Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.5673/sip.49.2.3
Parents and School Cooperation in Croatia: Similarities and Differences in Urban and Rural Settings
Renata Miljević - Riđički
orcid.org/0000-0002-1217-4687
; Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb
Tea Pahić
; Faculty of Teacher Education, Čakovec
Vlasta Vizek Vidović
; Institute for Social Research in Zagreb, Center for Educational Research and Development
Abstract
The aim of this study was to explore parents’ perceptions of their cooperation with the school which their children attend as well as to examine possible differences in their orientations toward cooperation with schools which function in rural or urban settings. The comparisons between those two parent subsamples was carried out regarding their perception of school openness, factors acting as potential barriers to cooperation with school and general satisfaction with the possibility to influence their child education. The theoretical
basis of the study was Joyce Epstein model of parental involvement (Epstein at al., 2009) and Sheridan and Kratochwill concept of school-parent partnership (Sheridan and Kratochwill, 2007). The total sample consisted of 1052 parents of children from the second to the
eights grade of 30 elementary schools in Croatia, out of which 16 school were from urban and 14 school from rural settings. Regarding the characteristics of the data parametric and non-parametric statistical analyses were performed. The results indicate that in some aspects of parental cooperation with the school parents dominantly keep traditional perspective on child education while the child up-bringing and satisfaction with school perceive as shared responsibility of both school and parents. In accordance with the initial assumptions the results on urban/rural distinctions indicate higher level of cooperation between school and parents in rural settings as well as higher levels of general satisfaction with school and possibility to influence school decision making.
Keywords
urban/rural schools; parental involvement in education; parental orientation toward cooperation with school
Hrčak ID:
74919
URI
Publication date:
15.12.2011.
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