Partnership, participation and parental disillusionment in home–school contacts: a study in two schools in Norway

Abstract

This small‐scale study investigates the origins of parental disillusionment with school, with a focus on the extent to which disillusionment is related to the level and quality of partnership between parents and teachers. It also compares the reactions of parents when teachers take the initiative in contacting them about a child's learning or social problems with those of teachers when parents contact them. Sixteen pairs of parents and teachers who had met to discuss such problems agreed to take part in separate interviews. At least at the outset, partnership was consistently more effective when teachers initiated the contact than when parents initiated it. Initial tensions in the relationship could be reduced when either a parent or a teacher took action to improve the relationship. Parental disillusionment occurred in only three cases, where neither parent nor teacher could see their way to any compromise.

Keywords:

• initial contact
• parental disillusionment
• power in partnerships