Players in the Same Team: Factors affecting and Strategies Improving the Educational Partnership between Teachers and Parents from Diverse Sociocultural and Ethnic Backgrounds

Parents’ involvement in the school community has a strong effect on the well-being of their children: family-school partnership positively influences children’s academic, psychological and social outcomes (Arnold et al., 2008, El Nokali, 2010, Powell et al., 2010). Parental involvement is a protective factor for children from disadvantage background, which may be the case of immigrant families’ children, but the cultural differences can hinder a positive partnership (Crosnoe, 2001). It has been shown that in schools with a high percentage of cultural diversity among students, parental involvement is lower than in schools where the student body is predominately White (Christianakis, 2011). This may be due by the different socio-economic class of parents with a migration background which more often involves having long working hours, working multiple jobs and having other family responsibilities that conflict with school hours or parent-teacher conferences (Christianakis, 2011; Cooper & Christie, 2005). In addition to this, parents with a migrant background may face a number of barriers that prevent them from becoming more involved in their childrens’ school life, primarily language barriers (Turney & Kao, 2009). But also, ethnic minority parents often have low expectations of their relationships with teachers and schools, because they feel rejected or ignored in their interactions with them (Olivos 2004; Poza et al. 2014). On the other hand, many teachers seem to have low expectations for the involvement of ethnic minority parents in the education of their children (Ramirez 2003). The aim of this review of the literature is to contribute to a better and more in-depth understanding of the relationship between teachers and parents of ethnic minority groups.