Parental involvement within the school

An innovative approach to quality education

Analysis Statement

The governance of education systems is one of the key factors in ensuring quality education. Good governance means greater involvement of stakeholders. It was with this in mind that the IPPE (Indicators of Parental Participation in Compulsory Education) project was developed.

This project has therefore determined some indicators in order to measure parental involvement in European education systems. These easy to use « citizen indicators », in the way that they have been developed by researchers, should aid governments in managing their policies.

The originality of this study lies particularly in the human-rights based approach to education, adopted by the research team. Allowing us to avoid any dispute over the concept of participation, this approach has proved even more interesting since the investigations carried out in 15 EU countries reflect precisely the absence of such an approach (extensively analysed by the authors in the introduction to this volume).

So what about parents' rights ? Covering 82 % of Europe's school population, including Switzerland, this research has largely demonstrated two needs : first, to put in place arrangements that reflect the expectations and opinions of parents, and second to devise new formulas or methods of parental involvement in education.