Exploratory study on teachers' perception about mothers' involvement in nursery and primary schools

Abstract

Research shows that families' involvement in schools promotes children's educational quality; it is also a parents' right according to the Spanish educational legislation. Therefore, it should be promoted from the schools and the teachers. The objective of this research is to analyze nursery and primary school teachers' perception of the typology of mothers' involvement activities in schools as well as their difficulties on this regard. In addition, differences between these two educational stages and between urban and rural areas were analysed. This is an exploratory study, given its limited sample size composed of 78 teachers working in nursery and primary schools in urban and rural settings. The Scale on Relationships between Schools and Families (Martínez-González, 1994) was used to gather information; it is made up of items with four point Likert scale answers. Descriptive and comparative data analyses were carried out. The results indicate that, according to teachers, mothers participate more in activities organized by the school, than in those organized by the families themselves through the Parents' Association at School. They do it more frequently and in more diverse ways in rural than in urban areas, according to the teachers. In primary schools they participate significantly more in parents-teachers meetings than in nursery. Regarding the difficulties to participate, teachers perceive they are mainly associated with the working hours of the families and those of the schools. No significant differences were found between the two educational stages in this regard; however, differences do exist between urban and rural settings, with the former showing greater difficulties. In rural areas there are greater transport limitations to the school. From these results, actions to improve mothers involvement in schools were suggested.