Abstract
This research aims to evaluate the activities of School-Parent Association (SPA) in Turkey according to the teachers' views. The study was conducted with 10 volunteer teachers who participated in the activities of SPA in two public Anatolian high schools in Turgutlu district of Manisa province in Turkey in 2017-2018 academic year. The results of the research show that the teachers have little knowledge about SPA members. The duties of SPA are identified as generating monetary resources for teachers, school and students in need, organising social activities to increase student achievement and improving physical conditions of the school. The results show that the work of SPA is seen as inefficient and the middle-income parents who have successful children with no disciplinary problem usually attend SPA meetings. The reasons for low participation in SPA are expressed as its responsibilities and the financial contribution expected from parents during meetings. Some of the suggestions which were determined to participate the SPA, to increase to parent participation are increasing communication, addressing prejudices, explaining the importance of SPA to all stakeholders of the school, including parents in management meetings, supporting a legal legislation that appreciates work of teachers and parents, organising family/ home visits and reaching out parents through phones or text messages.
Highlights
Schools are organizations established to serve the education and development needs of societies
This research aims to explore teachers’ views on parent-teacher associations and seeks to answer following research questions: 1) What are the duties of the School-Parent Association (SPA) according to the teachers? 2) What are the view of teachers regarding the effectiveness of the work of SPA? 3) What are the views of teachers about the profile of parents who participated in SPA meetings? 4) What are the views of parents with regard to participation of parents in SPA and efforts of increasing parental participation? 5) What are the suggestions to make SPA more effective?
Teachers were asked about the work of the SPA and Table 2 presents their responses
Summary
Schools are organizations established to serve the education and development needs of societies. The process of education, which starts with the family, continues with schools and plays an important role in shaping the society. Since the school exists in the community, it must communicate and cooperate with the family, individuals and institutions in society. Schools are established to provide social development and they have the purpose of educating both individuals and society whilst cooperating with the surrounding environment [30]. School organizations, which have cooperation, communication and interaction with the outer world, are defined as open systems [49]. Open systems support the interaction with the environment and respond to external influences to seek support. Open system theory in education requires a relationship between institutions and families, and external groups such as employers and local education authorities [2, 7]
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