FAMILY-SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS: INFORMATION AND APPROACHES FOR EDUCATORS

Abstract

A partnership requires families and educators to work together toward a shared goal. Issues that arise in creating partnerships are power and control. Families dramatically influence the degree to which children are engaged in school and how they identify themselves as learners. A strong family-school partnership will improve both academic and behavioral outcomes for children. The benefits of a strong family-school relationship extend beyond academic work. Other benefits of family involvement in schooling include improved behavior at school, higher attendance rates, lower drop-out rates, higher self-esteem, and higher probability of avoiding high-risk behavior in adolescence. The resulting empowerment of families and coordination of educational efforts is important for students' success. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Headnote

Abstract: A partnership requires families and educators to work together toward a shared goal. Issues that arise in creating partnerships are power and control. Families dramatically influence the degree to which children are engaged in school and how they identify themselves as learners. A strong family-school partnership will improve both academic and behavioral outcomes for children. The benefits of a strong family-school relationship extend beyond academic work. Other benefits of family involvement in schooling include improved behavior at school, higher attendance rates, lower drop-out rates, higher self-esteem, and higher probability of avoiding high-risk behavior in adolescence. The resulting empowerment of families and coordination of educational efforts is important for students' success.

Keywords: partnership, family-school interaction, teacher, trainer, student, behavior, personality, collaboration.

MOTO:

"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family."

Anthony Brandt

The importance of family-school partnership

A good cooperation between family and school can be achieved through partnerships. The family influences significantly the extent to which the children are involved in the educational process, as well as the way in which the students assume their identity and their role of "students". The family-school partnership will improve the school results of the students, and will have a positive impact on the forming and harmonious development of their personality.

The close and sincere cooperation between family and school gives great results, because no matter how big and important the educational force of a collective is, unless there is such collaboration, if a contradiction between the educational methods in school and in family arises, it will be much more difficult to address the educational errors. In conclusion, children's education requires special efforts both from family and school and they must be based on sound principles and perseverance.

The importance of school-family partnership

The advantages in academic plan: the specialized research reveals the fact that "students have higher performance at school in the programs where their parents are involved than in similar programs in which their parents are not involved" (Henderson and Nancy, 1995). The degree of parents' involvement in their children's school-life also influences their outcomes in a positive way: the better the parents cooperate with the school, the higher their children' grades are. Education is not a process for which school or parents are exclusively responsible: it is a process whose success depends on the cooperation between the two implicated parties.

Benefits in the behavioral sphere: the family-school relationship has a positive impact on the student's activities outside the classroom, in family, in society. It appears that those children who are supported by parents, who have in the family adequate pro-school attitude obtain high performances at school and show a higher degree of aspiration towards the level of education they want to achieve. The positive attitude and participatory attitude of the family towards school is also transferred to the children and is reflected in their higher interest in the school activities, homework, results of the evaluation. As far as their personality is concerned, these students are more self-confident and get involved actively in their educational and professional training.

Critical issues in establishing the family-school partnership

Within this partnership, the difficulties often arise from the dispute on divergent ideas as to: the responsibility of the school and the family concerning the children's education; the freedom to choose the school by the parents or the uniqueness of the education, the impact of the family environment on the children's educational outcomes, the parents' participation in the management and the decision-making process of the educational establishment. A significant and difficult to approach obstacle is the attitudinal one. The mentality of people - parents, teachers, students, etc. - and the social traditions deeply rooted and consolidated by repeated behaviors represent factors which are hard to influence and change.

* Genuine partnership

A partnership implies that the family and educators work together towards a common goal. The problems that arise when establishing and"operating" this type of partnership concern power and control. If this school-family partnership has been developed unilaterally so far, often being considered "the school responsibility", at present this thing has changed significantly and involves different connotations.

The genuine educational partnership assumes that school loses its supreme role and educational monopoly expressing a positive, democratic approach of the educational relationships. School needs the parents' support and, in their turn, they can become responsible parents with the help of school. In this respect, Bonnie McReynolds said that parents should get involved both as teachers and students, supporters and advocates of their children.

? Keeping the parents informed

Parents' information and training regarding their child's schooling implies, at least, that the parents know: the legal obligations concerning their child's education, the rights they are entitled to for their child's education, the importance of their attitude for his/her academic success, the methods of collaborating with the school. To this end, a dialogue must be established between teachers and parents; the teachers must benefit from special training for the relationships with the parents, and their competence in this field must be considered a professional skill; the parents, in their turn, need to be trained to play their educational role in cooperation with the teachers; therefore, schools should provide parents (parents' associations) with the necessary assistance.

? Flexibility

As far as the educational action of the family is concerned, this proves to be efficient only when its goal toes the line with the school, when there is consistency between the two factors concerning the targeted objectives, responding to the social and educational ideal. Thus, it is necessary to adopt some adequate behaviors, such as: free communication of information; tolerance, when the professional language is not understood by the non-professionals (among the parents); encouraging debates on major educational issues, mutual consideration of parents and teachers as partners.

Communication - an efficient way of promoting the partnership family-school

The efficient communication between school and family is one of the most important tools to achieve common goals related to children and their development. Setting up a wide range of opportunities for the parental involvement in the school activities is an indicator of the educators' openness and professionalism. School must be understood as an institution where people communicate by all means, learn and communicate at any level or for any social or thematic context. The goal of communication in school is not confined to the academic success, but it seeks human success under all its aspects and in all the moments of life. The educational influence of the family is not over for the child at the age of seven. It takes other forms and intermingles closely with that of school and society. The main activities that facilitate communication are:

? The establishment of a work plan at the beginning of the school year

In principle, during the school year the school-family interactions are limited to the exchange and completion of documents, as well as to the exchange of information on school regulations and practices. In this respect, it is necessary to conclude a "parental contract" at the beginning of school year between the parents and the teachers. This "contract" is established as a system of mutual obligations between the parents and the 'educators' under economic, educational and cultural aspects.

? The establishment of the relationships before the emergence of a "problem"

It has been found out that parents should be notified when the child has an outstanding performance, but also at the slightest sign of concern so as appropriate actions can be taken. Thus, the family has the opportunity to get involved actively and responsibly in their child's school activity. Following such an approach, the family members may become receptive to the educator's suggestions and advice.

? The development of the collaborative relationship step by step

In this partnership, parents and "educators" share a huge responsibility. Together they provide their children with the desire to learn and work hard. A good communication between them is the key to success, to motivate the children to learn and to raise their interest in this respect. The more the school represents a value of the family, the higher is the degree of the family's involvement. Regular meetings with the family enable "educators" to answer the parents' questions, to provide them with information about the student's academic performance and to find together solutions to the potential problems that may arise. When the educators and parents seek a closer collaboration, they must appeal to an organized form of communication. There are a number of means that can facilitate communication, such as telephone, e-mails, newsletters, etc. It is recommended that special messages include a special section in which feedback (comments, suggestions, questions) from the parents is required.

? Asking for adequate information

It is common knowledge that, besides sharing the same views, collaboration also involves a unitary coordination of the actions - the coordinating factor of this cooperation being the educator. This results naturally, the school having the role of coordinating the collaboration of all the educational factors, as it represents the only qualified factor for such an action. It is also necessary to set up a system of parents' training which should ensure a transfer of knowledge, experiences and practice examples. In this process we have to take into account the following aspects: the family's objectives and expectations as to the child's education, the family's involvement in supporting the child to do his/her homework, the way in which school can contribute to increasing the child' academic performance, the way in which the family helps school in assisting the child.

Parents need to be educated and be made responsible as to their children' future in order to become aware of their own role and of that of the school in shaping this future. The educational programs for parents can eliminate many of the limits of their active participation in the educational process and their possible mistrust in the teaching and learning process.

Initiatives in school-family partnership development

While the family's involvement diminishes year by year and decreases dramatically during the secondary school years, the need for the family' active support of the students in the educational process increases. Recent research in this field has revealed the fact that teenagers need their parents' support to the same extent (if not more) as primary school pupils. Therefore, it is essential that school strive to encourage and maintain the active involvement of the family in the learning process throughout the entire period of the educational training.

Modalities to promote the family-school interaction

? The support lent to the family by school

'Educators' must propose appropriate means of communicating with parents and highlighting the evolution of their children in school, prepare a steady flow of high quality information targeted at the parents in order to make them re-examine their attitudes towards the parents' role and their opinions about the experiences their children are going through and, what is more, to approach more seriously their whole schooling experience. That is why "educators" need to learn about the families' culture, life and workplace, to be receptive to other members of their family or close friends who take interest in the education of children, to explain clearly the homework assignment policy or the way of establishing classroom rules, to tell the parents in detail how the set objectives will be attained, to inform them as to the current issues of education, to help parents understand the importance of their support, and, last but not least, to thank them for their involvement and to explain to them how their actions will benefit their child and the school.

? The support provided by the family in the learning process

For educational success, the family must assume the role of an active school collaborator, to be acquainted with the specific requirements of the school, to create the necessary conditions for continuous learning and control the implementation of the daily schedule. The family role is not limited to that, but it must strengthen the moral and civic skills, the civilized behaviour in relation with others, to create the necessary conditions for the development of their child's skills, etc. Other ways of parents' involvement are: discussing with their children's teachers, establishing an adequate relationship with them (a short telephone conversation or a meeting at school or at their house can liaise them, in order to help the child), attending school events, discussing permanently with the child about what is happening at school, asking him specific questions about the class work, about the teachers and other additional activities, supporting the child' learning by carrying out daily activities with him/her (reading, checking the homework, limiting his/her access to TV or videogames), asking the teachers' advice about a number of problems concerning the child as the latter knows more about the child's development and spends more time with him/her; providing the teachers with useful information (such as family conditions change, divorce, parents' illness or death of a pet, events that can trigger concentration problems in the learning process), getting involved in organizations that support parent-teacher collaboration in school reform, learning how the school counsel operates, helping the school management to establish certain rules.

? Including the family in the decision-making process

The relationship with families is increasingly encouraged by school: the School Board includes representatives (associations) of parents with decisional role in all educational issues; parental organizations are allowed and encouraged to participate in the school activities; specialized teachers (counselors) treat special problems which require collaborating with the students' families; teachers' organizations recognize the status and role of parental associations; teachers' training addresses the issue of school-family relationship as one of the most important problems, courses for teachers and parents are organized.

? Providing useful information for the family

The educators' collaboration with parents should be conducted on a sound thematic basis. It can be part of a set of educational problems whose awareness, debate and operational resolution requires continuity, resumption and development for longer periods of time. School work with family requires a system, a unity of objectives, methods and measures which should lead this special collaboration, so as not take place randomly. School work with family can take the form of a methodological experiment of social pedagogy envisaging the activity organization and analysis, verification of objectives, methods and procedures used by means of the parents' lecture, in parents' meetings, in counselling and debating sessions as to the permanent link between school (the educational process) and family.

Conclusions

The partnership school-family can take the form of services developed by the school for the benefit of the students' families. These can be organized exclusively by the school or in partnership with other organizations/institutions.

These services can be: counselling centers, health centers, sporting centers, after-schools which can also include other services: teaching foreign languages, sporting activities, mini-trips, theatres, shows, visits to various places, etc.; volunteering centers; clubs; canteens; half-boards, etc.

The offer of services for families through schools represents a strategy to strengthen school-family relationships. The parents gain confidence in school, an institution which becomes more transparent and closer to the community needs. A good point is the services coherence; the parents are no longer compelled to search by themselves to benefit from different services as they can find them in school. School as a provider of complex services will perform the transition from institutional education with emphasis on institution (which has a schedule, a curriculum the students need to adapt to) to the school centered on the student, on his needs and those of the community. The basic function of education is to prepare the human being for social integration. Education does not envisage shaping an abstract man, but the necessary man for the respective society, according to its requirements. The axiological function represents education for and through values.

References

REFERENCES

Christenson, S. L., & Sheridan, S.M., (2001), Schools and families: Creating essential connections for learning, New York: Guildford. ISBN: 1572306548.

Epstein, J. L., Sanders, M.G., Simon, B.S., Salinas, K.C., Jansorn, N.R., & Van Voorhis, F.L., (2002), School, family, and community partnerships: Your handbook for action (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. ISBN: 0761976655.

Redding, S., (2000), Parents and learning. (Educational practices series, no. 2.) New York: International Academy of Education and the International Bureau of Education. Available: www.ibe.unesco.org (available in English, Spanish, and Korean at

www.ibe.unesco.org/International/Publications/Educational Practices/prachome.htm)

Rutherford, B., (Ed.) (1995), Creating family/school partnerships. Columbus, OH: National Middle School Association. ASIN: 1560900865.

Websites:

www.ncpie.org - National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education National Network of Partnership Schools at Johns Hopkins University www.csos.jhu.edu/p2000/default.htm - National Network of Partnership Schools at Johns Hopkins University