A Study of the Effectiveness of Family Education Classes from the Perspective of Parents

The present study was conducted in order to investigate the effectiveness of family education classes for parents of high school boy students in district 2 of Shahre-Rey in 2009-2010 academic year. The population of the study comprised 2400 individuals. Stratified-random sampling method was utilized and as a result 333 parents were selected. This descriptive research is of ex-post facto design and the instrumentation consisted of a self-devised questionnaire whose validity was approved by the supervisor and advisor of the study as well as the Institute for Parents and Teachers (Family) Research resource persons and professors. Findings of the study revealed that the family education course promoted parents’ awareness and knowledge. Hence, it can be concluded the family education classes enjoyed the expected effectiveness. In addition, the course was effective for enhancing parents’ awareness and understanding of religious educational methods, adolescents’ physiological needs, adolescents’ growth and their emotional-psychological needs. Furthermore, the classes were an effective way of promoting the coordination between home and school educational methods as well as teachers-parents’ relationship. The findings also indicated that there was no significant difference between the opinion of participating men and women as to the extent to which the classes led to the promotion of their awareness of adolescents’ physiological needs. No significant association was observed between the two components of the coordination between home and school educational methods and parents’ educational level. In fact, there was a negative relation between the two variables. And finally, there was no significant relationship between the components of students’ psychological-emotional needs and the grade in which they study.