engleski

Comparative Study of School – Parent Relations: Different Views on School Climate (Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia, PISA 2009)

The most recent cycle of PISA studies showed that students in general achieve better results in classrooms with clearly defined relationships and discipline climate, along with the support of engaged teachers and parents. It is concluded that solely economic background approach is not sufficient for explaining which schools and countries are more successful and satisfied with their education system than others, and why is that so. In that respect it is crucial to investigate other sources of different views on learning environment and school climate in particular, as a potential alternative. In this study we have analysed interactions and relationships between schools’ and parents’ level of perception and different views on their school quality in three countries from the region. These countries are: Slovenia, Serbia and Croatia. Main social actors or interested parties in educational process are students, their parents and schools. Principals are here regarded as the representatives of schools’ organizational authority. There are six main aspects of learning environment according to the PISA design, of which two are more thoroughly analysed in this article: teacher and student behaviours that effect learning (1) and parents’ involvement in and expectations of schooling (2). We have taken into consideration six different instruments from two background questionnaires: parents’ and principals’ questionnaires and investigated their mutual relations in different educational systems. Some of those questions are how parents’ satisfaction with child’s school reflects on their own expectations of school as an institution of learning, how parents’ perception of their own involvement in school decision making influence their satisfaction with school or how principals’ view of schools’ human and material resources relate to overall school climate (defined as student – teacher relationships). All these proposed directions of thought represent paths to making schools more aware of their original mission. Besides transferring knowledge as a commodity in a modern world, communities need schools to have functional roles in both child’s and parents’ lives to achieve acceptable personal and system level of quality that all countries strive to in education.

PISA background data; learning environment; comparative study

Distributed paper presented at the 10th Conference of the European Sociological Association: Social Relations in Turbulent Times, (Research Network 10 – Sociology of Education), 7–10 September 2011, Geneva, Switzerland.