Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Advanced Research in Education, Teaching and Learning
Year: 2024
DOI:
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The Importance of Teachers in Inducing the Involvement of Families in Their Children’s Studies: Contrast Between Rural and Urban Centres. The Origin of The IMPLICA2(+) Project
Agustín Godás Otero, Julia María Crespo Comesaña, Laura García Docampo
ABSTRACT:
The actions of teachers and their impact on family involvement in children’s education, along with the characteristics of the educational institution, are powerful predictors of a family’s decision to become involved. Teachers’ general beliefs about their own role as parents, their self-efficacy, and their views on gender, ethnicity, and theoretical knowledge are significant factors as well. Their specific beliefs about students, such as their ability to help them reach their goals and their relationships with both students and families, also play a key role. However, are these beliefs of equal intensity depending on the context in which they are developed? This question led us to compare rural and urban schools to observe how teachers promote family engagement actions aimed at improving students’ academic performance. We focus on their technical knowledge regarding family involvement, their evaluation of these practices, and their styles of communication with families. The socio-professional differences between rural and urban teachers are also taken into account. This study involved 80 professionals (50 from urban areas and 30 from rural areas) selected from 12 primary education schools in the Autonomous Community of Galicia (Spain). The findings reveal differences in their socio-professional characteristics, the use of family engagement strategies, the assessment of the obstacles hindering the implementation of these strategies, and the ways of communicating with families. These findings are the origin of a new research project called “How to Achieve Family Involvement in Education from School. The Effectiveness of a Training Programme for Primary Education Teachers: IMPLICA2(+) (PID2022-140041OB-I00).
keywords: educational context; family involvement; primary education teachers; strategies to engage families, socio-professional differences