Analysis of the family participation in associations of parents of students and school council

Abstract

The legislation takes into account the right of families to participate in Parent's Associations and the School Council. In order to learn about the participation of parents in such associations of family representation, through a non-experimental quantitative research, for the purpose of assessment, 30 dichotomous items have been used in an open-ended questionnaire applied to 14876 families from 16 Spanish autonomous communities. After the descriptive and inferential analysis of the data, the results show some level of participation associated with the AMPA in half of the sample of families, little interest in being part of the board of directors and limited participation in the activities organized by the association, pointing out the impossibility of work-life balance as the main obstacle. Participation in the CE is considered very low, claiming their limited competence to develop the representation in this organ. According to the variables analyzed, the formal family participation is significantly higher in the stage of Primary Education and in public schools. However, the effect size did not reach the minimum values required. The final conclusion of the research is that effective family participation in the schools could be improved both in intensity and diversity.