The current thesis investigated the relationship between Vietnamese parents of children with a disability and special educators who worked with these parents in both mainstream and special schools in Melbourne Metropolitan Regions of the state of Victoria, Australia. The key objective of the study was to research the role of the parent-educator (interpersonal) relationship and its interrelatedness with the task: two major components of a home-school partnership. The research question that guided this study was 'How does the parent-educator relationship influence the operation of a family-centered home-school partnership?' With partnerships involving parents of diverse cultural backgrounds, investigating cultural influences on the partnership were an integral part of the research process. A qualitative interpretive approach was employed in searching for perceptions of involved parties about their home-school partnerships. The design selected was multiple embedded case studies with purposeful sampling. Influences on home-school partnership were investigated from a multidimensional perspective and were described and interpreted from the views of both parents and educators. The findings indicated that the relationship played a much more significant role than the task in the successfulness of an intercultural home-school partnership. Without a mutual understanding of home-school communication, the collaboration was far from productive or even did not work out. There was also evidence that a harmonious parent-educator interpersonal relationship did not seem to have any influence on the effectiveness of a home-school partnership without parent-educator mutual understanding and agreement in terms of goals and roles expectations. The need for the educators to be more appropriately equipped with cultural training and family-centered principles also arose from the study findings.

abstract: Parent involvement is a concept that is used to describe the ways schools attempt to connect with parents for the educational benefit and support of students. Schools engage in strategies and invest in programs to increase parents’ involvement at and with the school, employ personnel to support parents, and develop workshops aimed at supporting parents’ understanding of academic content as well as to develop partnerships between parents and teachers. The purpose of this study was to investigate how parents viewed themselves as partners with their children’s teachers and what they believed their roles were in their children’s education. This qualitative study was conducted through interviews with parents who were recommended by school staff as having above-average or below-average involvement. Ten parents in a low-income public school in the southwestern United States were selected for an initial interview, and four of those ten were chosen as focal parents for additional rounds of interviews. All three rounds of interviews took place over a four month period in the spring. The interviews were used to document and analyze how parents viewed themselves and the roles they have in their children’s schooling. The findings from this study illustrate the similarities in behavior, attitude, and self-view between parents recommended by school staff as having above-average and below-average involvement. Additionally, this analysis describes how effective partnerships between home and school (including current teachers, former teachers, and school support staff) can help support parents as lifelong advocates for their children. When parents are intentionally made to feel vital as partners in their children’s schooling, their confidence in their ability to support their children’s education is strengthened. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Administration and Supervision 2017

九年一貫課程的精神為創新教學，目的在透過創新的教學來讓學生養成創新的思維。然而，創新思維的養成不能單靠學校就能達成。學生在家庭的時間佔三分之二，因此家庭與學校必須合作，才能達成教育的目標—即每個學生的成功。 本研究首先分析家長參與的相關文獻，發現目前家長參與的論文是針對家長、學校、或教師做個別的研究，未從三者統合的觀點探討，因此本研究乃從Swap的「家庭—學校夥伴關係模式」（home-school partnership model）出發，期以整合的方式來研究家長參與。 「家庭—學校夥伴關係模式」（home-school partnership model）是指由家長與教育家組成聯盟，以促進優良的學校與學生。此「夥伴關係」（partnership）有特殊的意義，它是包含長期的約定、相互尊重、家庭與教育者廣泛參與各層次的活動，且共享規劃、決策的責任。在夥伴關係模式中，家長參與並非被視為附加物，而被視為學校改革不可或缺的部分。Swap指出發展夥伴關係的四個要素為創造雙向溝通、強調在校與在家的學習、提供支持與共同決策，因此本研究採取質性研究的方式，針對三所學校的家長、教師與行政人員進行深度訪談，並以家庭—學校夥伴關係模式的四要素來分析研究對象，以瞭解此三學校的家長參與情況是否符合家庭—學校夥伴關係模式，最後分別對三所學校的家長參與提出建議。 本文的研究發現，B國小家長參與最接近夥伴關係模式，其次依序為A國小、C國小。A、C國小家長參與的困境主要原因在於觀念未改變，家長視自己為學校的「協助者」，而非「夥伴」，教師則對家長參與仍有疑慮。因此，欲推動家庭—學校夥伴關係模式，則A、C國小應加強內部的溝通，以對家長參與形成共識，再與家長溝通、邀請家長成為教育的夥伴。

Collaboration between the parents and the school has a powerful influence on a child’s literacy development. However, home-school partnerships to support young learners’ emergent literacy development are weak in South Africa. Research into family literacy in South Africa is particularly important due to many socio-economic factors impacting negatively on family life and on children’s literacy development. The South African education system lacks a dedicated policy for the promotion of family literacy. Against this background the present study investigated the role of family literacy programmes in supporting emergent literacy among young children. A literature study on family literacy and family-school-community partnerships to support literacy framed an empirical inquiry following an interpretivist approach, using an action research design and qualitative techniques of data collection. The Wordworks Home-School Partnerships programme was selected for implementation and the programme was modified through the design and inclusion of a children’s component. A multicultural independent primary school situated in Pretoria, South Africa was selected through a combination of purposeful and convenience sampling. The school principal, four Foundation Phase teachers and seven families including nine children participated in the study. Criteria for family inclusion were that the participating families should have at least one child enrolled in Grade R and at least one parent should agree to attend the full six-week duration of the modified Wordworks School-Family Partnerships programme. Data was gathered during parallel sessions from parents, children and teacher-facilitators through multiple techniques: observation, interviews, feedback sessions, artefacts and journals. Data was analysed according to qualitative principles and the findings were presented in a narrative format substantiated by verbatim quotations. Key findings indicated a greater sense of community among the families and the teachers, improved quality of parent-child interactions, parents’ improved knowledge of emergent literacy skills and improved confidence in supporting their children with early literacy development. The medium term impact of the programme includes benefits for the whole school, the teaching staff, parent body and children. Based on the findings of the literature study and the implementation of the family literacy programme through action research, recommendations were made to improve school-family partnerships with a view to supporting emergent literacy development among young learners. / Educational Foundations / D. Ed. (Socio-Education)

Collaboration between the parents and the school has a powerful influence on a child’s literacy development. However, home-school partnerships to support young learners’ emergent literacy development are weak in South Africa. Research into family literacy in South Africa is particularly important due to many socio-economic factors impacting negatively on family life and on children’s literacy development. The South African education system lacks a dedicated policy for the promotion of family literacy. Against this background the present study investigated the role of family literacy programmes in supporting emergent literacy among young children. A literature study on family literacy and family-school-community partnerships to support literacy framed an empirical inquiry following an interpretivist approach, using an action research design and qualitative techniques of data collection. The Wordworks Home-School Partnerships programme was selected for implementation and the programme was modified through the design and inclusion of a children’s component. A multicultural independent primary school situated in Pretoria, South Africa was selected through a combination of purposeful and convenience sampling. The school principal, four Foundation Phase teachers and seven families including nine children participated in the study. Criteria for family inclusion were that the participating families should have at least one child enrolled in Grade R and at least one parent should agree to attend the full six-week duration of the modified Wordworks School-Family Partnerships programme. Data was gathered during parallel sessions from parents, children and teacher-facilitators through multiple techniques: observation, interviews, feedback sessions, artefacts and journals. Data was analysed according to qualitative principles and the findings were presented in a narrative format substantiated by verbatim quotations. Key findings indicated a greater sense of community among the families and the teachers, improved quality of parent-child interactions, parents’ improved knowledge of emergent literacy skills and improved confidence in supporting their children with early literacy development. The medium term impact of the programme includes benefits for the whole school, the teaching staff, parent body and children. Based on the findings of the literature study and the implementation of the family literacy programme through action research, recommendations were made to improve school-family partnerships with a view to supporting emergent literacy development among young learners. / Educational Foundations / D. Ed. (Socio-Education)