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School’s out: a comprehensive follow-up study on parents’ perceptions of their child’s school

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Abstract

This longitudinal study set out to examine the changes that took place in parents’ evaluations of their child’s school in the course of the child’s complete 9-year-long compulsory education. Over the follow-up period, academically educated and vocationally educated mothers and fathers (N = 326) were asked to indicate their degree of satisfaction with aspects of their child’s school every 2 years. It was found that the level of parental satisfaction was fairly high at the start, that the general decreasing trend was gradual rather than abrupt, and that the proportion of dissatisfied parents remained low and stable. A pattern of differences emerged to suggest that the parents’ perceptions were structured by their social-psychological distance from the school as measured by their social positions; for instance, the vocationally educated parents, fathers in particular, displayed less satisfaction than the academically educated ones.

Résumé

Cette étude longitudinale se propose d’examiner, au long du cycle scolaire obligatoire de neuf ans, comment l’évaluation faite par les parents de l’école de leur enfant change. Au cours de la période observée, il a été demandé à des pères et mères (N = 326), ayant suivi une formation générale ou professionnelle, d’indiquer leur degré de satisfaction quant à certains aspects de l’école de leur enfant et ceci tous les deux ans. Il a été remarqué qu’au début du cycle le degré de satisfaction était assez élevé, que l’affaiblissement de la tendance générale était graduel et non brusque, et que la proportion de parents insatisfaits restait basse et stable. Un type de différences est alors apparu qui suggère que la distance psycho-sociale des parents par rapport à l’école, celle-ci étant directement liée à leurs positions sociales, structure leur perception. Par exemple, les parents ayant suivi une formation professionnelle, les pères en particulier, ne montrent pas une aussi grande satisfaction que les parents ayant suivi une formation générale.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Education and Psychology, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 111, 80101, Joensuu, Finland

    Hannu Räty

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  1. Hannu Räty
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Correspondence to Hannu Räty.

Additional information

Hannu Räty. Department of Education and Psychology, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 111, 80101 Joensuu, Finland. E-mail: hannu.raty@uef.fi

Current themes of research:

Children’s schooling from parental perspective. Social representations of intelligence. Conceptions of the malleability of academic competencies. School memories. Educational reform. Children’s images of intelligence in cross-cultural comparison.

Most relevant publications in the field of Psychology of Education:

Räty, H. (2007). Parents’ own school recollections influence their perception of the functioning of their child’s school. European Journal of Psychology of Education, XXII, 389–400.

Räty, H., & Kasanen, K. (2007). Gendered views of ability in parents’ perception of their child’s academic competencies. Sex Roles, 56, 117–124.

Kasanen, K., & Räty, H. (2008). Do the very best you can—Third-grade class test. Social Psychology of Education, 11, 193–208.

Kärkkäinen, R., Räty, H., & Kasanen, K. (2008). Children’s notions of the malleability of their academic abilities. Social Psychology of Education, 11, 445–458.

Räty, H., Kasanen, K., & Laine, N. (2009). Parental participation in their child’s schooling. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 53, 277–293.

The study was supported by the Academy of Finland.

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Räty, H. School’s out: a comprehensive follow-up study on parents’ perceptions of their child’s school. Eur J Psychol Educ 25, 493–506 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-010-0028-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-010-0028-3

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