Primary school teachers’ collaboration with parents on upbringing: a review of the empirical literature

Abstract

Abstract This article presents the outcomes of a review of the last decade’s scientific literature on primary school teachers’ collaboration with parents on upbringing. Since educational goals related to upbringing are of renewed interest in today’s western societies, we were curious to learn what current literature tells us about this facet of collaboration between teachers and parents. Twenty empirical studies were included in the research. Methods of searching, selecting and coding are described. A prominent finding of the review is that teacher–parent collaboration on upbringing is not a frequently studied topic. However, in the available studies the following complicating factors to teacher–parent collaboration on upbringing are found: a tendency of teachers and parents to remain silent about upbringing-related issues; a school-based interpretation of teacher–parent collaboration among teachers; and teachers’ difficulty to collaborate with parents in the case of differing value positions, related to teachers’ narrow views on “good” upbringing. Positive factors found concern teachers’ professional practices, such as initiating dialogue, building warm, trusting relationships and adopting alternative frames to broaden their understanding of teacher–parent collaboration and of alternative upbringing practices and beliefs. In accordance with these positive and complicating factors, encouraging teacher professionalisation practices concerns (pre-service) teachers’ collegial experience exchange and reflection at a profound personal level. Subjects for future research are discussed.