Perceptions of ZEP Teachers towards Parental Involvement of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Families: Promoting School–Family Cooperation

Abstract

Parental involvement of super-diverse families in the educational process is an integral part of the integration of emergent bilingual students, which, however, entails obstacles to its implementation in Greek schools and worldwide. Τhe present study investigates, through a qualitative case study, the perceptions of eight primary school teachers who had worked in zones of educational priority (ZEPs) in Greek public education, which are also called reception classes, towards the involvement of immigrant and refugee parents in the educational process as well as the barriers that influence it. The methodological tool of semi-structured interviews was used, while the sample was selected with both the convenience and snowball sampling techniques. Some important results reveal the usefulness of parental involvement for all involved persons in the school–family partnership as well as the multiple obstacles to its implementation. The main difficulties encountered by the participants were the parents’ lack of competence in Greek or in an intermediate language as well as their unfamiliarity with a culturally different education system. In response to this reality, the establishment of translation services at school with language and cultural interpreters that could bridge theses distances while recognizing families’ differences as an asset rather as an obstacle emerges as a necessity.