ERIC Number: EJ1130182
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1855-9719
EISSN: N/A
Approaches to Building Teacher-Parent Cooperation
Cankar, Franc; Deutsch, Tomi; Sentocnik, Sonja
Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, v2 n1 p35-55 2012
The purpose of this study was to explore the areas of cooperation in which parent and teacher expectations were the same and where they differed. Data were obtained from a sample of 55 randomly selected primary schools. We analyzed school-to home communications, parental influence on school decisions, and parent involvement in different school activities. At the same time, we also explored building cooperation among the teachers, students, and their parents, within the framework of the program 'Reading and Conversation'. The findings indicated that the third- and ninth- grade lead teachers were mostly in agreement about the importance of parent involvement and as such represented a fairly homogenous group. The third-grade lead teachers were more open about actual involvement of parents in instruction than their ninth-grade colleagues, who were more cautious and restrained. In contrast to the lead teachers who represented a relatively narrow professional group, parents' views were much more diverse. Parental education was the best predictor of their readiness to become involved in the life and work of their children's school. Whether the area in which the families lived was urban or suburban did not make any difference. The evaluation of the one-year 'Reading and Conversation' programme revealed increases in parents'motivation to collaborate with the school as a consequence of the program's approach to work, as well as improvement in mutual relationships and dialogue.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Parent Teacher Cooperation, Expectation, Elementary School Teachers, Parents, Parent Influence, Parent Participation, Organizational Communication, Parent School Relationship, Teacher Attitudes, Parent Background, Educational Attainment, Rural Urban Differences, Program Effectiveness, Teacher Surveys, Parent Surveys, Secondary School Teachers, Statistical Analysis, Maximum Likelihood Statistics, Factor Analysis
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education. University of Ljubljana Kardeljeva plošcad 16. Slovenia. Tel: +386-1-5892-344; e-mail: editors@cepsj.si; Web site: http://www.cepsj.si/doku.php?id=en:cepsj
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Slovenia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A