Introduction of Topic and How It Relates to Education
It is widely acknowledged that the educational process is very important for community improvement. A person develops under various circumstances, but there are basic factors which impact every person, no matter how different his/her life is – that is family (first of all, parents and also siblings and relatives) and educational institution (school, college, etc.). The family is the first environment the child is born and develops in. It is the place where a person establishes his psychological, social, physical, mental, and behavioral character. Parents’ influence lays the ground to the majority of future achievements and failures of a child and forms the first and the most significant traits of his character. School is the second social institution responsible for the upbringing of the child and the provision of education. So, it plays a complementary (but not the least) role to the family in the upbringing of the child. Since family always takes care about the child’s improvement, parents should understand that the relationship between school and family is very important. A well-balanced and fruitful cooperation between home and school contribute to the child’s progress. It is extremely important to know the role of the family as well as the role of the educational institution in the academic development and acknowledge that the functional integration between both systems will bring both scholarly and behavioral benefits.
In my work I will focus on the functional integration between the family and school in education and particularly in primary school. I personally find this topic very interesting for research, since I would like to find out the influence of school and family on the very first stages of the person in life. These are the roots of every character and they can give answers to many questions concerning a person, his nature, his deeds and the way of thinking. Of course, I already have some information about this subject and nobody can doubt the fact that school and family must cooperate in order to bring up a broad-minded, creative, resourceful, shrewd, and considerate individuality.
Studying the works of recognized scholars and researching the latest data in this sphere, I am aimed at disclosing more facets in this correlation and comparing the viewpoints of different scientists. At the end of my research I am going to identify commonalities and differences in their approaches. Thus, I plan to have a more profound view on this subject and check my suppositions regarding functional integration between school and family in the academic progress. Furthermore, I purpose to find additional information about this kind of integration, the types of possible activities, the role of each participant, the possibility of outer interference and other participants who can contribute to this coordination or, vice versa, hinder it. Finally, after studying different researches and their results, I will draw a conclusion about the role of school-parents interconnection in the education and general life of a child.
Research Findings and Connection to Topic
Beginning with the formal educational setting, the role of school in the education process is of paramount importance. According to Sharma (2007), the school has an important role by contributing to the development of the individual and his/her abilities. The scholar believes that school teaches students good and high values like “truth, sympathy, love, cooperation” through different types of social interaction and ethical instructions. Furthermore, school represents a society in miniature, where children interact with other people of different ages; so, the school teaches students social responsibility, citizenship, and vocational training. Thus, in school children prepare for the future social community in real life. Besides, the school should never neglect vocational training through different activities. It enhances the dignity of work and prepares students to face challenges in their future and overcome problems. Thus, the scholar considers school an essential part of a person’s life and calls it a “man-making factory” (Sharma, 2007).
Many scholars (Agabrian, 2007; Zolten and Long, 2014; Mautone, 2014; Bower et al., 2011; Drajea and Sullivan, 2014; Dubow, Boxer, and Rossel, 2009) devoted their work to the analysis of the parents’ effect on the educational level of their children and on their future academic achievements.
Agabrian (2007) studied the status of the school-family relations from the adolescents’ point of view: how they perceive them, what are the representations and behavioral patterns there are in the context of Romania during the transition to democracy. As a result, the research has shown that teenagers have a different opinion family’s style of education, attitudes and behaviour in school-family-community relations. The scholar figured out the following shapes of parents’ involvement in home studying activities: encouragement, urges, advice, and suggestions; material and financial support; communication; rewards, link to the school; control and verification, reproaches, restrictions, and refusals (Agabrian, 2007).
According to Agabrian (2007), active parental involvement is characterized by “a balanced and flexible combination between the offering of material and financial support, affection, support of school activity, on the one hand, checking and drawing attention, and on the other hand, exactingness in its evaluation.” These components must be in harmony and be emphasized permanently (Agabrian, 2007).
As for parents’ participation in school activities, the students expressed a favorable attitude towards their parents’ involvement. According to the research, the students believe that it may ensure better training, better school environment and promote parent-teachers dialogue. However, some parents shoed the lack of interest or abilities to be a part of school life. Finally, the researcher made two main conclusions: firstly, almost all the families care about their children and try to stay informed about their academic progress; secondly, almost all the teachers would like to involve parents in the school life, although they don’t do anything to change the situation (Agabrian, 2007).
Zolten and Long (2014) studied the influence of the family on the child and, specifically, on his social development. Thus, according to Zolten, Long (2014), “good communication skills will benefit children for their entire lives.” Since family is the first social environment of a child, it is the place where he learns to communicate, watching his parents. The researchers provide several pieces of advice for establishing positive and successful connection with the child: first of all, parents should begin communication as early as possible, when the children are still young. It also implies providing enough care and love for the child so that the family would be a comfortable zone for him. Secondly, parents are advised to take the age into consideration and communicate at his level (both physically and verbally). Parents should learn to listen to their children with attention. Besides, parents shouldn’t make their speeches too long, for children find it more difficult yet to keep attention for such a long time. Parents should ask the right, open-ended questions to keep the conversation. Moreover, parents should also express their own thoughts and feelings and share them with the children. The scholars advise to hold regular scheduled family meetings. And finally, parents shouldn’t pretend to be omniscient, they should admit ignorance when they really don’t know something. It is also clear that parents should control their children’s behavior and help them learn more about friendship and other life values. Moreover, a family should address faults with their children when they make serious mistakes, especially with regard to serious behavioral infractions. These communication tips, as Zolten and Long (2014) believe, can help parents find contact with their children and thus contribute to their educational, psychological, and social development (Zolten, Long, 2014).
Mautone (2014) differentiates between home-based involvement, school-based involvement, and home-school collaboration and clarifies that home-based involvement includes not only assessment with home work, but also educational games and visiting educational places, like museums or libraries. Mautone (2014) focused her research on children with ADHD, which provides additional challenges at school and at home and may spoil the relationships between the school and the parents. That’s why the scholar emphasizes the importance of the third party, i.e. a school psychologist, who will monitor and control the behaviour of the child, the teacher, and the parents. Mautone (2014) used the Parent–Teacher Involvement Questionnaire, which helps to evaluate the family involvement in school life of a child, and found out that the “quality of the parent-teacher relationship is strongly associated with the effectiveness of home–school communications related to homework.” Another interesting result of the research is that parent’s efforts to improve the quality of the home–school relationship may influence the quality of the student–teacher relationship, which is surely significant for student success in school (Mautone, 2014).
Bower et al. (2011), following Hoy et al. (2006), introduce the notion “faculty trust” which is “a reciprocal relationship in which parents and teachers trust each other to consistently act in students’ best interests.” (Bower, 2011, p.159) To assess the faculty trust of parents and teachers, the scholars used the Elementary School Success Profile (ESSP), where parents’ attitudes were estimated according to items and scales pertaining to parents, perceptions of teachers, of the home learning environment, and their own involvement at the school. For teachers the measures were items pertaining to teachers' perspectives on parent involvement at the school and students’ academic potential. As a result, Bower et al. (2011) have figured out a model which can help instruct schools in their attempts to establish stronger relationships with parents, enhance their culture, and benefit academic success. According to this model, higher levels of perceived teacher caring, parent educational involvement at home and at school, and perceived student potential resulted m higher family-faculty trust. Moreover, the investigation has shown that the more parents talk about school and the more time they spent with children for learning activities, the higher family-faculty trust and academic achievement will be (Bower, 2011).
Drajea and Sullivan (2014) studied the interconnection of family and school from the perspective of parents’ literacy level and family income in Uganda as the factors influencing children’s education. The results of the research indicated strong dependence of the quality of child education, support on parents’ income and literacy level. The relation between literacy and poverty is widely acknowledged by UNESCO and the World Bank. Particularly, citing Eden (2013), the researchers state that poverty may affect in the following ways: absence of learning habits at home; no access to computers; lacking sense of self-esteem through appropriate interactions with parents; poor housing; unhealthy food; possible mental health problems; domestic violence; a stressful way of life. In such circumstances, children badly need parents’ support, moral, spiritual, and financial, material. The results of the study showed unusual and unexpected results: whereas poor indicators of educational level in disadvantaged families are not a surprise for the scholars, professionally employed and educated parents also face problems with the education of their children, since they still spend little time with children and even less time is devoted to learning at home. What is also significant, the researchers provided some advice for parents, which could help them contribute to their children’s academic progress in school – for parents in rural and semi-rural areas Drajea and Sullivan (2014) suggest engaging in the working activities which are closer to home (like farming); they also find it a good idea for parents of different levels to interact and help each other with children up-bringing and education. Thus, the researchers have introduced the importance of parental literacy level and financial support, but especially the parental participation in the academic life of their children (Drajea and Sullivan, 2014).
Dubow, Boxer, and Rossel (2009) also devoted their investigation to parental educational level as a factor affecting the educational level of their children and particularly long-term effects on their education and occupational success. The scholars provide the data collected by other scientists in this sphere (Blau & Duncan, 1967; Duncan, Featherman, & Duncan, 1972; Duncan and Brooks-Gunn, 1997, etc.), which prove the detrimental effect of poverty on educational level and the character of a person, too. Dubow et al. (2009) provide multiple examples and many explanations of how parents can influence a child and enhance his academic abilities and motivation, such like achievement-oriented behaviour, parental educational level, socioeconomic state in the family, and so on. The study was devoted to long-term outcomes (at the age of 48) from parental educational levels during middle childhood (8 years old). The results confirmed the impact of the circumstances in middle childhood and adolescence on the achievements and/or failures in adulthood (both positive and negative). However, the supposition about parent education effects which would be mediated by negative family interactions and child aggression was not supported. On the other hand, the investigation has indicated that “negative family interactions and child aggression were related and that these two variables had indirect or direct effects on adult educational attainment and occupational prestige.” (Dubow et al., 2009, p.241) Moreover, the expectation that parents’ education would be connected to the child’s developing academic success and achievement-oriented attitudes, which in turn would be linked to higher levels of adult educational and occupational attainment, was confirmed by the study. Thus, the positive effects of parental education are independent of other “indices of parental SES” (i.e., father’s occupation, value of housing) and family “process variables” (i.e., negative family interactions), the positive effects of higher IQ, and the negative effects of child aggressiveness. The long-term positive effects of parent education turned out to be indirect — i.e., mediated through adolescent aspirations and educational attainment, — in contrast to the direct long-term effects of the child personal variables (IQ and aggressiveness) (Dubow et al., 2009, p.243).
Nevertheless, we must not forget about the importance of combined influence of school and family on the academic success of a child and practically on all his future attainments. The studies made by Hafizi and Papa (2012), Kosaretskii and Chernyshova (2014), Kreider, Mayer, and Vaughan (1999), Dubé et al. (2014), Pelco et.al (2007).
The research of Dubé et al. (2014) is focused on multicultural disadvantaged areas which are characterized by a relatively low educational level. Such learners often have difficulties in studying and need special treatment for adaptation. The scholar also emphasizes the value of parents for the academic success of their children and especially the parental perception of school. If it is positive, the children also have less aggression towards study and adapt themselves better. That’s why it is important for school and parents to work together. What is more noticeable is that parents’ “social capital” helps the child to enter school with more success, thus enhancing it from the very beginning. (Dubé, 2014)
Dubé et al. (2014) devoted their work to a Montreal educational hood and aimed at establishing and consolidating the links among the participants of educational process (teachers, families, the researched community). As a result, the researchers found out that parent-teacher communication required development, but the most fascinating outcome was that all parties showed much interest in encouraging one another’s participation in the school life and particularly in the child’s life, too. Thus, the researchers came to the conclusion that the parent’s role in the school life of their child does not depend on socio-economical factors much, besides, parent’s attitude to academic sphere is also essential. And finally, the encouragement must come not only from the parents themselves, but from the teachers and the students, too (Dubé, 2014).
Hafizi and Papa (2012) have studied parental involvement in school life and have received quite deplorable results – most parents don’t take part in school life and limit their participation to checking their children’s grades or helping with homework. The authors name two main reasons for that: that is the parent’s educational level and the economic situation in the family. However, school teachers must try their best to involve pupil’s parents in the school life, since it will contribute to the child’s development, socialization and will consolidate family relationships, too. It is especially important in the first stages, in primary school, when the child has just found himself in a new world with many strangers around. As far as Hafizi and Papa (2012) are concerned, school and family have a common goal which is “the education of the new generation and its preparation for the knowledge society.” The authors especially underline the role of communication in the development and the upbringing of a child in any family, be it a nuclear or an extended one. Parents should fight for their children’s improvement and put some time and effort into the development and education of today’s children. The school must have a system of communication with families and be welcoming to them and their ideas. Hafizi and Papa (2012) also state that in order to encourage parental involvement, teachers and schools should invite parents to visit their children’s schooling environment more often. In addition, families should read the notes that are provided by the school concerning their children as well as help them to do their homework or understand a lesson. Schools should also cooperate with families. Moreover, schools should communicate with parents regularly and invite them to student-teacher conferences to share their children’s progress and to address any of their learning needs. The scholars write that one of the reasons for parental non-involvement in schools is poor communication skills of teachers. Schools should work on the development of family involvement in education and each side must know their role, responsibility, and interdependence of both the school and home life. One of the other reasons for parental non-involvement in school life, Hafizi and Papa (2007) define the following reason for it: the low level of education in their background and the lack of time to engage in school activates. Both factors can negatively affect student progress. The functional integration between school and family is much more important, since each of them cannot do without the other in the educational process (Hafizi, Papa, 2012).
Kosaretskii and Chernyshova (2014) state that “improving the involvement of families in the lives of school students in Russia can be achieved through the use of electronic communication.” Currently there is a new model to improve communication between family and school, such as using technology to monitor the student’s daily progress. For example, if parents realize something is going wrong with their children during school, they should meet with teachers or administration to address outstanding issues and to work out the solutions to these problems. On the other hand, the school must be receptive to parental input (Kosaretskii, Chernyshova, 2014).
According to Kreider, Mayer, and Vaughan (1999), a good connection between school and parents helps students learn and maintain trust between teachers and parents. Parents should understand their role in the education process. There are a lot of parents who have the experience and knowledge that can greatly benefit formal educational systems and environments. Kreider et al. (1999) provided the following advice for parents: feel comfortable in school, not only participate in school activities, but also communicate with other parents, teachers, and school workers, watch your child in the school; moreover, spend time outside the school for communication with teacher (via phone), communicate even if there are different languages and cultures, share your thoughts and beliefs if it may benefit your child. The scholars also underline the role of the teacher for the child’s academic advancement – as far as the authors are concerned, teachers should know about their students’ life outside the school, they should also seek contact with their parents either in the school (at the conferences or parent meetings), or outside (calling them or even visiting them). The most important thing, Kreider et al. (1999) highlight is that both parties should have interest in doing something more for the children, only then they will be able to bring up a good well-educated person (Kreider, Mayer, Vaughan, 1999).
Pelco et.al (2007) represents a psychological approach to family-school partnership activities and underlines that all the researches in this sphere are non-experimental and thus we do not have a full picture yet. The author cites the scholar Epstein, who defined the goal of school-parent cooperation as “developing and conducting better communications with families across the grades to assist students to succeed in school.” (Pelco, 2007, p.236) The author offers three models of family-school connections: models focusing on parent effects (parent beliefs, parent educational level, family structure, family communication pattern), models focused on school effects (teacher beliefs, self-efficacy, school climate, school administrative structure), and models focuses in child effects (age, intellectual ability, and temperament of a child). However, some of these components are not researched well enough to draw any conclusions, and the real-life model is much more complex (Pelco, 2007).
As it was mentioned above, Pelco et al. (2007) have used a psychological approach to the subject and held an experiment – several surveys among 1,000 members, devoted to family-school communication. The results have shown that school psychologists may play an essential role in such type of relationship, and this participation is important for school psychologists themselves, too. Thus, the study indicated that school psychologists are “enthusiastically supportive” of the concept of parent-school partnerships and consider themselves to be a significant part of it. Besides, the most popular family-school activities supported by the respondents are consultations and instructing families with the questions about child development, discipline, and parenting (Pelco, 2007).
Summary
Conclusions
Thus, we have analyzed several approaches to the subject of functional integration of family and school in the academic process and we can draw a few important conclusions. First of all, we must never forget that family and school are the first social environment for a child, which give birth to his talents, future success, which form his character and way of thinking, which predict practically all his future life. Every person who can affect a child should always bear it in mind and be extremely careful about his or her treatment of a child. Secondly, parents must never forget about their outstanding role in their children’s life – they become their life teachers, advisors, best friends, superheroes for a long time. They carry a great power in their hands and they must use it reasonably so that the child receives and perceives maximum useful information which will help him in academic and social life. Thirdly, parents should always take part in every sphere of life of their child, especially in the school environment. Going to school, a child meets another person (or people) who will become his new instructor and who will open a totally new world for him. In order to achieve success in these undertakings, the teacher and the parents must become a solid team from the very first stages of cooperation, utilizing all their efforts to create the best educational and social environment for the child.
The above studied researches address the functional integration between school and family in academic progress. It is important to know the role of school, the role of family and the good integration between these two significant spheres of society in helping a student to reach his full potential. It is clear that the responsibility of the upbringing of children rests both with the family and the school. They are complementary to one another. It is a general hope implicitly held by modern society that the school plays its role in forming individuals able to adapt to the values and principles that it holds as necessary for proper function. It is also hoped that the student obtains the proper certifications pertinent to proof of competency. This does not eliminate the role of the family in the upbringing of the child. There must be a continuous cooperation between the parents and the school. Furthermore, it is absolutely vital that children spend a long period of their life in a formal educational environment, in concert with a stable and supportive home life, which plays an important role in their upbringing.
As for me, I have learnt much useful and interesting information about the topic I am interested in. The study research has helped me to confirm my suppositions about parents’ participation in the school life and dispelled my doubts about it once and for all. Some facts in the data collected turned out to be quite surprising (for example, the weak influence of the economic base on the child’s school life). This information can be used by teachers in any class and in any school, I believe. Moreover, it can be utilized for further academic research in the sphere of education. One of the possible ways to continue the discussion is to seek and offer solutions for parents and teachers as well as other school staff – the way they can cooperate and coordinate with each other and with the children at school/at home/somewhere else.
References
Agabrian, M. (2007). Relationships between School and Family: The Adolescents' Perspective. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 8(1). Retrieved from http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/download/209/462
Bower, H. A., Bowen, N. K., & Powers, J. D. (2011). Family-Faculty Trust as Measured with the Elementary School Success Profile. Children & Schools, 33(3), 158-16
Drajea, A. J., & O'Sullivan, C. (2014). Influence of Parental Education and Family Income on Children’s Education in Rural Uganda. Global Education Review, 1, 147-166. Retrieved March 19, 2016, from http://ger.mercy.edu/index.php/ger/article/download/38/61
Dubow, E. F., Boxer, P., & Huesmann, L. R. (2009). Long-term Effects of Parents' Education on Children's Educational and Occupational Success: Mediation by Family Interactions, Child Aggression, and Teenage Aspirations. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 55(3), 224-249. Retrieved March 19, 2016.
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Hafizi, A., & Papa, M. (2012, May). IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF EDUCATION BY STRENGTHENING THE COOPERATION BETWEEN SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES. Problems of Education in the 21st Century, 42, 38-49. Retrieved March 19, 2016, from http://www.scientiasocialis.lt/pec/files/pdf/vol42/38-49.Hafizi_Vol.42.pdf
Kreider, H., Mayer, E., & Vaughan, P. (1999). Helping Parents Communicate Better With Schools. Early Childhood Digests. Retrieved from http://www.hfrp.org/publications-resources/publications-series/early-childhood-digests/helping-parents-communicate-better-with-schools
Kosaretskii, S. G., & Chernyshova, D. V. (2013). Electronic Communication Between the School and the Home. Russian Education & Society, 55(10), 81-89.
Mautone, J. A., Marcelle, E., Tresco, K. E., & Power, T. J. (2014). Assessing The Quality Of Parent-Teacher Relationships For Students With Adhd. Psychol. Schs. Psychology in the Schools, 52(2), 196-207.
Pelco, L. E., Ries, R. R., Jacobson, L., & Melka, S. (2000). Perspectives and practices in family-school partnerships: A national survey of school psychologists. School Psychology Review, 29(2), 235-250.
Sharma, A. (2007). 7 essential functions of a school as an agency of education. Retrieved March 20, 2016, from http://www.preservearticles.com/201102244172/7-essential-functions-of-a-school-as-an-agency-of-education.html
Zolten, K., & Long, N. (2006). Parent/child communication. CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE PARENTING, 1-9. Retrieved from http://www.parenting-ed.org/handouts/communication-parent%20to%20child.pdf
