A Phenomenological Inquiry on the Role of Parenting Style to Support Student Learning

Abstract

Parenting style plays a crucial role in students’ learning experiences, motivation, and development, reflecting the consistent attitudes and practices parents use to guide and support their children. This qualitative phenomenological study explored the experiences, challenges, coping mechanisms, and insights of parents as they exercise their parenting styles to support their children’s learning. Data were gathered through in-depth interviews (IDI) to obtain detailed narratives. Eight purposively selected parent-informants of Grade 4-6 students from Elizalde Elementary School and Kinuban Elementary School during Academic Year 2025-2026 participated in the study. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings regarding parental experiences revealed dynamic practices ranging from strictness, helping with lessons, and disciplining to treating children as friends and trusting in-laws with childcare. Academic routines include limiting cellphones and monitoring activities, though work-life constraints disrupt consistency. When encountering heavy challenges such as limited knowledge, time conflicts, household responsibilities, and children's disobedient behavior, parents felt both fulfillment and exhaustion. To address these, they utilized deliberate coping strategies, which included adjusting parenting to children's generations, separating personal problems, hiding struggles, and heavily relying on financial or emotional support from husbands, parents, and siblings, alongside deep prayers to God. To help children overcome learning difficulties, parents provided direct guidance, attended school meetings, and used life experiences as examples. Their insights revealed that parenting styles heavily influence student motivation, either by always encouraging, supporting their wants, or reminding them to study, and that emotional support, discipline, and being god-fearing significantly boost school motivation. The study concludes that parenting styles are flexible and adaptive, shifting in response to situational demands, parental circumstances, and children’s needs, and that a balanced, responsive parenting approach is essential for children’s academic development. It is recommended that schools strengthen home-school partnerships through continuous communication, orientations, and parenting workshops to enhance parental involvement. Parents are likewise encouraged to maintain active communication with teachers and to continuously improve their parenting practices to support their children’s learning better.