Zaoura, Alexandra (2013) Parental involvement in Cypriot primary schools. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The study investigated parental involvement in children’s learning in Cypriot
primary schools. It aimed to describe and analyse processes of policy-making
and capture meanings, interpretations and reported practices of major
stakeholders through document analysis, survey and interviews with élites,
teachers, parents and children. The policy trajectory framework of Bowe et al.
(1992) identified three interactive contexts influencing the stages of
development, interpretation and enactment of policy.
The adoption of this framework as a tool of analysis, contributed to the
significant findings of the study. Indeed, investigation of the parental
involvement policy-to-practice process provided the opportunity to identify both
facilitating factors and obstacles restricting its development. Overall, the study
identified the sheer political challenge associated with setting up a new
educational system, translating new ideas and conceptions into an agreed text and
practical challenges related to lack of professional teacher development in
parental involvement, as well as ideological tensions related to relinquishing
traditional professional boundaries set by teachers and psychological barriers
associated with perceived threats from parental interference.
The study indicated that the Cypriot educational system is in the early stages of
developing parental involvement policy. It identified a weak interaction between
policy contexts. The absence of mechanisms for transmitting new policies to
practitioners, lack of guidance on implementation or monitoring of this process
allowed headteachers and teachers to determine the type and extent of parental
involvement practised. Even though findings indicated that there was an implicit
recognition from teachers, parents and children of Cypriot parents’ central role in
their children’s education and development, there was a lack of explicitly
promoted parental involvement practices. The mismatch between policy
intention, text and practice allowed the emergence of a dominant parent group
whose disproportionate influence through Parent Associations seemed to be
derived from the particular social and cultural capital background they occupied.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB1501 Primary Education
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Education -- Parent participation -- Cyprus, Parent-teacher relationships -- Cyprus, Education, Elementary -- Cyprus, Home and school -- Cyprus
Official Date:	March 2013
Dates:	Date Event March 2013 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Institute of Education
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Aubrey, Carol
Extent:	xvii, 401 leaves
Language:	eng

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