Mircea Agabrian

University “1 Decembrie 1918”

Alba Iulia, Romania

magabrian@yahoo.com

Agabrian, Mircea

The Increased Involvement of Parents in School Activities and in Their Children’s Education: Options, Attitudes and Opinions

The study presents the results of a research carried out within the grant entitled “Partnerships School-Family-Community. A Case Study in Alba County – a Qualitative-Quantitative Approach”. The investigation set to find out the options and attitudes of parents and teachers regarding the increasing role of parents in school activities and in their children’s education. It took place in five schools of Alba County with the aim to implement partnership programs that would take into account the particularities of each secondary or high school. The research has highlighted the domains that impose sustained activity of the Action Team for Partnerships (ATP) set up in each school to implement the partnership programs.

Three of the means proposed for the increase of parents’ involvement in school activity, that is sponsoring, volunteering and management participation are less agreed by the parents. A significant problem refers to the development of guidelines of the schools’ educational policy, a field that most parents find inappropriate for involvement. The parents’ stand coincides with the unfavorable attitude of the teachers towards the parents’ involvement in this field. The teachers also add their reserve towards the parents’ participation in establishing optional disciplines and in identifying institutionalized support forms to help children with learning difficulties that would eliminate the phenomenon of private tutoring.

All these show the ATP members that they need to find and promote efficient means of parent involvement in elaborating the school’s educational policy in the areas that concern them. This trend of attitudes comes in contradiction with the conception and behavior of the members of a modern society, which considers school to be the center of democratic community life as partnerships school-family-community are an important dimension of civil society.