Family-school relationships

What is it about?

We studied teachers' and trainee teachers' beliefs about family-school relationships. We measured beliefs about collaboration (families and schools working together), subordination (families should accept the teacher’s authority) and delegation (families leaving education to the professionals). We also measured participants perceived efficacy to relate with families. Participants were 133 teachers and 194 trainee teachers. We used the Beliefs about Family-School Relationships questionnaire comprised of 22 items. Participants felt highly able to relate with families and support collaboration beliefs, but trainee teachers believed more in collaboration than qualified teachers did. Preschool teachers and trainee teachers believed more in collaboration and less in subordination and delegation compared to primary teachers and primary trainee teachers.

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Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Teachers’ and trainee teachers’ (pre-service teachers) beliefs have been capturing the attention of researchers for the last few decades but beliefs about family-school relationships are not often addressed. This study centres on beliefs about family-school relatioships and shows that different beliefs coexist. These results have implications for teachers’ undergraduate training and lifelong learning about family-school collaboration.

Perspectives