Study On Parents' Participation In School Governance

In the context of the modernization of education governance system and governance capacity,school from closed management to open governance,parents as stakeholders have a unique role and value in participating in school governance.At the present stage,the research on parent participation is mostly to explain the status of parents' participation in school governance should be,and define the time and space of parents' participation in the scope of the school,and the content of participation is focused on the discussion of school internal affairs.In fact,we should focus on the participation of parents in the external and internal governance of the school based on the children's life.Therefore,this study takes stakeholder theory and participatory governance theory as the theoretical basis,uses quantitative research as the main method and qualitative research as the supplementary method.This research investigated and analyzed the participation of 1,046 parents of students which in the compulsory education stage in 6 schools in Shanghai and Guangdong in external governance and internal governance.The survey results showed that:(1)The average value of parents' participation behaviors from high to low is student system,home school system,financial allocation,education and teaching system,school and social system,personnel system,which have not reached the level of expressing opinions.(2)The average value of parents' willingness to participate from high to low is home school system,student system,financial allocation,education and teaching system,school and social system,personnel system,which are higher than the participation behavior and are between understanding the situation and expressing opinions.And parents' willingness to participate in six dimensions can predict participation behavior.(3)Counting from the number of participants,the parent meeting and parent open day are the most concentrated ways for parents to participate in school governance.On the basis of data analysis,the researchers combined interview materials and field observations to analyze the status of parents' participation in school governance found that:(1)Parents' participation in school governance has limitations: parents' participation has a “floor effect”,and parents' participation in specific matters is higher than institutional matters;(2)Parents' willingness to participate in school governance lacks overall awareness: parents lack of awareness of participation rights and school ontological consciousness;(3)The ways for parents to participate in school governance pursue diversity: parents' actual participation way is limited,the construction of the parent committee system is not yet perfect,and the parent volunteer team provides a path for parents participation.Combining research data and interview results,the researchers analyzed the benefits and costs of parents' participation in school governance and found that: On the one hand,parents' participation in school governance improves children's abilities and has a role model for children.On the other hand,parents' participation in school governance can enrich the school's educational resources and reduce the pressure on schools in management affairs.But,differences in parents' participation may lead to conflicts within the family,and parents' participation will constrain teachers.On the basis of the survey results,status quo analysis,benefits and costs analysis of parents' participation in school governance,the researchers explored the factors that affect parents' participation in school governance and found that:(1)Individual interests and the right to know,gender differences,and class differences are parental factors that affect parents' participation in school governance;(2)School geographical location,school system construction and school personnel are school factors that affect parents' participation in school governance;(3)Student grade,student gender and student learning attitude are the student factors that affect parents' participation in school governance.Based on the above analysis,the researcher proposes optimization suggestionsfor parents' participation in school governance from the micro,meso and macro levels:(1)Enhance parents' recognition of the school,strengthen the father's role awareness,and develop a complete parent committee system to give play to the parent's subject role in school governance.(2)School openness and co-governance,adjust the school curriculum of parents,and innovate the organizational form of parent participation to play a leading role.(3)The government and society define the areas of parents' participation rights and responsibilities,introduce policies and regulations,and create a social atmosphere that values parents' participation to play a supporting role.