Taking grandparents to school: how school-community-family collaboration empowers intergenerational learning in China

Abstract

Intergenerational relationships that highlight learning characteristics are created in interpersonal conflicts and lifelong education. Realizing the high-quality development of intergenerational learning has become a key problem. A primary school in eastern China united communities and families to create an efficient intergenerational learning project. This study aims to explore how this intergenerational learning is created. A principal, a teacher, two community educators, and five family members were recruited as the unstructured interview participants to collect data. This study finds that the school, community, and families play irreplaceable roles in creating intergenerational learning. Influenced by educational policies and education responsibilities, the school proactively designed the intergenerational learning project that takes grandparents to school in interaction with the community and families. Adhering to the principle of social services and age-friendly, the community provides sufficient educational resources for implementing intergenerational learning through collaborative support. Considering the generation gap and integration between grandparents and grandchildren, families as participating identities make intergenerational learning from possible imagination into real practice. This study highlights the theoretical framework of how intergenerational learning is created in school-community-family collaboration. The practical implications for optimizing intergenerational relationships and coping with population aging are further emphasized.