'It's their job, not ours!' : home-school relations in Cyprus

Abstract

In a previolls paper (Phtiaka 1996) I looked at the relationship between home and school in Cyprus from the school's point of view. This paper completes the picture exploring parental views on home-school relations. It investigates parental motivation and decision making, and questions what lies behind parental 'absence' from school. It finally attempts to enrich our understanding of home-school relations by identifying what different groups of parents want and need from school. The paper is based on nine case studies of families whose children attend second year at Country Primary School and builds all research carried out during the children's first year in school. Findings' indicate that all families without exception care about their children's education and accept responsibility for it. They are very positive in their evaluation of school and teachers and accept teacher authority on all educational matters. Finally, all parents agree that co-operation between home and school benefits the children. Families are nevertheless divided in their approach to school as they have varied school experiences. They voice different needs and expectations from school depending on which group they belong to: the over-involved, the middle or the marginalised group. The paper concludes that given parental goodwill it is the responsibility of the school to initiate contact with the families on their own terms and to avoid interpreting their behaviour through a deficit model, requesting from the vast majority of parents what only a small minority can provide