“The school does not belong to me:” Involving parents in an Islamic boarding school in Indonesia

Despite the widespread practice and research on parental involvement (PI) in developed countries, the literature suggests that Indonesia needs to do more to encourage PI in education, both in boarding schools and in traditional settings. The purpose of this study is to uncover the implementation of PI using Epstein’s (2009) framework at an Indonesian boarding school. We interviewed teachers, principals, and parents. The results show that even when parents live apart from their children, the parents can still be involved in the upbringing of their children in the boarding school. Both parents at home and teachers at school were able to carry out five of Epstein’s six types of PI, particularly in involvement in academic and non-academic activities. This study implies that Epstein’s (2009) PI models, e.g. Parenting, learning at home, communicating, volunteering, decision-making and collaborating with the community, could be used as alternative guidance for involving parents and surrounding communities in boarding school settings.