Preparing teacher candidates for family–school partnerships

Abstract

Previous research indicates that, while parent involvement promotes student achievement, how teacher candidates are prepared to establish family-school partnerships (FSP) is not well documented and the roles of teacher educators are often neglected. Explorative studies including curriculum analysis and focus groups of primary and secondary teacher candidates and teacher educators were conducted in three universities, one each in the Netherlands, Belgium and the USA. Data collection was designed to identify opinions towards FSP and perceived preparation for FSP. The programmes showed limited attention to aspects other than communication and FSP was not assessed. The findings indicate training is largely dependent upon the proclivities of individual teacher educators. Although all respondents acknowledged the importance of FSP, respondents of primary education held a more positive attitude towards parents than others. Hardly any differences were found between the views of candidates and educators, regardless of the programme they followed or taught.

Family-school partnerships: a challenge for teacher education

“…More recent research has concluded that there remains a lack of attention to FSP in ITE (Epstein 2013;Willemse et al 2016). As Epstein (2013, 117) emphasises: 'More professors of education should feel comfortable and competent conducting a comprehensive course using an updated text that includes research readings, topics to discuss in class, field experiences, and short and long-term projects ' . de Bruïne et al (2014) also describe the struggle of teacher educators to improve the curriculum in times of already overloaded programmes and Evans (2013, see also Willemse et al 2017) in particular notice a lack of attention to FSP in ITE programmes for secondary education.…”

Co-production in primary schools: a systematic literature review

“…A narrative analysis shows the policy debate moving from the relation between social class and school success in the 1960s, through the discourse of accountability in the 1970s, marketization in the 1980s and 1990s, to a recent interest in direct interventions into parenting and the regulation of school relations with parents (Bridges, 2010). In the US, collaboration with parents is legally required for pre-service teachers' graduation (De Bruı¨ne et al, 2014;Willemse et al, 2016). Moreover, there is a strong mobilization of parents at the grassroots level to advance a school reform agenda (Manno, 2012).…”

“…There is a positive change in teachers' attitude towards school-family partnerships after completing such programmes (De Bruı¨ne et al, 2014;Hedges and Lee, 2010). Treatment group members articulated a theoretical and practical understanding of the benefits of family involvement.…”

“…A major theme in empirical papers was how to train teachers to improve their skills in building school-parent partnerships. Various studies acknowledged that there is not yet enough attention for the development of such skills in the teachers' initial training (De Bruı¨ne et al, 2014;Flanigan, 2007;Willemse et al, 2016). The teaching programmes that do pay attention to the development of family-school partnerships usually focus on communication with parents (Jensen, 2007;Willemse et al, 2016).…”

Different Disabilities, Different Attitudes Toward Parental Involvement In School In Israeli Teachers

“…In the recent years, an increased level of PI in the education of their children has been reported in different societies. Hence, several studies examining the aspects of PI in children's education and the phenomenon of school-family partnership exist (Addi-Raccah & Ainhoren, 2009;De Bruïne et al, 2014;Dor & Rucker-Naidu, 2012;McAnnof-Gumbs, 2006;Pereira & Serrano, 2014;Shamay, 2008;Sauto-Manning & Swick, 2006).…”