School’s out: a comprehensive follow-up study on parents’ perceptions of their child’s school

This longitudinal study set out to examine the changes that took place in parents’ evaluations of their child’s school in the course of the child’s complete 9-year-long compulsory education. Over the follow-up period, academically educated and vocationally educated mothers and fathers (N = 326) were asked to indicate their degree of satisfaction with aspects of their child’s school every 2 years. It was found that the level of parental satisfaction was fairly high at the start, that the general decreasing trend was gradual rather than abrupt, and that the proportion of dissatisfied parents remained low and stable. A pattern of differences emerged to suggest that the parents’ perceptions were structured by their social-psychological distance from the school as measured by their social positions; for instance, the vocationally educated parents, fathers in particular, displayed less satisfaction than the academically educated ones.     

‘Me and maths’: towards a definition of attitude grounded on students’ narratives

The attitude construct is widely used by teachers and researchers in mathematics education. Often, however, teachers’ diagnosis of ‘negative attitude’ is a causal attribution of students’ failure, perceived as global and uncontrollable, rather than an accurate interpretation of students’ behaviour, capable of steering future action. In order to make this diagnosis useful for dealing with students’ difficulties in mathematics, it is necessary to clarify the construct attitude from a theoretical viewpoint, while keeping in touch with the practice that motivates its use. With this aim, we investigated how students tell their own relationship with mathematics, proposing the essay “Me and maths” to more than 1,600 students (1st to 13th grade). A multidimensional characterisation of a student’s attitude towards mathematics emerges from this study. This characterisation and the study of the evolution of attitude have many important consequences for teachers’ practice and education. For example, the study shows how the relationship with mathematics is rarely told as stable, even by older students: this result suggests that it is never too late to change students’ attitude towards mathematics.     

‘It’s the parents’: re-presenting parents in school bullying research

Public discourse about school bullying is frequently underscored by debates about the relative roles and responsibilities of parents and schools in preventing bullying. Such debates are often characterised by a sense of recrimination, with blame apportioned according to perceived negligence. In this article, I provide a critique of ways in which parents have been represented in school bullying research, and consider how these representations inform public discourse about parents in relation to bullying. I argue that prevailing representations of parents in terms of responsibility and risk are a product of the dominance of psychological conceptualisations of bullying as individual pathological behaviour which stems from child development problems associated with poor parenting. As I show, this is but one of a number of ways in which bullying has been conceptualised in the research literature and provides a limited view of parents in relation to a complex social and cultural problem. I suggest that post-structural approaches to bullying research provide an important opportunity to broaden our understanding of how parents are positioned in the social and institutional systems of power in which bullying, and responses to it, takes place; and to move beyond current counter-productive discourses of responsibility and blame.     

Responsibilities,tensions and ways forward: parents’ perspectives on children’s sexuality education

Abstract

Children’s sexuality education continues to be plagued with tensions and controversies. In consequence, children’s access to sexuality education is severely compromised, especially in terms of the time dedicated to this topic, the content addressed, how it is taught and by whom. Based on a study of 342 Australian parents of primary school aged children we explore: (i) parents’ perceptions of the relevance and importance of sexuality education to their primary school aged children and the discourses that inform their perspectives; (ii) parents’ views on who should be responsible for the sexuality education of young children; (iii) whether there are certain aspects of sexuality education considered more appropriate for the family to address with children; and (iv) what the implications of these findings are for sexuality education policy and practice in Australian primary schooling. Despite the controversial nature of the topic, the majority of parents in this study believed sexuality education was relevant and important to primary school children and that it should be a collaborative approach between families and schools. However, some parents/carers acknowledged that while that they believed that some topics should only be addressed at home they also indicated that this often does not happen.     

Perspectives of Jamaican parents and their secondary school children on the value of education: Effects of selected variables on parents’ perspectives

Education in the Caribbean is perceived as the route to social mobility, but research suggests that a low value is attached to education in Jamaica. This research is designed to ascertain the value that parents and their children attending secondary school in Jamaica attach to education. Multivariate statistical analysis was used. The findings revealed that both parents and their children value education for instrumental purposes and, while age and employment status made no difference to the parents' value of education, there was a statistically significant difference in value of education between parents with children attending different school types.     

Institutional storytelling and personal narratives: reflecting on the ‘value’ of narrative inquiry

With the ‘narrative turn’, a momentum gathered in the wider social sciences that asserted that listening to, asking for, gathering and analysing stories provided a new impetus to researching human behaviour. The argument evolved: people are storied beings and to generate a more in-depth understanding of people and their experiences, researchers need to begin with their stories. But the stories people tell are also deeply embedded in narrative frameworks and narrative environments that make up what I conceptualise as institutional storytelling. Arguably, institutional storytelling has a profound impact on the stories people can and do tell. Narrative inquiry has much to offer to the analysis of institutional and personal narratives. In this article, I will address the question of the relevance of narrative inquiry to gather and analyse the stories that people and institutions tell. Drawn from an empirical sociological study of women’s narratives of their weight management experiences in the context of their participation in weight management classes, I present a case for narrative ethnography as a critical methodological strategy to analyse the complex relationship between institutional and personal narratives.     

Teacher-parent relationships: influence of gender and education on organizational parents’ counterproductive behaviors

The present paper examines the influence of parent’s demographics (gender and educational level) and a contextual variable (school grade) on counterproductive parents’ behavior during interaction with teachers. Data were gathered by administering the Italian version of the Challenging Parent Standard Questionnaire (Pepe 2010) to a sample of in-service teachers of both elementary and middle schools (N?=?674). As a result, a sample composed of 150 fathers and 524 mothers showing counterproductive behaviors was obtained. General linear model multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) revealed no statistically significant differences between fathers’ and mothers’ counterproductive behaviors when controlled for the effects of parents’ education and the school grade. Low parental educational levels appeared to be associated with uncooperative and uninvolved behaviors, whereas excessively worried behaviors about a child’s education seems to be associated with a parent having a college degree or more. It must be remarked that parents’ behaviors can be conditioned by expectation about, or reaction to, the behavior of the teacher and the results should be interpreted by considering nonindependence of involved actors. Results are discussed in terms of theory development and parenting programs aimed at improving parent-teacher relationships.     

Psychological assessment and dyslexia: parents’ perspectives

The purpose of this paper is to explore parents’ perceptions of the process of having their child assessed for dyslexia by an independent Educational Psychologist and the affective impact on the child or young person. The research was carried out as part of an evaluation of the services offered by the Northern Ireland Dyslexia Centre (NIDC). The methodology involved the use of a postal survey questionnaire with both qualitative and quantitative outcomes. Findings are discussed in the context of strategies for promoting partnerships with parents and affective-academic pathways for learners with dyslexia.     

‘Push on through’: Children’s perspectives on the narratives of resilience in schools identified for intensive mental health promotion

Child mental health is a growing concern for policymakers across the global north. Schools have become a key site for mental health interventions, with new programmes aimed at promoting ‘resilience’, through which children may maintain or regain mental health during adversity. As one of the first studies to explore the early impact of intensive mental health promotion in schools from children’s perspectives, we adopt a governmentality approach to consider the logic and techniques of such programmes with a specific focus on England. An innovative visual methodology was used to focus on student perspectives of mental health interventions in school. Young peoples’ photo representations of mental health were collected and used to stimulate focus group discussions with 65 students aged 12–14, across seven schools. ‘Resilience’ was seen to be the key organising concept for mental health interventions in schools. The concept was viewed as narrowly focused on attitude towards—and performance in—school work, with individuals being encouraged to ‘push on through’ difficulties to achieve success. Young people were critical of this approach, suggesting several alternatives. These included increased access to independent mental health professionals, safe spaces within schools and mental health education that addressed the social and affective dimensions of mental health difficulties.     

Preschool teachers’ narratives: a window on personal‐professional history,values and beliefs

This study investigated 10 Israeli preschool teachers’ reasons for choosing their profession and their perceptions of the teacher’s role. A narrative approach was chosen because teachers’ narratives can reveal their practical knowledge and the meanings they ascribe to their teaching. Data were subjected to content analysis and linguistic analysis. The content analysis revealed that choice of profession flowed from personal history and family background and reflected the needs, priorities and ambitions of each teacher. Most of the participants chose this profession at an early stage, in childhood or adolescence, and were influenced by close family members. An ongoing connection was revealed between key events and people in the preschool teachers’ narratives, their perceptions of the teacher’s role and their professional selves. The linguistic analysis revealed beliefs and values expressed through figurative language, and especially metaphor. Metaphoric themes related mainly to the nurturing of children and were consistent with beliefs and values expressed directly.     

Influence of misaligned parents’ aspirations on long-term student academic performance

This article deals with the concept of misaligned parents’ aspirations, its relationship with student background characteristics, and its effects on long-term student performance. It is defined as the difference between parents’ educational ambitions for their child and the child's actual capacities. Multilevel regression analyses on a sample of 10,433 Dutch students, who were followed for 5 years, showed that misaligned aspirations are related to parental education level and ethnicity, and have a small/medium positive effect on student performance. Based on ecology theory, we proposed that misaligned aspirations relate to differences in parent involvement, student achievement motivation, and teacher expectation bias, and that these factors subsequently influence student performance. The findings, however, indicate that this only applies to teacher expectation bias.     

The impact of adolescents’ dyslexia on parents’ and their own educational expectations

The present study examined the role that adolescents’ dyslexia plays in their educational expectations, as well as their parents’ expectations concerning their offspring’s future education. To investigate this, 170 adolescents were asked to report their educational expectations on two occasions while they were still attending comprehensive school (in 7th and 9th grade). Forty-five of the 170 adolescents were diagnosed as having dyslexia. The adolescents’ mothers and fathers also filled in questionnaires concerning their educational expectations for their offspring. The results showed that parents of boys with dyslexia had lower expectations about their sons’ future education than parents of typically reading boys. However, parents of girls with dyslexia and parents of typically reading girls did not differ in this respect. Parents’ expectations also predicted the adolescents’ own educational expectations. Moreover, dyslexia was associated with boys’ academic achievement (GPA), which further predicted their educational expectations.     

Your peers’ parents: Spillovers from parental education

Better-educated parents bestow significant advantages on their children in life; we explore whether this advantage multiplies, spilling over to classmates. Using a nationally-representative sample of US kindergarteners, we find significant effects of the parental education of classmates on math and reading, but not on socio-emotional skills. The effects are economically meaningful: reassigning classrooms so that all students have the same parental education composition would narrow the achievement gap between children of parents who are high-school-educated (or less) and those who are university-educated by 9 to 13 percent. These spillovers are not explained by rich, beginning of the school-year, measures of cognitive and socio-emotional skills, nor by race or socioeconomic status. Interestingly, not all spillovers from parental education are positive. In reading, we find that university-educated parents who are not working full-time create some negative spillovers for the classroom, which appear to come from their children’s relatively advanced reading skills.     

Parents as protectors: A qualitative study of parents’ views on child sexual abuse prevention

Although parents are essential to child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention efforts, their views on prevention and protection are not always represented in the research literature. In this qualitative study of 24 Australian parents, beliefs about CSA, its risk factors, prevention methods, and parents’ role in CSA protection, and parents' approaches to protection of their own children, are examined. Findings were condensed into five themes: (a) parents' understanding of child sexual abuse, grooming and risk; (b) parent-led CSA education; (c) parents’ beliefs about CSA education; (d) children recognizing and resisting CSA; and (e) parent responsibility for protection. Findings suggest that parents have a good knowledge of CSA and its risks. However, they do not provide their children with the comprehensive prevention messages recommended by prevention campaigns and many concentrate on abduction dangers. This gap between knowledge and parental communication with children could be due to parents' beliefs that there may be harms associated with education of children about CSA (e.g., such as inciting new fears and worries or reducing trust in others) and that the method may not be effective in protecting children from CSA. This study adds to the existing literature by presenting information that could be useful in designing programs to include parents in CSA protection and by approaching CSA research with parents as the key agents in the protection of children.     

Getting parents involved in children’s play: Qatari parents’ perceptions of and engagement with their children’s play

The study investigates parents’ perceptions of and engagement with their children's play in the context of Qatar. Quantitative data were collected using a questionnaire that was administered to parents of children aged 4–7 years old in Doha. A total sample of 240 parents responded to the questionnaire. Findings indicated that Qatari parents valued the importance of play to their children’s development and learning. In addition, parents showed a moderate level of engagement with their children’s play. The findings also indicated that physical play was the most common type of play in which parents are engaged with their children, followed by discovery play. Moreover, significant correlations were found between parents’ perceptions of children’s play and their engagement with all play types. In addition, significant differences were observed in parents’ perceptions of and engagement with children’s play based on parents' socio-demographic variables. These findings highlight the importance of extending children’s play in all children’s educational levels, and getting parents involved in children’s play activities.     

Problematising school space for Indigenous education: teachers’ and parents’ perspectives

This interpretive study explores the relationship between spatial qualities and school-parent engagement in three primary schools which serve low income periurban Indigenous families in north Australia. Drawing from interviews with educators and parents, school-based observations and community fieldwork conducted over the course of two years in two different towns, we found that educators are very concerned that schools, as western institutions, present cultural and physical barriers to effective engagement; but that this view is not shared by Indigenous parents. Rather than seeing this as a simple issue of cultural difference, our analysis seeks to unravel the curious way in which the otherness of school space is acknowledged in educator discourse. Only some place features of school are suggested as a barrier by educators while other aspects – such as the clear identification of insiders and outsiders through school routines and locales – remain unremarked. We conclude by suggesting that schools are inherently exclusionary, a foundational fact which both parents and educators accept and respond to, in ways which both explain the push for engagement within education policy and its irrelevance as a concern for parents.     

Effects of social persuasion from parents and teachers on Chinese students’ self-efficacy: an exploratory study

This study compared the effects of social persuasion from parents and teachers on students’ self-efficacy in reading comprehension in English as a foreign language. Ninety-nine Grade 8 Chinese students in a secondary school in Hong Kong completed a questionnaire with six scenarios which tapped their self-efficacy after receiving positive and negative feedback that were described as coming from their teacher, mother and father. Students decreased their self-efficacy after receiving negative feedback and the source of feedback did not make a statistically significant difference. Conversely, positive feedback led to an increase in self-efficacy with the mother’s positive feedback leading to a higher increase in self-efficacy than feedback from the teacher and the father. No statistically significant difference was noted in the change in self-efficacy after receiving feedback from the father and the teacher. Parents and teachers should increase the use of positive feedback and decrease that of negative feedback. Implications for collaboration between teachers and parents in providing positive feedback on students’ academic performance were discussed.     

Effects of social pressure and child failure on parents’ use of control: An experimental investigation

Because research has shown that controlling parenting is related to general and school-related maladjustment in children, there is a need to examine antecedents of controlling parenting. In this study, we addressed the role of two sources of pressure (i.e., social pressure eliciting ego-involvement and child failure) on parents’ situational use of control. 124 parents worked with their 5th or 6th grade children on a puzzle task. The two sources of pressure were induced experimentally in a 2 × 2 design, with parents receiving instructions eliciting either ego-involvement or task-involvement and with children either failing or succeeding in the task. Following the task, there was a free choice period in which dyads could choose whether or not to make additional puzzles. In both phases of the experiment, we coded parents’ controlling interaction style, dyadic reciprocity, performance, and parents’ and children’s engagement. Additionally, in the free-choice period the dyads’ degree of persistence was registered. While induced child failure was related positively to parents’ controlling style during the initial puzzle activity, induced social pressure was related to parents’ controlling style in the free-choice period. In turn, a controlling style was related negatively to performance, reciprocity, and engagement. The findings confirm that parents’ use of a controlling style is a multi-determined phenomenon affected by different sources of pressure and undermining children’s performance and engagement.