Older Children Negotiating Relationships Between Home and School

Abstract

Most research into parental involvement and engagement examines the perspectives of teachers and parents, but often not pupils. Additionally, the focus is commonly on younger children. This study addresses these gaps. A questionnaire was distributed to pupils in Primaries 5, 6 and 7 (ages 9–12), which, after data cleaning, resulted in a sample of 842 responses. The questionnaire asked about frequency of and attitudes towards support with learning at home and pupils’ attitudes towards adults from home coming in to school. Findings show that changes in attitude towards home support previously reported in secondary pupils are also evident in this younger group. The oldest pupils in the study showed increased apathy, but no increased embarrassment, about adults from home coming in to school. Most children were happy with the support they received, with children at all stages wanting more help with writing than reading. Implications for practice are considered.