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Preparation of pre-service teachers for parental engagement has struggled to find a consistent foothold within teacher education programs. A focus on EAL/D contexts brings many of the barriers and opportunities affecting parental engagement preparation into sharp focus, especially aspects confounded by neoliberal influences in teaching and learning such as the development of teacher professional capabilities requiring deeper relationality. This chapter draws on staple educational theories in teacher education programs, research literature, and relevant policy to contextualize the perspectives of three teacher educators on the place of parental engagement in addressing the demands of classrooms characterized by linguistic diversity. Issues at the intersection of these two important areas of teacher education, parental engagement in EAL/D contexts, are foregrounded and opportunities are identified for embedding effective preparation of preservice teachers to engage with these issues through a thematic approach.

This chapter shows that schools can only work effectively if they assist parents and the wider community in what they are already doing to educate children. If families are not also educating their children, the public education project will fail for many. Public schools mean not only that schools are paid for by the public but that the school’s functioning is the public’s responsibility. The chapter explores common barriers to parental engagement in school and the psychological reasons why parental engagement makes such a big difference to student learning. The American school system is the most radical and just social project in the history of the world. It is better, kinder, and fairer than nearly any other country’s school system on the planet. But this system is a work in progress, a bold idea trying to realize itself, but failing to do so in many ways. For it to truly succeed for all, teachers cannot be the only parties doing the intellectual labor.

This chapter focuses on education and parenting in Italy. In the first part of the chapter we describe key political and cultural changes that occurred in Italy from after World War II to the present that influenced the progress of Italian society in the areas of education and family. Then, we describe the Italian education system, specifying its characteristics (in terms of duration, requirements, and admissions) and the portrait of Italian students that has emerged recently from comparative international surveys. In the next part of the chapter, we present a summary of recent studies that have examined the role of parental practices on children’s academic achievement in Italy, especially during adolescence, a developmental period characterized by a decline of parental engagement in school activities. Overall, recent studies have corroborated the crucial role that school-related parental monitoring (i.e., supervision and control but also open communication with children regarding school activities), parental academic aspirations, and parental self-efficacy in school-related performance, have on fostering adolescents’ academic achievement and school adjustment. Future directions are discussed to face challenges related to improving students’ educational outcomes and enhancing the connection between school and family to reduce the percentage of early school leavers.

In this chapter, we take a critical stance about the way that authors generally define the concept of parental engagement, looking at its conceptual, theoretical and epistemological foundations. We situate, in particular, this concept with respect to the self, in an ecosystemic and developmental logic. Epistemologically, the investigation of ecosystemic foundations lead us to highlight the reductionist logic on which typologies that mark out parental engagement are based and, more generally, we demonstrate the non-developmental character—in the broadest sense, a developmental perspective stems from the emergence of structures and implies a processual dimension—of this concept as designed. Looking at the limits identified, we define parental engagement with respect to a psychosocial, dialogical and developmental perspective.

The discourse surrounding parental involvement has long been a topic of discussion among educational scholars. However, over the last three decades, legislators, policymakers, and political bodies have begun to take interest in the parental involvement arena. Utilizing a Critical Policy Analysis, this chapter focuses on the power dynamics of parental involvement in schools, and how the role, function, and meaning of involvement are not only prescribed for parents, but well-delimited within school spaces occupied by marginalized parents. In order to capture the power dynamics of parental involvement in schools, we provide a case study of parental involvement—based on our current and previous research—which details the various ways in which parents are positioned in Latin@ impacted schools, while also showcasing how they are treated by school personnel when parents transgress their expected roles. We then interrogate how and why involvement has become a taken-for-granted idea within education’s discourse (Weaver-Hightower 2008).

Research has established that families significantly influence students’ development, with parental engagement positively predicting academic and social-behavioral adjustment. When families and schools partner in students’ education, positive benefits for the students as well as their families and teachers are realized. Although rural schools are uniquely positioned to foster and benefit from family-school partnerships, limited resources, logistical barriers and lack of familiarity challenge the development of effective partnerships in rural settings. This chapter will examine Teachers and Parents as Partners (TAPP), a structured, indirect intervention that focuses both on promoting students’ social-behavior and academic success and strengthening family-school partnerships. Research on TAPP has documented its positive effects on students’ behavioral, academic and social-emotional functioning across home and school settings; this chapter will outline its efficacy and utility in rural settings. Authors will review results from a four-year randomized controlled trial investigating the effects of TAPP in rural schools and provide suggestions for future research considerations of family-school partnerships in the rural context.

This chapter interrogates contemporary perspectives on transitions and their potential to be seen as tools for change. It conceptualises ‘Transitions as a tool for change’ as a novel concept that embraces the perspectives of practitioners, children and families. ‘Transitions as a tool for change’ has been generated by and developed in the Scottish POET project through three themes: children’s learning journeys, professional beliefs and practices and family engagement. Using these themes, we explore understandings of transition, consider a wider literature that may inform the concept of ‘transitions as a tool for change’ and draw from our own research to bring insight to the concept, which has a potential to inform future research directions and policy decisions.

In recent years, the involvement of parents in educational processes has gained importance in the educational debate, and has also become increasingly relevant in educational policy. Parents are powerful stakeholders in education; thus, information on parents’ opinions and engagement is highly valuable in large-scale assessments like the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). PISA can deliver information about educational processes at home, as well as parents’ needs, demands, and expectations of their interaction with schools, by addressing the parents directly. This also allows for analysing relationships between variables from the parent questionnaire and students’ achievements and motivations, affording insights into differences between groups (such as high- and low-performing students), and questions of equity. Furthermore, on the basis of PISA data, information about policies at the system level can be gained: that is, how parental engagement is supported through school policies or national intervention programs. Additionally, more detailed information about home learning environments can be gained from parents’ answers. In PISA 2015, a theory-based approach was chosen to systemize and to enhance aspects of parental involvement in children’s education. Following a theoretical model of the parental involvement process (Green et al. 2007), questions on parents’ home- (e.g. helping with homework) and school-based (e.g. helping in the school library, talking to the teacher) involvement strategies, as well as factors influencing parental involvement (e.g. parents’ beliefs and motivations, perceptions of invitations from school) were included. To gain a multi-perspective view on parental involvement, targeted items were added to the parent, school, student and teacher questionnaires.

Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Survey (FFS), we examine the engagement patterns of fathers and mothers in married and cohabiting households to determine whether father engagement is associated with childhood behaviors independent of the mother’s characteristics and her level of engagement. Engagement activities were measured when the child was 5 years old with a behavioral outcome when the child was 9 years old. We found significant and negative associations between father engagement and children’s behavioral problems, independent of maternal engagement.

Students do better academically, socially, and psychologically when families and schools work together and families are involved in their children’s education. In elementary school, the mechanisms for communication and building trust, understanding, and partnerships are clearer than in secondary schools. For middle and high schools, the larger and more diverse student body and more complex administrative structure make it harder for parents and teachers to get to know one another, understand one another, and work together. Because of the differences in school context and students’ developmental needs, the most effective means for maintaining productive family engagement varies across developmental stages. This chapter describes the developmental assets and challenges of adolescence that potentially change how parent engagement in education and family–school relationships function. Parental involvement is reconceptualized to better reflect the developmental needs of adolescents, changes in parent–adolescent relationships, and secondary school contexts. A critical analysis of the markers of success for parental engagement and family–school relationships is undertaken. Most often it is assumed that success should be gauged by improvements in academic achievement. It is argued that for adolescents a broader array of outcomes should be considered. As communication is essential to productive and effective parental engagement in education during adolescence, theories and research on communication are reviewed as they inform research and policies in this area. Finally, we consider how schools might organize their needs and expectations for family engagement in education in ways that maximizes the needs of families and the schools.