A Study On The Interaction Between Small-scale Schools And Families In Rural Areas ——Based On Y Primary School In Z Province

As important fields in children’s lives,families and schools play an irreplaceable and important role in children’s development.In recent years,urbanization has led to a massive loss of population in rural areas,and the phenomenon of “small-scale schools” has become increasingly common in rural areas.In the absence of parents,how should small-scale schools in rural areas work effectively with families? To this end,the core question that this study is dedicated to addressing is: What is the state of interaction between small-scale schools and families in rural areas? The core question consists of three sub-questions: First,what is the state of interaction between small-scale schools and families in rural areas? Second,what are the factors that influence the state of interaction between small-scale schools and families in rural areas? Third,how can the quality of interaction between small-scale schools and families in rural areas be improved?To address the above questions,this study adopts a qualitative research paradigm.First,the core concepts and analytical framework of this study were clarified through literature research.Second,one rural small-scale school in W County,Z Province,was selected as a case study object.Through questionnaires,in-depth interviews,participant observation,and collection of physical data,the real state of interaction between small-scale schools and families in rural areas was elaborated,and then the multidimensional factors that affect this state were analyzed.Finally,a combination of theoretical analysis and practical cases are used to propose targeted measures to improve the quality of interaction between small-scale schools and families in rural areas.The findings and conclusions of this study include the following three points.First,through fieldwork,this study found that:（1）At the awareness level,both parents and teachers hold a common willingness to participate in the interaction with three specific points of agreement,as shown by:（1）interaction is a necessary prerequisite for achieving students’ development（2）interaction is the main way to understand students’ situation（3）interaction is an important method to improve the effectiveness of education.（2）At the action level,the interaction between parents and teachers is divided into two types: "interaction in real space" and "interaction in virtual space".The former is a physical "co-presence" and the latter is a symbolic "co-presence".In these two types of interactions,parents and teachers go through five stages: information exchange,symbolic transcribing,conflict resolution,compliance,and cooperation,which are unidirectional,low-level,and homogeneous.（3）At the effect level,parents and teachers formed self-perceptions for their roles in the interaction process,i.e.,parents saw themselves as cooperators and teachers saw themselves as dominators,thus constructing a dependency relationship.In this relationship,it is difficult to update the subjects’ cognition,naturally behaviors doesn’t change,thus inhibiting the level of interaction and making the interaction between parents and teachers ineffective and repetitive.Second,with the direction of the philosophical thinking approach of "two levels and three factors" theory,this study analyzes the factors that affect the state of the interaction between families and schools from three aspects: subject,environment and interaction activities.Specifically,the subject factors include professional differences,cultural gap,different educational concepts and low self-awareness;the environment factors include difficult economic environment,institutional environment of group schooling,cultural environment of group unschooling and social-psychological environment of de-agriculturalization;activity factors include the high difficulty requirement,the low organization level,the low openness and the inappropriate use of symbols.The conclusions are as follows:（1）The subject factors and the environment factors are the possible factors that affect the interaction state,while the activity factors are the realistic factors that affect the interaction state.（2）Possible factors and realistic factors are interrelated and can be transformed into each other under certain conditions,and they work together to form the state of the interaction between families and schools.Third,based on the analysis of the influencing factors,this study also proposes strategics to improve the quality of the interaction between families and schools at the subject level,the environment level,and the interaction activity level,respectively.The conclusions are as follows:（1）Subjects need to strengthen their internal motivation,which can be improved in three ways: changing the view of interaction,updating the view of learning,and reshaping the view of themselves.（2）The government,community,school,and society need to work together to create a supportive external environment.Specifically,the government should establish a policy support mechanism for collaboration between small-scale schools and families in rural areas;community should create a learning culture environment;schools should standardize the institutional design of collaboration between families and schools,and social organizations should enrich the supply of resources for collaboration between small-scale schools and families in rural areas.