Turkish parents' and teachers' opinions towards parental participation in a rural area

Abstract

The aim of this study was to define parents' and teachers' opinions on parental participation practices in a rural area. The study involved collecting interview data from 18 parents with children in the 1 , 5 and 8 grades and 18 teachers in these grades. Five fathers st th th and 13 mothers were interviewed. The interviews were constructed according to the six types of parental participation described by Epstein. The questionnaire comprised six questions including themes such as; what kind of information the parents need about their children's schooling and development in all grades; how might the parent get involved in class and school activities; what is their opinion about how they can help the teacher concerning classroom activities, etc. The structuring content analysis technique was used to analyze the data. The results revealed that the parents perceived that teachers and school administrators expected the parents to support the school financially, to help organizing some of the social or sporting activities at school, but not to support the school administration or be involved in class work / school work. The study also showed that teachers' perceptions differed according to which grade they were teaching in. Also, both parents and teachers lack adequate information about how parents might be involved so as to improve student achievement.