Parents and School Cooperation in Croatia: Similarities and Differences in Urban and Rural Settings

Cilj istraživanja bio je provjeriti razlikuju li se roditeljske procjene suradnje i zadovoljstva vlastitom uključenosti u život škole iz urbano/ruralne perspektive. Rad je dio većeg, međunarodnog istraživanja koji se bavi participacijom roditelja u životu škole. Uzorak se sastoji od 1052 roditelja djece od drugog do osmog razreda iz 30 osnovnih škola u Hrvatskoj. 16 škola nalazi se u urbanim, a 14 škola u ruralnim područjima. 562 ili 53,4% roditelja je iz urbanih sredina, a 490 ili 46,6% roditelja je iz ruralnih sredina. Rezultati pokazuju da roditelji općenito nastavu i izvannastavne aktivnosti procjenjuju isključivo zaduženjem škole, što ukazuje na tradicionalan pristup suradnji roditelja i škole. Međutim, odgoj djeteta i njegovo zadovoljstvo školom vide kao zajedničku odgovornost škole i roditelja, što ukazuje na mogućnost razvoja partnerskog odnosa škole i roditelja. Roditelji uglavnom vide vlastiti nedostatak vremena kao najznačajniju prepreku suradnji škole i roditelja, međutim, taj nedostatak značajno više naglašavaju roditelji urbanih sredina. Roditelji ruralnih područja općenito su zadovoljniji različitim načinima sudjelovanja u životu škole. Urbano/ruralne razlike roditeljskih procjena u većini potvrđuju polaznu pretpostavku o većoj povezanosti roditelja i škole u ruralnim područjima, kao i općenito veće zadovoljstvo komunikacijom i utjecajem na školu kod roditelja ruralnih područja.The aim of this study was to explore parents’ perceptions of their cooperation with the school which their children attend as well as to examine possible differences in their orientations toward cooperation with schools which function in rural or urban settings. The comparisons between those two parent subsamples was carried out regarding their perception of school openness, factors acting as potential barriers to cooperation with school and general satisfaction with the possibility to influence their child education. The theoretical basis of the study was Joyce Epstein model of parental involvement (Epstein at al., 2009) and Sheridan and Kratochwill concept of school-parent partnership (Sheridan and Kratochwill, 2007). The total sample consisted of 1052 parents of children from the second to the eights grade of 30 elementary schools in Croatia, out of which 16 school were from urban and 14 school from rural settings. Regarding the characteristics of the data parametric and non-parametric statistical analyses were performed. The results indicate that in some aspects of parental cooperation with the school parents dominantly keep traditional perspective on child education while the child up-bringing and satisfaction with school perceive as shared responsibility of both school and parents. In accordance with the initial assumptions the results on urban/rural distinctions indicate higher level of cooperation between school and parents in rural settings as well as higher levels of general satisfaction with school and possibility to influence school decision making