Debbie Pushor PhD

The story of parent involvement in schools is well-known and well-rehearsed (Pushor, 2001).  Parents are asked by educators to serve as “audience, spectators, fund raisers, aides and organizers” (McGilp & Michael, 1994).  My concern with this story is it maintains the hierarchical structure of schools, where school personnel maintain power and authority, and an agenda in which what parents can do for the school remains the focus.  I propose writing a new story – one of parent engagement and leadership – in which power and authority are shared by educators and parents, and the agenda being served is mutually determined and beneficial.

In a research study into parent engagement and leadership at Princess Alexandra Community School (pre-Kindergarten through Grade Eight) in the Riversdale community in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, I established a research team in which, together, we examined the conditions that enabled school practices to move along the continuum from parent involvement to parent engagement and leadership. We also examined why some parents remained distanced from the school, and how more parents might become engaged at the school.

Working with co-researchers – parents, teacher assistants, teachers, community and adult education coordinators, administrators – meant Claudia Ruitenberg (research assistant) and I could do research with the school rather than on the school.

Three significant themes from this research help to inform a move toward greater engagement of parents on school landscapes. The first relates to assumptions and beliefs. Doing the work necessary within a school community to make conscious and explicit assumptions and beliefs about parents is a critical starting place. Consciously working to live positive assumptions about parents and beliefs about the engagement of parents in processes of schooling, in practice, is then the next step. The second theme relates to invitation and hospitality. Hospitality is not about teachers and administrators inviting people to their place, but about creating a place that is owned as much by students, parents and community members as it is by staff and administrators. The third theme is about developing trust and relationships. Trust and relationships are often formed when we move away from the institutionalized, ritualistic, and often public interactions between teachers and parents typical of most school landscapes to interactions which are much less formal and more intimate. I believe attending to these three aspects of schooling will change the school landscape. They have the potential to bring educators and parents together in a very different way in the work of schools.

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