Relationship School-Family-Community: When All Learn with All

Maria Martins¹, Teresa Sarmento² 
(1. Agrupamento de Escolas Viseu Sul, Portugal; 2. Instituto de Educação – Universidade do Minho, Portugal)

Abstract: Despite the weak involvement of families in the school life of their children, there is a widespread perception and a tacit acceptance of the importance of this involvement and implication, by the strong and positive correlation that it has with the school and educational success of children, adolescents and youngsters.

In a research carried out under the PhD in Educational Sciences and from the perception of parents and teachers who play the roles of Class Tutors, it was possible to identity very significant benefits that can result from a close and constructive relationship between the school, the surrounding community, and particularly families.

The joint reflection on these results as well as the objective to put it at the service of the improvement of the school educational activity, the project “Parents and Teachers in Training/Action” was born. Aiming the promotion of an active and informed participation of families in their children’s school careers and relying on the commitment of the internal actors, this project chooses as primary intervention strategy the training of parents and teachers as they are more directly responsible in the educational process. Through the development and deepening — by specialized teams — topics, mostly suggested by recipients, a contribution to the construction of a space of reflection around the complex daily school life is provided, in joint pursuit of the most appropriate responses to the problems and constraints that characterize it.

Key words: partnerships, parental involvement, project