Parental disillusionment with school: prevalence and relationship with demographic variables, and phase, size and location of school

Abstract

This study examines the prevalence of parental disillusionment with school and its relationship with demographic variables, and phase, size and location of schools. Findings are based on data from 1569 parents of children in grades 5 to 10 from 20 schools in 9 municipalities in Norway. Previous research in other countries shows benefits for the children's attainments at school of positive relationships between parents and teachers. However, only a few studies in Norway have focused on home–school collaboration. Parents in this study are more likely to report disillusionment in big schools than in small schools. Also, parents with low income tend to be more disillusioned than parents with high income. However, the general lack of significant differences between schools might indicate that parental disillusionment was more likely to arise from conflicts between teachers and parents and from policy and practice in the school.