The key role of families in education

Research has more than adequately shown the critical importance of the family, its socioeconomic and cultural capital and the upbringing strategies it deploys when it comes to pupils’ academic results. Recently, emphasis has been placed on the decisive influence of parental styles and the need to train or support families in the task of bringing up children.

Public opinion and school institutions tend to accuse parents of not taking an interest in school issues and abdicating their educational responsibilities. On the other hand, families seem more concerned than ever about their children’s schooling, academic results, the quality of the education they receive, the good name of the schools where they are educated, etc. Family strategies to guarantee the quality of education are, however, largely individual. Despite the widespread parents’ association model, a key element of educational quality, families organised in this way do not manage to make their voice heard as a central agent in the educational debate. We can see, however, that in many countries around us, and increasingly in this country too, families have begun to demand a greater presence in policy definition and school life. The redefinition of family participation in an institution that was designed for leaving them at the door is still on the table.