Cultural influences on family-school communication and cooperation in early education dataset

Strong communication and cooperation between the family and the school is one of the most important factors contributing to students’ learning, identity and well-being. Recently, research has indicated significant differences in approaches to family-school engagement and cooperation between developing, post-communist cultures and some modern, western societies. Schooling experiences in post-communist countries have little formal or informal emphasis on positive family-teacher interactions. In contrast, western democratic countries intend to promote a strong focus on positive interactions between parents and teachers. Family-school interactions in democratic contexts are mostly based on well-developed policies and formal guidelines in respect to parent involvement in the learning activities of children. This is especially important for the early years of schooling for children. To date, there is little evidence of family engagement with the learning of children or the communication between parents and teachers in Serbian schools. There is almost no indication in official policies and educational documents about the importance of family-school communication and engagement in the early years of schooling. This study used a qualitative research approach to explore parents’ and teachers’ perceptions and experiences of building and sustaining family-school partnerships in each context. Semi-structured questionnaires and follow-up interviews probing parents’ and teachers’ views and experiences of family-school relationships in early education were administered to parents and teachers in Serbia and in Australia. The results show: 1. Parents and teachers positively valued family-school interactions in early education; 2. Parents and teachers expressed a willingness for strong family-school communication and cooperation in early education; 3. Cultural aspects, such as history, tradition, and socio-economic status overwhelmingly shaped practices of family-school communication and cooperation; 4. Communication and cooperation models between parents and teachers during ‘transition to school’ and the early years of schooling were more common and frequent in Australia than in Serbia; 5. Family-school interactions via digital technology such as e-newsletters, mobile apps, and/or social network groups were widely used in the Australian context and were almost non-existent in Serbia; 6. Parents’ involvement in students’ learning including ‘transition to school’ programs, classroom and other school events, ‘learning at home’ activities, and/or ‘decision making’ procedures were more common in Australian schools than in Serbia; 7. Official policies on family-school communication and cooperation in the first years of schooling were well-developed in Australia and almost non-existent in Serbia; 8. Lack of time was a main challenge for the establishment and development of successful communication and cooperation between the family and teachers in the early years of schooling; and 9. Serbian participants emphasized lack of financial support for teachers (i.e. very low salaries) and the lack of official policy guidelines as additional barriers for initiating and building positive family-school engagements in early education. The understanding of the predominantly positive experiences of family-school communication and cooperation in Australia provided information to identify strategies that might be used to strengthen the existing models of communication between parents and teachers in Serbia during ‘transition to school’ and in the early years of schooling.