oa Houdingen van leerkrachten ten aanzien van ouders en hun emoties, reacties en gevoelens van competentie bij verschillende uitingen van ouderbetrokkenheid

Attitudes of teachers regarding parents and their emotions, reactions and feelings of competence in diverse ways of parental involvement: A case specific analysis

Parental involvement has become salient in the educational policy agenda. To successfully implement parental involvement policy in the school teachers are of major importance. In their daily contact with parents, teacher attitudes, their emotions and their competences play a significant role. Teachers are expected to deal with a variety of ways in which parents show their involvement with their child’s education; with assertive ways of involvement, like overprotective or unsatisfied parents, but also with parents who do not respond to school’s invitations. In this study, it is investigated how primary school teachers respond to diverse ways in which parents are involved and how these responses can be explained by teachers’ attitudes towards parental involvement. The study involved a survey among 127 teachers. They were asked about their attitudes towards parental involvement and they were presented with three hypothetical cases in which ways of involvement were depicted (overprotective, unsatisfied, non-responsive to invitations). Teachers were asked about their emotional and behavioural responses in these cases. Analyses showed that teachers in general have positive attitudes towards parental involvement, that they feel competent and that they intend to respond with understanding and empathy to various ways of involvement and that they put effort in building constructive relationships with these parents. Teachers with positive parental involvement attitudes were most sympathetic to parents who do not meet the ideal-typical standards of parental involvement.