International Journal about Parents in Education

Let’s Talk: Starting Conversations with Parents and Teachers on their Beliefs in Education

2023-07-27T16:26:43+02:00

Over the past decade, schools around the world have had to develop educational strategies to respond to pressing health, environmental, social, economic, and political emergencies and situations. A critical concern for education leaders is how to develop educational strategies that are responsive to and inclusive of families and communities. This article presents a methodology for facilitating conversations between families and schools that leads to recommendations for improving family, school, and community engagement. This methodology starts with surveying teachers’ and families’ beliefs on teaching and learning. Survey data on beliefs in seven countries are analyzed. Beliefs are then used to launch conversations between teachers, parents/caregivers, and community representatives, using a dialogical approach. A case study of this conversation process carried out in Colombia is presented. The parent/caregiver and teacher conversations not only led to new school and regional strategies, but helped teams confront power dynamics, a vital step in transforming education systems.

Parents’ beliefs about the role of Kindergarten in literacy development

2023-07-27T16:34:42+02:00

This study is part of a wider research conducted in 13 state kindergartens in Pyrgos, in Western Greece, during the school year 2017-2018. The purpose was to investigate parents’ beliefs about the role of kindergarten in literacy development. Data collected through semi-structured interviews with twenty mothers and analysed by the method of content analysis. Data analysis revealed that all mothers recognise the role of kindergarten in the socio-emotional development of children but they do not seem to realise its role in the development of language and literacy. In conclusion, parents need to be informed about the role of kindergarten in literacy development, what is important for children to learn before they enter primary school and how they can enhance literacy in family environment. The findings emphasise the importance of a meaningful cooperation between kindergarten teachers and parents. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Swedish preschool student teachers’ views on family–(pre)school partnerships

2023-07-27T16:39:53+02:00

International studies indicate that preservice teachers are inadequately prepared to conduct effective family–school partnerships (FSP), and first-year preschool teachers may find working with families especially challenging. This issue calls for more attention in teacher-training programs toward preparing teachers with sufficient competence for FSP. This study is intended to provide knowledge about Swedish preschool student teachers’ perceptions and experiences working with FSP to inform development areas within teacher education. Data were collected using an online survey of 153 preschool student teachers. The results show that most participants have a positive view of FSP based on their knowledge and previous experience. Communication is regarded as the most important prerequisite but also one of the top challenges. However, they estimate their preparedness to work with parents at varying levels and recognize that competence is created and developed through experience and a reflective approach. It calls for more practical training in combination with theoretical knowledge in teacher education to prepare future preschool teachers to work with families effectively.

Parental public pedagogy: A Polish leader about being together, where action is possible and freedom can emerge

2023-07-27T16:42:27+02:00

The study of the current parental grass-roots movement, the initial report of which I present in this paper, focuses on the leader of this movement in Poland. The interview with her is the basis of the case study through which I argue that parents create a public pedagogy. By focusing on the common good, this pedagogy puts them against the ongoing practices of denying human and civil rights in Poland, and towards a democratic formula of social coexistence both at school and beyond it, in a public sphere that has currently appropriated by the radical right-wing discourse. The conclusions grounded in the Gert Biesta’s concept of public pedagogy, and parents are construed as force capable of transforming the dominant "pedagogy for the public" (when people ought to be taught how to be in public space) into a “public pedagogy in the interest of publicness”. The latter manifests itself as concern for the common good.

The "Classes on the net" research project: The involvement and opinion of parents

2023-07-27T16:46:41+02:00

This paper focuses on the involvement of parents in the “Classes on the net” research project and their opinion and suggestions about this project. “Classes on the net” is a hybrid model, based on the idea of working with classrooms as Knowledge Building Communities This educational model can improve the management of small and isolated classes characterized by multigrade classes. In “Classes on the net”, delocalized classes aim to design a common disciplinary path involving student groups in parallel in the same activities by adapting calendars, spaces, and teacher roles. Teachers of delocalized classes share cooperative educational practices such as “pairs aidants/peer supporters”, “mentorat/mentoring” or “delocalized equipe” by using Video conferencing and Knowledge Forum.

“Classes on the net” model was tested for the first time in Italy in the Abruzzo small schools in the school year 2020/2021. The experimentation involved 12 small schools, 11 digital animators, 31 teachers, and 6 observers (school principals). This experimentation did not originate during COVID-19 to address the issues that the pandemic generated but was planned and started before the advent of emergency, obviously, the experimentation was influenced by COVID-19. The present paper, after the literature review concerning remoteness and parenting in small and rural schools and home- school partnership in rural educational settings, will introduce the “Classes on the net” model and present the focus group result held with parents. The focus group took into consideration parent-school relationship, parents and information and communication technology, and the involvement of parents in the research project and their opinion about it.

Migrant parents’ contributions to students’ negotiations of their educational futures: A case study at a Norwegian high school

2023-07-27T16:48:58+02:00

The educational futures students aspire to and make specific choices in shaping are formed in the encounter between school practices and family dispositions. More research is needed to understand whether and how migrant parents are invited to contribute to high school students’ negotiation of these possible futures. Drawing on observations and interviews with students and parents from a single-school case study, this article explores how migrant parents contribute to students’ decision making. Seen through a Bourdieusian lens, the logic of the high school education field sets boundaries around what is regarded as feasible and valuable parental involvement. Parents are experienced as acting indirectly through hints and suggestions. The study indicates that providing guidance is complicated by expectations of student autonomy. The findings warrant further research on school parental involvement practices that can support students’ negotiation of possible futures.