Current forms of parental involvement as bearers of public opinion regarding children's education in the «family-school» system

Abstract

Research Objective. To identify current forms of parental involvement as bearers of public opinion regarding the educational process of children in the «family-school» system.

Methodology. The main research methods include systematic theoretical analysis of sources, an original survey, statistical data processing, and generalization.

Results. Within the framework of researching current forms of parental involvement as bearers of public opinion regarding education in the "family-school" system, a conceptual model of public opinion on education and a comprehensive model of parental involvement in the child's educational process have been constructed. It has been established that an important condition for the formation of public opinion and its practical outcome is the activity of social subjects, and the primary factor of this activity is the basic need of the subjects for interaction and communication. It has been determined that the functioning of public opinion occurs on two levels: the verbal level, which includes the perception of information, its processing, and evaluation, and the active level, which involves the subject undertaking activities based on this evaluation. The role of primary groups, particularly the family, in the formation and functioning of public opinion has been revealed. Two types of parental involvement in the child's educational process have been compared: involvement in creating the home educational environment and school involvement. Three groups of factors determining the nature of involvement have been identified: «subjects» of parental interest based on their perception of educational quality; communication channels or methods of interaction among educational subjects; and socio-psychological «motivators» for parental involvement in the child's educational process. Levels of parental agency have been identified, including: understanding the situation; discussing problems and developing solutions; participating at the level of accepted standard measures; participating at the level of expressing one's opinion; and participating at the level of planning and decision-making.

Conclusions. Analysis of the research results suggests that parents are more frequently involved in the home education of their children than in school life. The following priority types of parental involvement in the child's educational process have been identified: home education, upbringing, and communication with the school.

The future direction of the research includes identifying typological groups of parents based on the specifics of their involvement in the child's educational process and establishing connections with the potential effects of different types of involvement.