Main channels for family-school communication: needs analysis and proposals for improvement

Abstract

Parental involvement in their children’s education is essential but still remains a major educational challenge. In this context, it is imperative to look at family-school communication since it enhances trust and confidence between the two educational agents (families and schools) and, consequently, it helps to improve family-school partnership. Thus, the present article analyses the weak points of the main channels of communication between parents and teachers, and describes effective practices for overcoming some of these barriers and improving the family-school communication thereof. The study, which is part of a larger research regarding parental involvement in Spain, adopted an ethnographic approach. Specifically, 20 primary schools from four autonomous communities (La Rioja, Aragon, the Balearic Islands and Catalonia) were studied. The findings revealed that schools are implementing multiple actions and interesting practices to overcome the weaknesses of the current media, which could be considered as initial proposals for improving family-school communication.