A Study of the Model of Elementary School Parents’ Participation in School Operation -Exemplified by an Elementary School in New Taipei City

• Main Authors: WEI-LI JHUANG, 莊偉立
• Other Authors: HUAN-RONG HUANG
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2012
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/20462146294538718440

碩士 === 臺北市立教育大學 === 國民小學教師在職進修公民與社會教學碩士學位班 === 100 === Parents’ dedication for students and the school can be seen in every corner of the classes and school. Parents have become school administrators and the key figures that engage in co-governance with teachers. The mutual cooperation among administrators, teachers, and parents is expected to bring children better education quality and development. However, this well-intended policy has resulted in disputes and chaos due to the unclearly defined powers and responsibilities of the three sides regarding their participation in the school operation. Elementary school education is the crucial time for a child’s mental development and behavior shaping; hence, it is necessary to conduct studies on the model of elementary school parents’ participation in school operation in order to construct the boundaries acceptable to all. The focus of this study lies in constructing an appropriate model of elementary school parents’ participation in school operation. Through the compilation of past literatures, the model, role, route, and matters related to the parents’ participation in school operation were summarized to derive at five models of parents’ participation in school operation: teaching model, behavior counseling model, communication model, assistive support model, decision-making initiative model. The semi-structured interview in qualitative research was adopted as the study method. The school administrators, teachers, and parents engaged in in-depth interviews, with 7 parents, 3 school administrators, and 4 teachers as subjects, a total of 14 people. Through interviews, the viewpoints and ideas of three sides, namely, the parents, school administrators, and parents, were found to obtain the strengths and weaknesses of the interactions of the three sides in the three models and strive to find appropriate models and strategies that expand the parents’ willingness to actively participate. The factors that caused the three sides to hesitate and the obstacles that prevented interactions were excluded, with the hope of enabling the parents, school, and teachers to mutually benefit and sound educational development for the children. The results show that the role of the parents presented in the school operation model is multiple and diverse based on the matters they participated in. Additionally, the channels for the parents to participate in school operation were often determined by whether or not the school administrators and teachers had an active and open attitude. Secondly, under the influence of the status of the parents, the contents of the school matters the parents participated in varied. On the other hand, the school administrators, teacher, and parents’ attitude and communication effectiveness were determined by their interaction relationships. Finally, regarding the benefits of the parents’ participation in school operation, the school administrators and teachers played the key role that contributed to the success or failure. In addition, the establishment of the model of elementary school parents’ participation in school operation is based on the parents’ right of self-decision to participate and the maintenance of children’s rights, as well as the right and power to teacher professional autonomy and the school administrators’ administrative discretion power in school education. The maintenance of the rights of the three sides is limited to respect and not infringing the rights of each other, so as to engage in positive interactions and establish partnership relationships. If the parents, teachers, and school administrators disrespect each other, ignore the rights of each other, and infringe on each other’s interests and intervene, conflicts among the parents, teachers, and school administrators may arise. It is therefore suggested in this study that the school administrators, teachers, and parents have clearly defined roles and positions in order to understand how to distinguish each other’s powers and responsibilities. The competent authorities in education should also set up more comprehensive regulations pertaining to parents’ participation in school operation matters and encourage and advocate good models to guide parents to learn. The school administrators, teachers, and parents should have mutual respect and tolerance, build trust, and strengthen communication skills to engage in good interactions.