Cross-National Survey of School Principal Daniel Pop Education Support Program Open Society Institute

Aims of the research Education Justice: An equal chance for every child, a real opportunity for every adult. 1/20 to better understand the opportunities created by school leadership for parents to participate in school life; to assess the extent to which equal opportunity for parental participation in school life is promoted.

Context significantly improved educational policy provisions to enroot school-based governance equal education opportunity considerations built in education policy-making rising costs in delivering educational services rising unequal educational opportunity limited school leadership and parental involvement over-emphasized role of pupil testing in the evaluation of overall school performance parents cover an increasingly larger share of the costs of their children education in SEE countries Education Justice: An equal chance for every child, a real opportunity for every adult. 2/20

Research question What are the perceptions and actions of school principals in SEE countries related to furthering parental participation in practical school life, school level decision- making and in the education of one’s own children? Education Justice: An equal chance for every child, a real opportunity for every adult. 3/20

Specific questions What are the school policies on parental involvement in school life? How does school leadership ensure that the school policy on parental involvement is applied (e.g. in teaching, pupils’ interactions, etc.)? What factors enhance/inhibit the establishment, communication and implementation of the school’s policy on parental involvement in school life? What are parents’ opportunities to contribute to school decision- making? What types of involvement are promoted by the school? What steps need to be taken by school leadership to ensure the participation of marginalized groups? Education Justice: An equal chance for every child, a real opportunity for every adult. 4/20

Brief Description of Methodology Period of interviewing: June, 2008 The survey of school principals Survey conducted in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, and Serbia Stratified random samples (regions and urban/rural) Education Justice: An equal chance for every child, a real opportunity for every adult. 5/20

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General perceptions of parental participation in school life Actions to foster parental participation in school life Assessment of parental participation in the given school Opportunities for parents to engage in school life School principals’ perceptions of the benefits of parental participation in school life Invitation of parents to engage in school related activities Share of parents engaged in the three most successful school activities Home-school communication Barriers to parental participation in school life Home-school communication initiated by school School strategy to communicate with parents Satisfaction with meetings held with parents Share of parents regularly participating at meetings held by form teachers, subject teachers and school principal School support for parents to help their children in education Potential benefits of school support for parents to help their children in education Support services provided to parents to help their children in education Barriers to providing support services to parents to help their children in education Parents’ involvement in school governance Principals’ perceptions of the importance of parental voice in school life Decision-making authority attributed to Parents’ Council Influence of Parents’ Council on the daily life of school Influence of parents in general on practical school life Contribution of parents’ representatives on the School Board 8/20

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Findings Education Justice: An equal chance for every child, a real opportunity for every adult.

Perceived benefits of parental participation for overall school climate Education Justice: An equal chance for every child, a real opportunity for every adult. 11/20

Influence of Parents’ Council on daily school life Education Justice: An equal chance for every child, a real opportunity for every adult. 12/20

Satisfaction with contribution by the parent representatives of the School Board Education Justice: An equal chance for every child, a real opportunity for every adult. 13/20

Main findings School Principals perceive parental engagement to have an important and overall positive impact on: school climate, the general attitudes and behaviors of parents towards schools, the support that is offered to school, pupil education outcomes. Education Justice: An equal chance for every child, a real opportunity for every adult. 14/20

In all countries the actual rate of schools that deliver support services for parents to help their children education is considerable lower than that of School Principals with a positive attitude about the utility of such services. Education Justice: An equal chance for every child, a real opportunity for every adult. 15/20

Principals report that parental influence on decisions taken at classroom level tends to be a common practice. However, limited levels of influence are reported by Principals in the cases of teacher performance assessment, textbook choice and school budgeting. Education Justice: An equal chance for every child, a real opportunity for every adult. 16/20

Despite an overall positive evaluation by School Principals of the influence of the Parent Committees’ to involve parents in school life, in all countries the largest share view this to be only limitedly successful. Education Justice: An equal chance for every child, a real opportunity for every adult. 17/20

All in all: creating opportunities by the school for parents to support school activities has been found to be the most favored way of engaging parents in school life school support to parents to help their children in education as a critical to improve overall pupils' performance Education Justice: An equal chance for every child, a real opportunity for every adult. 18/20

Education Justice: An equal chance for every child, a real opportunity for every adult. 19/20

Further information The South East Europe Education Cooperation Network Education Justice: An equal chance for every child, a real opportunity for every adult. 20/20