Leading Learning: A Grounded Theory Perspective of Orang Asli Parental Involvement and Engagement

Abstract

Past research argued that the lack of parental involvement contributed to poor academic achievement among the Orang Asli (OA) students. This paper illuminates OA parental involvement with their children's learning, based upon a Grounded Theory study of learners’ retrospective perspectives. Participants were fourteen OA students who have reached tertiary education. This study reveals an emerging theory of OA parents leading learning. Implications for practice include for school to consider the OA social and cultural capital in leading the learning of the OA students, and to minimise the barriers that made the parents’ involvement invisible to educators.

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Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 00 (2015) 000–000
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia
1877-0428 © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of the 2nd GCBSS-2015.
d Global Conference on Business and Social Science-2015, GCBSS-2015, 17-18 September 2015,
Bali, Indonesia
Leading Learning: A Grounded Theory Perspective of Orang Asli
Parental Involvement and Engagement
Misnaton Rabahia
*
, Hamidah Yusofb, Marinah Awangc
a,b,cFaculty of Management & Economics, Sultan Idris Education University, Tanjung Malim, Perak Darul Ridzuan 35900, Malaysia
Abstract
Past research argued that the lack of parental involvement contributed to poor academic achievement among the Orang Asli (OA)
students. This paper illuminates OA parental involvement with their children’s learning, based upon a Grounded Theory study of
learners’ retrospective perspectives. Participants were fourteen OA students who have reached tertiary education. The study
indicates that the concept of parents within this community extends beyond that of the father and mother. Other family members
and relatives took on the role to fill up parental gaps. Furthermore, parental involvement must be seen in context with the social
and cultural capital of the OA community. The provision of an environment conducive for learning within the traditionally
disadvantaged OA homes must be appreciated within the context of ‘lack’ – the condition of deficit. In a world of lack, a little is
a lot. Implications for practice include for school to consider the OA social and cultural capital in leading the learning of the OA
students, and to minimise the barriers that made the parents’ involvement invisible to educators. This study reveals aspects o f OA
parental involvement and engagement that have not been sufficiently illuminated in the existing literature except in the context of
deficit.
© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of the 2nd GCBSS-2015.
Keywords: grounded theory; indigenous education; leading learning; Orang Asli education; parental engagement; parental involvement.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +60-12-6724939
E-mail address: misnatonrabahi@gmail.com

2 Misnaton Rabahi, Hamidah Yusof & Marinah Awang/ Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 00 (2015) 000–000
1. Introduction
Research has shown that parental involvement (PI) sustains their children’s learning engagement and improves
academic achievement. Its importance in the education of children has been in focus for over 40 years (Hornby &
Lafaele, 2011). Epstein’s study on the role of parents in education led to the development of six types of
involvement for parents-school-community partnerships (Epstein, 1995) that have been extensively referred to in
furthering the benefits of PI. In 1997, England set out strategies for securing parental involvement that include (a)
providing parents with information, (b) giving parents a voice, and (c) encouraging parental partnerships with school
(Desforges & Abouchaar, 2003). Since then, numerous studies have been conducted to explore and elaborate on how
best parental involvement can be considered and incorporated in formal education (Hornby, 2000; Redding, 2000;
Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2001; Desforges & Abouchaar, 2003; Goodall & Vorhaus, 2011; Goodall & Montgomery,
2014, Stevens & Patel, 2015). The concept PI has evolved to highlight different aspects and emphasis of PI in the
school and at home. Goodall and Montgomery (2014) differentiate involvement in the two domains as PI in the
school and parental engagement for PI at home. For ease of analysis, this paper uses PI to describe involvement in
both the environments.
PI is influenced by several underlying factors, including parents’ sense of efficacy, resources, and specific
invitations from teachers (Anderson & Minke 2007), parent’s belief of its value and that their involvement would
make a difference (Hoover-Dempsey, et al., 2001), and the child’s level of attainment (Desforges & Abouchaar,
2003). The influence of ethnicity on PI is not immediately obvious in the literature (Desforges & Abouchaar, 2003;
Murray, McFarland-Piazza & Harrison, 2015). Desforges and Abouchaar (2003) found that, “The extent and form of
parental involvement is strongly influenced by family social class, maternal level of education, material deprivation,
maternal psycho-social health and single parent status and, to a lesser degree, by family ethnicity” (p.4). However,
studies on benefits of minority ethnic’s PI have been reported in which parents and elders in the community were
involved in the development of culture based curriculum that contributed to better student’s engagement in the
school (Johansson, 2009; Galindo & Medina, 2009; Rethinasamy, et al., 2013).
In the context of the present study, Orang Asli PI with their children’s learning has been reported by many
researchers as less than satisfactory (Edo, 2012; Hamidah, Abdul Rahman & Khalip, 2013; Nur Bahiyah et al.,
2013). For instance, Edo (2012) highlights the plight of Orang Asli and their education situation. The questions that
have been bandied about in many discussions are why parents of Orang Asli children lack awareness of the
importance of education, and why Orang Asli parents are not interested in the schooling of their children.
Orang Asli is the official name of the Peninsular Malaysia’s indigenous communities comprising 18 sub-ethnic
groups, representing about 0.6 percent of the total population (Lye, 2011; Tarmiji, Fujimaki & Norhasimah, 2013).
The majority of the population lives in the fringes, with some 40% in remote villages, deep in the rainforest that are
not easily accessible (Tarmiji, Fujimaki & Norhasimah, 2013; Wan Afizi et al.; 2014). 76.9% of the Orang Asli
population live beneath the poverty line, out of which 35.2% is classified as living in hard-core poverty, compared to
1.4% nationally (Mohd Asri, 2012; Tarmiji, Fujimaki & Norhasimah, 2013). Thus, their social and economic
position situates them among the disadvantaged minorities, with some authors classifying them as marginalised
(Johari, 2007; Tarmiji, Fujimaki & Norhasimah, 2013). Orang Asli education was formalized in 1952 (Edo, 2012).
Since then, educating the communities has been one of the Government’s priorities (MOE, 2013).
The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of Orang Asli PI with their children’s learning. This study is
valuable as it refers to aspects of Orang Asli PI that have not been sufficiently illuminated in the existing literature
and discussion on the topic, except in the context of deficit, that is the lack of their involvement.
2. Methodology
After due consideration, Glaser’s classical grounded theory (CGT) method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) was deemed
the most appropriate to explore the nature of PI among these Orang Asli students. The method provides a novel
approach to explore a familiar theme but in a context that have not been given much consideration because of the
prevalent deficit perception of past studies. The main research participants comprised fourteen Orang Asli students
(P1 to P14) that have reached the tertiary level of education, ranging from 18 to 25 years old. The initial data
collection was purposive and exploratory in order to give direction to the research. This included telephone

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conversations with officials of the Department of Orang Asli Development also referred to as Jabatan Kemajuan
Orang Asli (JAKOA) to obtain an initial understanding of the Orang Asli educational provision, visits to the State
JAKOA office and conversations with the officers-in-charge, visits to an Orang Asli Primary School located in the
middle of an Orang Asli village, conversations with the Head Teacher and Teachers, and classrooms visit. Following
this, further data was collected on different days, through two sessions of in-depth unstructured recorded interviews
with the first student participant. Each interview session lasted about two hours, including breaks. The questions,
probes and prompts revolved around the experience of the student during her early years through her kindergarten,
and primary schooling years. Based upon the preliminary analysis of this first stage data, theoretical sampling
follows.
2.1. Theoretical Sampling
Subsequent data was collected through in-depth unstructured interviews with more student participants,
introduced through snowball leads. At this stage the interviews were guided by a template of interview probes, to
capture the extent of the emerging concepts and categories. Open ended probes led to more impromptu ‘tell me more
about that’ type of questions in order to extract further details, especially when the initial question only elicited a
one-word, one-liner response.
2.2. Constant Comparative Method
The PI data analysed for this paper was part of a larger study that explored how the key roles led the learning of
the Orang Asli students. Data analysis was carried out using the ‘Constant Comparative Method’ and ‘Memoing’,
the hallmarks of CGT. The data was analysed in several back and forth stages. First, data of each participant was
analysed as a case, based upon parents as a conceptual role, encompassing all the family individuals that contributed
to the students’ learning. Open coding elevated a fragment of raw data into another level of conceptual abstraction:
for example, a place to study is learning space, books and stationery are learning resources, and siblings teaching the
alphabet are learning initiators. Next, selective coding compared and contrasted all the concepts from the open
coding, examining patterns that gave rise to the next level of abstraction, referred to as category. In this example,
providing learning space, providing learning resources and having learning initiators are properties of the category
initializing learning. Memo on a piece or fragment of data, and further memo on memo clarified and elaborated the
conceptualization process, explaining the abstraction throughout the entire data analysis process. The final writing-
up involved the sorting, shuffling and ordering of memos into a comprehensible output. In CGT, the data collection
and analysis is a joint process, terminated upon saturation of concepts and categories, which means that subsequent
data does not produce any new incident (Glaser & Strauss, 1967).
2.3. Literature Review
The established role of the literature review in CGT is to provide additional data for constant comparison (Glaser
& Strauss, 1967; McCallin, 2006). Thus data from the major literature view in the substantive area are weaved into
the findings presented in this paper. An initial minor literature review contributed to the methodological
understanding and theoretical sensitivity.
2.4. Use of Proper Names
To ease analysis and the writing up, the following terms are used as Proper Names with respect to each
participant: Father, Mother, Grandfather, Grandmother, Brother, Sister, Uncle, Aunt, Cousin, and Child; hence the
use of capital letters for these terms when used in conjunction with the respective participants (P1 to P14).

4 Misnaton Rabahi, Hamidah Yusof & Marinah Awang/ Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 00 (2015) 000–000
3. Findings
The data captured through the voices of the student participants showed that the concept of parents within the
Orang Asli community extended beyond that of the fathers and mothers. Other family members including
grandparents, siblings, and parents’ siblings, took on the conceptual role of parents to fill up the PI gaps. These
family members, especially the older siblings, contributed to the schooling progress and strong level of learning
engagement of the research participants. For example, older sisters worked to help support the family, financially
(P1, P14); in the absence of Mother, an aunt was the homework supervisor, despite being illiterate, made sure P1 and
her cousins completed their homework. Another example, older siblings sent P5 to kindergarten and ensured that he
was safely in class before they left. Older daughters in the family helped managed the household when mothers were
sick or away. Finally, P2 depicted a unique case of a child-headed household of four, where the learner, P2, had to
assume the role of parent during her primary years to cover for her parents who had to find employment in distant
townships.
There is less indication of parental involvement in the school, except for attending school events to support their
children during year-end prize giving for achieving students, attending the school sports day, and for the Muslim
Orang Asli parents, attending special prayers organised by the school prior to the major examination weeks. Fathers
were more involved in the school, when they were also community leaders, such as a JAKOA liaison person, and a
Tok Batin (the Village Head).
This study revealed that Orang Asli PI is about the process of parents leading learning, encompassing the
categories of how parents were involved in the processes of initialising learning, facilitating learning,
accommodating learning, and generating learning; emerging from the data of participants’ experience, before
kindergarten, during kindergarten and the primary school years.
3.1. Initialising Learning
The concept ‘initialising’ is similar to that use in computing, which is to set the value or put in the condition
appropriate to the start of an operation; although in this study, the concept ‘value’ takes on a different shade. Value
is belief and aspiration for a better future. Hence, based upon the findings, the category of initialising learning is
defined by the belief, aspirations and the conditions that exist to initiate learning. The extent of initialising learning
is indicated by the home learning environment and routine comprising: (a) communicating belief and aspiration, (b)
providing learning space and learning resources, (c) setting learning routine and, (d) having learning initiators.
3.1.1 Communicating belief and aspirations: Parents indicated their belief on the importance of education, and
subsequently communicated their high aspiration through actions such as relocating to be near the education
provider, waking the children up in time for bath and getting them ready for school, telling the children to be good in
school while combing the children’s hair, showing care for how their children appeared in school, giving them
breakfast, even when it was just a simple hot drink, and in one child-headed household, leaving and trusting the
children to manage while Father and Mother sought the much needed employment away from home.
3.1.2 Providing learning space and learning resources: Study space was usually the floor; even when parents did
provide study table, children still preferred the comfort of lying on the floor. In most cases, economic and structural
constraints did not allow for the provision of separate learning space. Learning resources were limited to stationery
that could include coloured pencils; books were notebooks and textbooks from the school. Children played teacher
and students using pieces of leaves upon which they pretended to write, and twigs as pencils; and children crossing
stream and lingering on their way back from school. In reality, the entire forest was at their disposal, as extended
learning space and resources. Television, when available, was a learning tool. P1 was influenced by the ‘Sesame
Street’ series for children, sparking her interest in the English language (see also 3.2.3). Some others were influenced
by smart characters in uniforms and aspired to be like them.
3.1.3 Setting the learning routine: Early morning routine ensured the child went to school. Mothers woke up
children, ensured that they took their bath, and teeth brushed. Mothers combed the children’s hair and gave them
breakfast which could be just a cup of tea and sweetened condensed milk. Mothers combed the children’s hair,
although P10 would show independence by wanting to comb his own hair. This routine was etched in the memory of
participants because during this seemingly simple routine, Mothers chatted and motivated the children about

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behaving in school, and to study well. In the village, cold bath was always outside. Mothers supervised school
morning routine; assisted by older siblings, especially sisters. Kindergartners were awakened and prepared last, to
allow for the senior siblings to get ready for their earlier school time. After school routine included asking about
homework to be completed, monitoring the child on homework completion, and helping the child when they could.
3.1.4 Having learning initiators telling stories, sharing experiences, role playing, and playing traditional games:
Learning initiators were Grandmothers narrating folktales; Mother and older siblings teaching and singing the
alphabet song; and Father guiding tourists during forest walks, whilst the accompanying child listened, experiencing
the forest and wondering, how Father could speak the language of the foreign visitors. Learning initiators included
older friends role-playing as teachers, conducting ‘classes’ for the younger children.
The process of initialising learning illustrates the actions and provisions of Orang Asli parents within the context
of deficit: communicating their belief and aspiration, providing home learning environment, and setting learning
routine. Desforges and Abouchaar (2003) and Fan, Williams and Wolters (2012) found that parental high aspiration
for children’s education promotes schooling motivation, and shaped children’s self-concept as learners. In addition,
learning initiators provided input that helped start the children’s learning journey.
3.2. Facilitating Learning
The process of facilitating connotes promoting, assisting and supporting (Robinson, Molenda & Rezabek, 2008).
Facilitating learning in this study involves creating the means and conditions to promote, assist and support the
continuity of learning. As a facilitators, parents listened to their children concern, and responded to their learning
‘antics’, as in the case of P2 who read loudly from the textbook, loving the sound of her own voice, while mother
listening indulgently. Other instances include Mother giving company, bringing lunches to school, eating at the
school canteen with her children (P8), Mother staying in the classroom until the child was familiar with her new
surrounding (P1), and Mother receiving her child’s academic progress report, and quietly enqu iring, “How was my
son in the classroom?” (P10). The process of Orang Asli parents facilitating learning has the following properties:
(a) providing support by being in school, (b) showing pride, giving praise and simple reward for achievement, (c)
school language at home, (d) ensuring school attendance, (e) providing financial support, (f) sharing positive
experience, and (g) punishing children.
3.2.1 Providing support to children in school (Parents in school): Parents visited school for various events and
reasons: attending the registration day, visiting child at the hostel, receiving the student’s academic progress report;
attending scheduled events such as the parents-teachers meeting, prize-giving day, sports day and organised special
prayer prior to scheduled examinations, the ‘Solat Hajat’; visiting child at the hostel; staying in the classroom to
comfort a child new to school. Parents and extended family members also provided the comfort of a familiar face in
school, such as an uncle as a subject teacher, mothers as teachers in the kindergarten, and an aunt as a hostel warden.
Although limited, PI in school provided emotional and motivational support that facilitated learning. Otherwise,
parents kept themselves out of school, hence the common perception of Orang Asli parents’ lack of involvement,
except in cases where parents were community heads and representatives.
3.2.2 Showing pride, giving praise and reward for achievement: Parents showed pride and happiness when
children shared their school achievement with parents. Students shared the excitement of winning competitions,
getting prizes for the wins and being first in the class. Responses to such announcements include simple
congratulatory gifts of stationery and treats at the town’s restaurant from working siblings (P5). In the case of P1,
Mother was happy when P1 achieved the first position in class, but her pride was low-key. As P1 stated, her mother
was a simple person. However, there was no compulsion for others among the siblings to compete with the
achievement of the achiever (P1). Each child was allowed their own learning path. Parents motivated their children
to do well, “They could not help me much with the subjects, but that did not stop them from encouraging me to
study well” (P9), thus keeping learning in focus.
3.2.3 School language at home: Differing mother tongue (ethnic language) and school languages (Bahasa Melayu
and English) has been known to place the Orang Asli children at a disadvantaged in the school, where teachers were
not familiar with the local ethnic language (Mohamad Johdi et al., 2009; Abdull Sukor et al., 2011; Ramle et al.,
2013). The study found that television provided access to the languages use in school, such as through watching

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children’s educational programmes in English (P1), and watching recorded popular Bahasa Melayu movies, the
nationally well-known ‘P. Ramlee movies’ (P7). In addition, Bahasa Melayu was also the language used to
communicate with other ethnic groups, and outside communities, whilst P9 had the opportunity to listen to Father
communicating in English with international tourists, visiting the highlands where they lived.
3.2.4 Ensuring school attendance: An important role of mothers was to ensure children attendance in school.
Waking them up, getting them ready and giving them breakfast was an important routine that facilitate their fresh
presence in school. The opposite would be non-attendance, as in cases of parents who would not force their children
to get up (Mohd Asri, 2012), or children who would get up earlier than their fathers, and disappeared into the woods
with friends to avoid school (P5).
3.2.5 Providing financial support: The Orang Asli peoples are among the poorest of the nation (Tarmiji, Fujimaki
& Norhasimah, 2013). The income of the families in this study was derived from selling forest and agricultural
products, tapping rubbers, and from employment as tour guide, JAKOA employee, policemen, construction worker,
factory, and farm workers. Parental financial provision for education was limited, with cases of students who had to
work (P2) and to ‘pend’ primary schooling due to financial distress (P14). This study found that older siblings,
grandparents, and parents’ siblings (uncles and aunts) helped support the financial needs of the students, easing
distress, thus enabling the continuity of formal schooling.
3.2.6 Sharing positive experience: Older siblings’ positive experience in school helped younger siblings to have
an informed perception, minimising fear of school and teachers.
3.2.7 Punishing children: Parents punished children to force them to go to school and to ensure that they did their
homework. Punishment methods included direct caning with rattan, cloth hanger, or any object that was available at
hand. Quick dunking in bath water to force the children to bathe in the morning before going to school was another
method. Some children learned the art of avoiding parents’ punishment by waking up earlier than parents and
escaping into the woods, or running out of the house, before the parents could do anything to stop them, to go and
play with friends. ‘Rotan’ is a Bahasa Melayu term for cane. The data indicates that the term was used invariably for
any form of smacking, using cane or any other available similar-like objects such as ruler, cloth-hanger, and sticks
(P2, P5, P6, P8, and P13). Parents, especially fathers would not hesitate to cane the children, for offences related to
schooling, such as refusing to go to school, lying about not having homework, and misbehaviours. Father of P8 for
instance, gave a piece of cane to the teacher, with the specific instruction to ‘rotan’ the child if the need arose.
Orang Asli parents facilitating learning promoted, assisted and sustained the continuity of learning through
limited involvement in the school. Rewards were used to reinforce achievement, while caning was common to
control misbehaviour, indicating a behaviourist approach to facilitate sustained learning (Anderman, 2010). The
mainstream local culture appears to accept mild caning to control and prevent misbehaviours and extract obedience
(Lau, 2015; Nik Rahim, 2015). Older children sharing positive experience and exposure to school languages at home
provided the beneficial home-school link.
3.3. Accommodating Learning
The concept of accommodation is analogous to that used in describing the adjustment of the lens of the eyes, at
various distances, so as to keep the object in focus. In this context, the process of accommodating involves adapting,
adjusting, reconciling, and the willingness to do favours or services, to keep learning in focus. The process of Orang
Asli accommodating learning has the following properties: (a) multiplicity of roles, (b) decision making, and (c)
making change.
3.3.1 Multiplicity of roles: The findings indicate a multi-dimensional concept of parents. In this community,
parental roles extended to the grandparents, older siblings, aunts, uncles and older cousins who took on the
conceptual role to fill in parental gaps. Roles of others as parents included Aunt providing the comfort of a familiar
face in new situation such as beginning kindergarten and school, or settling in the hostel; Grandparents, Older
Siblings, and Aunts providing financial support; Older Siblings giving time to send and fetch students to and from
school. The extended family support included Aunt monitoring and supervising homework completion, and
Grandmother caring for grandchildren when parents were away at work. In an exceptional case, Teachers’ role as
parent was exemplified in the case of P2 who was drawn to school daily by caring teachers who filled in the gaps of
her absent parents.

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3.3.2 Decision making: Parental involvement in decision making included decision on whether to allow children
to join visits organised by the school, participation in sporting activities, choosing which school to enrol, attending
and missing classes, and boarding children in the hostel. Parental decision making was influenced by their belief on
the value and the impact of school activities on their children’s well-being such as “participating in rugby could
break a leg” (P10). Thus, based upon this belief, some parents made considerable effort to ensure and sustain their
children’s attendance in school, whilst some others would take their children’s wish to skip classes, and to drop-out
of school. Contradictory messages, about attending school, in the family led to the children getting their ways.
Contradictory messages appeared in this study in cases of changing life situations (P1, P14), leading to learning
disengagement of some siblings in the respective participants’ families.
3.3.3 Making change: Making change includes relocating and moving out of the comfort zone, thus leading to
better access to educational facility. The process of making change was linked to how parents made decision,
influenced by their belief that led them to accept and make the change. For instance, a village was so far inland that
schooling was a novelty, a unique opportunity for a small number of children. This was the situation that saw Mother
(P1) missing the opportunity to go to school, because Grandfather had placed the priority for education for the male
children. Mother made the change and moved from the village in order to make school more accessible to her
daughter, P1. Change was also triggered by changing life situation due to extreme financial constraint (P5). In this
case moving back to their village, gave P5 and his siblings a second chance in school. Making change was also about
giving time for study and to prepare for examinations (P2). Giving children time for study is meaningful for students
from disadvantaged families due to the multiple roles of children at home. They are not just children-students, but
they are also older siblings that need to contribute to caring for the younger children and helping with the household
chores.
Thus in accommodating learning, the multiplicity of roles shows various others adopting the parental roles, taking
up responsibility, accommodating the educational commitment by giving the space, time and financial aid to sustain
a student’s learning. This shared parental role is also reported by Lea et al. (2013). How parents make decisions and
choices to accommodate learning is influenced by their self-belief and values; a belief whether their actions and
considerations can make a difference to their children’s learning and well-being, thus willing to make the
adjustments to keep learning in focus. Finally, ‘making change’ includes taking the steps to relocate, moving out of
the comfort zone and giving the time for children to study. As in parents making decision, taking the steps to change
is linked to parental aspiration for the children and the belief that education could a make difference,
3.4. Generating Learning
Generating learning in this study is defined as making meaning and making sense of real life experience. It
involves predicting and knowledge transfer, which is the ability to apply real life experience and prior learning to
new situations. Two properties of Orang Asli parents generating learning emerging from this study are: (a) reverse
deficit modelling, and (b) transmission of indigenous knowledge.
3.4.1 Reverse deficit modelling: This refers to instances when parents transferred the learned implications of real
life challenges and deficits, and acknowledging the role of education in overcoming the challenges and lack. Parents
transformed real life routine into learning examples of situational awareness. Situational awareness, a concept
elaborated by Endsley (1995), could be as simple as being aware of the deficit condition, being poor, and talking
about it to convey its implication to the future of their children, and how education could help pull them out of the
situation. Although some mothers had no schooling opportunity (P1, P5, and P11), they contributed to their
children’s learning engagement through reverse deficit modelling, generating vision from real life situations and
routine: “If you don’t know how to read, how would you know when to press the bell for the bus driver to stop,”
Mother generating vision of getting lost to P11, if she could not read the road signs. The ability of P11 to recall such
long term embedded memory indicates the impact of that simple statement. Wittrock (1992) argued that selective
attention is a primary cognitive process in generative learning. The fundamental premise of generative learning is
that “people tend to generate perceptions and meanings that are consistent with their prior learning” (Wittrock, 2010,
p.41). Strategies in generating learning include summarising, asking questions, clarifying and predicting (Anderman,

8 Misnaton Rabahi, Hamidah Yusof & Marinah Awang/ Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 00 (2015) 000–000
2010). In this study, parents generated learning through predicting, making associations of real life experience,
deficit and its consequence.
3.4.2 Transmission of indigenous knowledge: Grandparents and elders generated knowledge from the physical
environment in which they experienced life, as well as the social and cultural activities of the community. They
transmitted indigenous knowledge through stories, and involved grandchildren in experiencing real life activities:
Grandmother telling P1, how to behave when in the forest, and what to do if lost ‘just follow the river”; P7 learning
life skills helping Grandmother to collect firewood, clear land, and plant vegetables, tapioca and sweet potatoes, and
learning community values through ‘gotong royong’ a cooperative community activity to plant hill rice; and P9
experiencing the forest with Father. Anderman (2010) argued that contemporary perspectives acknowledge
“motivation to engage in future behaviour is intricately tied to prior knowledge and experiences” (p. 55). Thus
parents’ generated learning is communicated through traditional advice and life experiences that contributed to the
children’s motivation.
4. Discussion
The emerging theory of Orang Asli parents leading learning is consistent with the argument that, “Many parents,
particularly those from ethnic minorities or those facing economic challenge, find engagement with schools difficult,
but still have a strong desire to be involved in their children’s learning and educations” (Goodall and Montgomery,
2014, p.400). Similarly, in this study, despite the deficit, Orang Asli parents’ desire to be involved is translated into
behaviors and actions at home that are not visible to educators. Moreover, in congruence with Lea et al. (2011), the
role of parents in the learning system of the Orang Asli households is a shared responsibility. The conceptual role of
parents includes mothers, mothers, grandparents, older siblings, aunts, uncles and older relatives. The grounded
theory of Orang Asli parents leading learning is expressed through the continuous systemic processes of initializing,
facilitating, accommodating, and generating learning, before and during the process of institutionalized schooling.
The theory made explicit the systemic processes of the Orang Asli PI in the learning system.
4.1. Implications for Practice
The first implication is consistent with Edo (2012) who suggests that to improve the education of Orang Asli
children, stakeholders (the Government and educators) should not limit their focus to improve literacy and
numeracy; rather they must also consider the need to develop and strengthen the self-concept of Orang Asli parents
and children. Stronger self-concept will enable parents to generate high expectations; articulate, and communicate
their aspirations; and model their behaviours and actions in line with their vision of better future. PI has positive
impact on academic achievement, regardless of the PI measure used: but the relationship was strongest if PI is
defined as parental expectations for academic achievement of their children; the impact was weakest when it is
defined as homework assistance (Froiland, Peterson & Davison, 2012; Wilder, 2014). Thus, the inability to help
children with their homework should not reduce the aspiration and high expectations of parents for their children. As
Lea et al. (2011) argued, “Simply getting the child up and ready for school was commitment enough” (p.269). The
second implication is with regard to PI in the school, Anderson and Minke (2007) found that parents’ decision to
become involved is an important process in PI, emphasizing that specific invitation from teachers is the single most
influential variable on parental involvement choices. The emphasis is significant because schools are able to
influence teacher practices to help advance the value of PI to the parents. Despite the social and economic deficit,
parents can be encouraged, facilitated and accommodated to assume the role of learning leaders by leveraging on
their cultural capital (community values and indigenous knowledge), as exemplified by Johansson (2009) and
Rethinasamy et al. (2013). Finally, the discovery of a child-headed household (although temporarily) in this study,
raises further question on the extent of this phenomenon in the country.
4.2. Contributions to the Body of Knowledge
The validity and reliability of findings from CGT method is judged by the four criteria propounded by the
founders, Glaser and Strauss (1967) and users (Hoda, 2011; Hakel, 2015): fit, work, relevant and modifiable. The

Misnaton Rabahi, Hamidah Yusof & Marinah Awang/ Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 00 (2015) 000–000 9
theory fits when it matches the realities under study (Orang Asli PI) in the eyes of the subjects, practitioners and
researchers in the area (Orang Asli education); it works when it explains, predicts, and interprets what is happening
in the studied phenomenon of the substantive area (Orang Asli PI); it is relevant if it fits and works thus offering
explanations of the basic process in the substantive area; and the theory “should be readily modifiable when new
data present variations in emergent properties and categories. The theory is neither verified nor thrown out, it is
modified to accommodate by integration of the new concepts” (Glaser 1992, p.15). This modifiability as new data
emerges what makes the theory continues to fit, work, and be relevant (Flint, 2005). Glaser and Strauss (1967)
explain: “Generating hypotheses requires evidence enough to establish a suggestion – not an excessive piling of
evidence to establish a proof” (pp.39-40). Hence, this emerging theory of Orang Asli parents leading learning lends
itself to modification as new data emerges, in congruence with the inductive realist view of truth (Hunt 2011). The
theory extends the knowledge of Orang Asli PI, and captures aspects that have not been sufficiently illuminated in
the existing literature and discussion on the topic, except in the context of parental lack of involvement (Johari &
Nazri, 2007; Mahmud, Amat & Yaacob, 2008; Sharifah, et al., 2011; Nur Bahiyah, et al., 2013). At this juncture, the
theory unveils the latent Orang Asli PI, making explicit their significance within their context of social, economic
and human capital deficit. However, based upon current data (both grounded and literature), the claim for
generalisation is limited to disadvantaged indigenous and minority education. New data may extend the applicability
of the theory to other substantive areas.
5. Conclusion
The grounded theory of Orang Asli parents leading learning illuminates the PI that happened at home, which is
not visible to the educators in the school, thus the common perception of the lack of Orang Asli PI. The Orang Asli
PI must be seen in context with the social and cultural capital of the community. For instance, the provision of an
environment conducive for learning within the traditionally disadvantaged Orang Asli homes must be appreciated
within the context of ‘lack’ – in other words, the condition of deficit. In a world of lack, a little is a lot. Thus is the
case of the Orang Asli’s home learning environment and provision. Study space was usually the floor; even when
parents did provide study tables for the children the preference for lying on the floor prevailed. Stationery included
coloured pencils; and books were notebooks and textbooks from the school. Mothers conveyed their aspiration to
children through reverse deficit modelling; being poor was the very reason to go to school, to have an education.
Embedded in their actions, parents conveyed to their children that education was deemed as an instrument that can
bridge the deficit gap. This is the driving essence of the grounded theory of Orang Asli parents leading learning. The
theory is explicated through the processes of initialising learning, facilitating learning, accommodating learning, and
generating learning.
Acknowledgements
The first author acknowledges the continuous support, guidance and encouraging feedback of her supervisors in
the research process. She also acknowledges the cooperation of the research participants for sharing their life stories
in the learning journey and thanks Pusat Pengurusan dan Inovasi, Sultan Idris Education University, for the Grant
that partially supports this study.
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