Practising school-home collaboration in upper secondary schools: to solve problems or to promote adolescents’ autonomy?

Abstract

This article explores school-home collaboration as a pedagogical phenomenon and contributes to a rationale for collaboration between school and parents in upper secondary education. The theory of practice architectures is used as an analytical lens. It sheds light on arrangements that enable or constrain the semantic, social, and physical spaces where students, parents, and teachers encounter each other as collaborative partners. Six upper secondary schools participated in the study; the dialogue café method was used to facilitate conversations between stakeholders to explore and verify this phenomenon. The study revealed three key aspects that require attention when developing collaborative practices: (a) clarification of the teaching profession’s obligations; (b) engaging and empowering students’ agency; and (c) moving beyond a fire-fighting approach. In addition, the need for further research to operationalise the safeguarding of students’ and parents’ rights, and support for students’ agency, in the context of school-home collaboration.