, but the discussions left them unfulfilled. One such parent was the anxious mother of a first grader. She stated, “I talked to her teacher last week. She said she is not concerned. I am concerned that [my daughter] has not seemed to progress at all since December. Like, she got to level 8 and kind of stayed there, and I can’t get her to practice because she hates it. Her teacher said, ‘When she is ready to read, it will just happen’.” (Participant 20). Similarly, another parent shared hers concerns about her child’s reading abilities, “I had a meeting with his teacher yesterday about his reading because I have concerns about his reading. She said he is definitely behind where he needs to be as far as a Grade 2 level, but she feels in her heart that he will get there”.

Subtheme A: Pressure from School Despite Limited Personal Knowledge. Interviewees overwhelmingly saw their role in supporting their children’s reading development as crucial, with 80% daily reading to their children. In addition to this, they also felt they had the time to support their child, with only 10% (2 of 20) stating they felt they lacked the time to fully support their child in the way that they would like to. However, despite their efforts, 30% (6 of 20) felt pressured by their child’s school to do more but lacked the knowledge to meet these expectations. For example, a university-educated mother felt overwhelmed by the expectation that she should know how to teach her child to read, “When they start in Grade 1, you are faced with flash cards and learning to read, and I felt like there was so much. I felt, ‘No one has ever taught me how to teach my kid to read. How do I do that? I don’t know how to do that’. I had no idea. If you are not a teacher, how are you supposed to know?” (Participant 10). Another parent expressed feeling pressured as the school shifted more learning responsibilities to the home. “I feel like so many things are being pushed home, like ‘teach your child to read’. And I feel like the pressure is huge… I am not a teacher, but I feel like it is on my shoulders”. (Participant 12).

Furthermore, 20% (four parents) highlighted the stress arising from their school’s strong emphasis on reading levels and the expectation to help their child progress. One parent shared the anxiety she felt about ensuring her child reached a specific reading level by the end of the school year: “I feel pressure to get him to level 24 by the end of the school year so that his report card will reflect this. He looks at the levels too and says, ‘Why am I not on level 24 yet? All my friends are’.” (Participant 8).

Subtheme B: Anxiety due to Personal Reading Struggles. While the majority, 75% (15 of 20), did not perceive their own literacy background as a barrier to supporting their child, a smaller group, 25% (5 of 20), expressed concerns stemming from their personal struggles with learning to read. This group included individuals diagnosed with dyslexia as well as those who considered themselves late readers. These parents voiced anxiety about how their past reading difficulties might affect the support they provide to their children. For instance, one mother worried that her reading disability might negatively impact her daughter’s reading: “I grew up with a reading disability and I still struggle with seeing words in the wrong spot, but my worry is that she’ll develop the struggle because of the way I read to her.” (Participant 20). Similarly, a father with dyslexia shared his concerns about his son’s progress surpassing his own, “School was a total grind for me. I am dyslexic. I try with my reading, but it is super tough. I am going to get to a point when my son is going to read better than me, and it is going to be very soon. I guess I kind of worry about that”. (Participant 6). Another mother admitted struggling to avoid projecting her reading difficulties onto her daughter stating, “I’m trying not to stress out too much about her reading, even though I do, because I had a hard time reading when I was little and so I’m trying not to project my issues on her, but it’s hard not to.” (Participant 10).

4. Discussion

Understanding parents’ perceptions of their roles, competence, and challenges in supporting their children’s reading is essential for bridging the gap between home and school. Many parents are eager to help but lack clear, research-based guidance. Vague recommendations such as “help your child to read” can be overwhelming, while reassurances like “they’ll read when ready” often fail to alleviate concerns. Educational leaders must acknowledge these challenges and proactively equip families with the necessary tools and support.

4.1. Enhancing Parental Knowledge of Literacy Development

Parents play a crucial role in their children’s literacy journey, yet many feel underprepared. The most important finding from this research is that despite high educational attainment, only 14% of surveyed parents and 5% of interviewed parents felt confident in their knowledge of how children learn to read. Limited parental understanding has been linked to lower involvement in literacy activities at home (Martini & Sénéchal, 2012), making targeted support for all parents from schools essential.

In many respects this shows that many parents struggle to help their child to read even when they have high cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1986). Bourdieu (1986) defined cultural capital as the knowledge, skills, education, and cultural competencies that individuals inherit from their families. Given that the participants in this study are well educated (with 99% having completed high school and 78% having attained tertiary education) and their children attend medium- to high-socioeconomic-status schools, it is likely that parents with lower social capital face even greater challenges in supporting their children’s learning at home. In this regard, these results may actually understate the real difficulties associated with parental involvement.

School leaders play a crucial role in addressing knowledge gaps by implementing structured parent education programs that focus on essential literacy components such as phonemic awareness, decoding, and comprehension. Given the complexity of English orthography (Castles et al., 2018), it is vital that parents receive clear, evidence-based resources to support their children’s literacy development. Rather than positioning parents as primary reading instructors, these programs should equip them with simple yet effective strategies to reinforce literacy skills at home. This could include literacy workshops that provide accessible, practical guidance on how to support reading in everyday contexts. By fostering a collaborative partnership between schools and families, educators can enhance parental confidence and engagement in their child’s reading journey.

4.2. Aligning Home and School Instructional Practices

A significant barrier to literacy development identified in this research is the inconsistency in reading instruction across schools. While extensive research highlights the effectiveness of systematic phonics instruction in early literacy (Castles et al., 2018), many classrooms continue to rely on whole-language approaches or the three-cueing system, which prioritizes word-guessing over decoding. These instructional discrepancies contributed to frustration among both children and parents in this study.

Educational leaders can address this issue by standardizing evidence-based literacy instruction and ensuring that all teachers implement structured phonics and decoding strategies. This requires targeted professional development to support teachers in transitioning away from ineffective methods such as three-cueing and toward research-backed approaches. Additionally, schools can proactively equip families with evidence-based reading strategies through workshops, take-home guides, and accessible digital resources.

Aligning home and school literacy practices can reduce confusion, enhance reading outcomes, and strengthen parent–child reading interactions.

4.3. Psychological Aspects of Parental Involvement in Reading

This study found that parental anxiety about their child’s reading progress often led to a performance-oriented approach, turning reading into a stressful task rather than an enjoyable activity. When home reading is framed around external pressures—such as achieving specific reading levels, keeping pace with peers, or meeting school benchmarks—children may disengage, leading to frustration and conflict within families (Moorman & Pomerantz, 2010). Similar patterns emerged in this research.

Some parents resorted to extrinsic motivators or directive measures to encourage reading practice. While such approaches may yield short-term compliance, they fail to address underlying reading difficulties and can diminish a child’s intrinsic motivation.

To foster a more positive home reading environment, school leaders can support parents in adopting autonomy-supportive communication strategies that shift the focus from compliance to curiosity and intrinsic motivation. Additionally, providing parents with practical tools to reduce reading-related stress—such as shared reading, interactive discussions, and play-based literacy activities—can make reading more engaging. Finally, promoting a growth mindset around literacy can have a profound impact. Encouraging parents to emphasize effort and progress over rigid benchmarks can enhance children’s motivation and confidence. By equipping parents with strategies to create a low-pressure, encouraging reading environment, school leaders can help sustain children’s enthusiasm for literacy beyond the early years.

4.4. Enhancing Home–School Literacy Partnerships: The Role of Educational Leaders

Educational leaders serve as key architects of a literacy ecosystem that extends beyond the classroom, ensuring that parents are not merely passive supporters but active participants in their child’s reading journey. While teachers focus on direct instruction and parents often navigate literacy development with uncertainty, educational leaders are uniquely positioned to establish the conditions for effective home–school literacy collaboration. This role involves more than disseminating information; it requires the intentional design of systems that equip, empower, and align parental efforts with evidence-based literacy instruction.

A central responsibility of educational leaders is strategic alignment—ensuring that the principles of effective literacy instruction are consistently applied across both school and home environments. Without a clear framework, well-intentioned parents may unknowingly reinforce ineffective reading strategies that contradict classroom instruction. To mitigate this risk, school leaders must take a proactive role in shaping policies and instructional standards that prioritize structured phonics and decoding methods while systematically phasing out outdated or ineffective approaches. This requires investment in teacher training, school-wide literacy initiatives, and parent education programs that function within a unified, research-driven framework.

Beyond instructional leadership, educational leaders must also act as facilitators of access by addressing disparities in parental resources, literacy backgrounds, and confidence levels. Unlike teachers, who engage with individual students, or policymakers, who operate at a systemic level, school leaders occupy a critical middle ground where meaningful interventions take shape. They are responsible for removing systemic barriers that hinder parental engagement in literacy support. This may involve securing funding for free reading materials, developing culturally inclusive literacy programs, or implementing policies that make literacy workshops more accessible to working parents. By fostering equity-driven literacy initiatives, educational leaders ensure that a child’s reading success is not contingent on their parents’ prior literacy experiences or socioeconomic status.

Equally important is the role of educational leaders in shaping the emotional climate surrounding literacy in both school and home settings. This study highlights that parental anxiety about reading often leads to pressure-driven learning environments that reduce intrinsic motivation in children. School leaders, therefore, play a crucial role in reframing literacy development—ensuring that the messages conveyed to parents emphasize growth, resilience, and the joy of reading rather than rigid benchmarks and comparative performance. This influence extends to how teachers communicate with parents, how literacy progress is framed in report cards, and how reading success is celebrated within schools. Through their leadership, they can redefine literacy not as a skill to be mastered under pressure but as a lifelong pursuit to be cultivated with curiosity and confidence.

By adopting a leadership approach that is strategic, facilitative, and culture-shaping, educational leaders transcend the traditional role of administrators to become architects of a literacy-supportive environment. Their decisions influence not only how literacy is taught but also how it is experienced by both children and parents. In this way, they bridge the gap between home and school, ensuring that every child, regardless of background, has access to a consistent, supportive, and empowering literacy journey.

5. Limitations and Future Research

While this study provides valuable insights, several limitations should be acknowledged. First, the reliance on interviews may limit the generalizability of findings, as self-reported data are susceptible to recall bias. Future research could enhance validity by incorporating observational methods, video-recorded reading sessions, or longitudinal studies to capture real-time home reading interactions over an extended period.

Second, the volunteer-based sample may have introduced selection bias, as highly engaged parents were more likely to participate. This may have resulted in an overrepresentation of parents with higher levels of education, more flexible schedules, or greater confidence in literacy practices, while underrepresenting those facing time constraints, language barriers, or lower literacy backgrounds. This limits the generalizability of the results of the paper somewhat. Future research should consider employing complementary sampling techniques to ensure a more representative understanding of parental experiences.

The sample was also overwhelmingly composed of mothers (90%), limiting insights into paternal literacy involvement. While this may reflect current patterns of parental engagement in home reading, future research should seek to include a more balanced representation of fathers and other caregivers to gain a more comprehensive understanding of diverse family literacy dynamics.

Finally, an important area for future research is the appropriateness of shifting educational responsibility from schools to parents. Many parents in this study expressed frustration at being expected to provide significant literacy instruction despite lacking formal training in reading pedagogy. While many parents sought guidance for home reading, others felt burdened by the expectation to take on a quasi-instructional role. Future research could further investigate this complex dynamic, exploring how schools can better support parents without overburdening them.

6. Conclusions

This study reinforces the idea that parents play an integral role in their child’s literacy development but often lack the confidence and resources to support reading effectively. The findings reveal that many parents, regardless of educational background, struggle to understand how reading skills develop and how best to assist their child. These challenges are further compounded when school literacy instruction is inconsistent or misaligned with home practices.

By providing structured parent education, aligning home and school literacy strategies, and addressing the psychological dimensions of reading engagement, educational leaders can create a more supportive and cohesive literacy ecosystem. This research underscores the need for a collaborative approach, where schools and families work together to cultivate strong, confident readers.

Future studies should continue to explore how educational leaders can refine literacy interventions to ensure that every child—regardless of background—receives the foundational support needed for lifelong reading success.