Accountability, obedience, and resistance: Teachers and families´ perspectives on school-family collaboration

Abstract

Internationally there is wide scientific and legislative agreement on the relevance of school-family collaboration in education. Following this premise, this study explores the notions of collaboration that sustain participation and involvement practices in five schools in Chile. Utilizing a questionnaire based on Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler´s scales of parental involvement and individual and group interviews with teachers and families, meanings about school-family collaboration, roles and teachers´ expectations for families are explored. Results show how notions of collaboration held by teachers and families privilege certain aspects while making others invisible. Further results indicate accountability and blame discourses for the failure of successful school family collaborations attributed to non-participating families by teachers and those families who do participate in school-based activities.