cross-national survey of school principal daniel pop education support program open society...

Cross-National Survey ofSchool Principal

Daniel Pop

Education Support Program

Open Society Institute

Aims of the research

Education Justice: An equal chance for every child, a real opportunity for every adult.

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• to better understand the opportunities created by school leadership for parents to participate in school life;

• to assess the extent to which equal opportunity for parental participation in school life is promoted.

Context• significantly improved educational policy• provisions to enroot school-based governance• equal education opportunity considerations built in

education policy-making • rising costs in delivering educational services

• rising unequal educational opportunity• limited school leadership and parental involvement• over-emphasized role of pupil testing in the evaluation of

overall school performance• parents cover an increasingly larger share of the costs of

their children education in SEE countries


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Research question

What are the perceptions and actions of school principals in SEE countries related to furthering parental participation in practical school life, school level decision-making and in the education of one’s own children?


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Specific questions • What are the school policies on parental involvement

in school life? How does school leadership ensure that the school policy on parental involvement is applied (e.g. in teaching, pupils’ interactions, etc.)?

• What factors enhance/inhibit the establishment, communication and implementation of the school’s policy on parental involvement in school life? What are parents’ opportunities to contribute to school decision-making?

• What types of involvement are promoted by the school? What steps need to be taken by school leadership to ensure the participation of marginalized groups?


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Brief Description of Methodology• Period of interviewing: June, 2008• The survey of school principals• Survey conducted in Albania, Bosnia and

Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, and Serbia

• Stratified random samples (regions and urban/rural)


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Sample size Schools % Sample Urban Rural

Albania 1,484 100% 300 234 66

Bosnia and Herzegovina 612 100% 200 70 130

Kosova 539 100% 225 39 186

Macedonia 518 100% 200 120 80

Moldova 661 100% 296 31 265

Romania 6,123 100% 670 169 501

Serbia 1,209 100% 200 105 95

Montenegro

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Country Sample design

Albania Stratification by region reflects regional distribution in the population of schools. Urban/rural distribution in the sample is proportional to the distribution of schools in the population. The schools were chosen randomly, proportionally to their distribution in the territory. The schools were grouped also according to urban/rural distribution.

CL: 95%

CI: ±5.06

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Sample stratification was done by region and type of settlement. The sample is disproportional due to the different characteristics of the educational system in the three areas with different ethnic majorities. Urban/rural school distribution in the sample is 65:35, while in the total population it is the other way around.

CL: 95%.

CI: ±5.69

Kosova The sample is two-staged, stratified into three regions. Stratification by region was done to reflect regional distribution in the population of schools. Urban/rural distribution in the sample is proportional to the distribution of schools in the population. Within each region the survey was conducted in a number of municipalities that are representative for primary school population. At the municipality level (and depending on rural/urban distribution) random sampling of schools was applied.

CL: 95%

CI: ±5.0

Macedonia Sample stratification was done by region and type of settlement. Schools’ stratification by region was done proportionally to total population distribution.

CL: 95%.

CI: ±4.61

Republic of Moldova

Sample stratification was done by region and type of settlement. Schools’ stratification by region and type of settlement was done proportionally to total population distribution.

CL: 95%

CI: ±3

Romania Sample stratification was done by region and type of settlement. Schools’ stratification by region and type of settlement was done proportionally to total population distribution.

CL: 95%

CI: ±3

Serbia Sample stratification was done by region (four regions) and type of settlement. Schools’ stratification by region was done to reflect regional distribution in the population of schools. The urban/rural distribution in the sample is proportional to the distribution in the population of schools.

CL: 95%.

CI: ±6.33.

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General perceptions of parental participation in school life

Actions to foster parental participation in school life

Assessment of parental participation in the given

school

Opportunities for parents to engage in school life

School principals’ perceptions of the benefits of parental

participation in school life

Invitation of parents to engage in school related activities

Share of parents engaged in the three most successful

school activities

Home-school communication

Barriers to parental participation in school life

Home-school communication initiated by schoolSchool strategy to

communicate with parents

Satisfaction with meetings held with parents

Share of parents regularly participating at meetings held

by form teachers, subject teachers and school principal

School support for parents to help their children in education

Potential benefits of school support for parents to help their

children in education

Support services provided to parents to help their children

in education

Barriers to providing support services to parents to help their children in education

Parents’ involvement in school governance

Principals’ perceptions of the importance of parental voice in

school life

Decision-making authority attributed to Parents’ Council

Influence of Parents’ Council on the daily life of school

Influence of parents in general on practical school life

Contribution of parents’ representatives on the School

Board

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Sample from which schools were selected Country Original

Sample Additional Sample 1

Additional Sample 2 Total

199 69 32 300 Albania 66.3% 23.0% 10.7% 100%

224 13 0 237 Bosnia and Herzegovina 94.5% 5.5% .0% 100%

220 5 0 225 Kosova 97.8% 2.2% .0% 100%

187 13 0 200 Macedonia 93.5% 6.5% .0% 100%

145 0 0 145 Montenegro 90.06% 0% 0% 90.06%

292 4 0 296 Republic of Moldova 98.6% 1.4% .0% 100%

641 26 3 670 Romania 95.7% 3.9% .4% 100%

162 30 8 200 Serbia 81.0% 15.0% 4.0% 100%

2070 160 43 2273 Total 91.07% 7.04% 1.89% 100%

Note: In Montenegro a census was carried out, 145 schools (90.06%) of the total 161 being interviewed. 9/20

Reliability analysis (Cronbach’ Alpha) by composite and country

Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina

Kosovo Macedonia

Moldova Monte-negro

Romania Serbia All

Invitation of parents to engage in school life (8) .770 .818 .836 .837 .792 .829 .851 .844 .849 Barriers to parental participation in school life (7) .687 .645 .697 .675 .555 .713 .671 .684 .670 School principal’s perceptions of the benefits of

parental participation (4) .810 .827 .873 .883 .891 .947 .895 .906 .896

Importance of home-school activities (6) .814 .819 .884 .874 .772 .854 .846 .862 .857 The existing home-school activities (6) .765 .765 .832 .836 .756 .800 .839 .827 .836 Participation of Parents’ Council in school

decision-making (5) .845 .733 .795 .800 .832 .831 .832 .797 .825

Invitation of parents to engage in school related activities (8)

.736 .780 .826 .866 .765 .804 .764 .827 .849

School-home communication (9) .736 .822 .818 .854 .768 .926 .828 .623 .788 Parents’ influence on school life (8) .791 .779 .861 .872 .837 .814 .845 .783 .845 Influence of Parents’ Council on school life (6) .711 .699 .861 .749 .793 .868 .786 .651 .808 Contribution of parent representatives on the

School Board (3) .699 .580 .755 .674 .843 .803 .861 .644 .788

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Findings


Perceived benefits of parental participation for overall school climate


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Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Kosovo Macedonia

Moldova Montenegro Romania Serbia

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School climateGraphs by Country

Influence of Parents’ Council on daily school life


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Extent of influenceGraphs by Country

Satisfaction with contribution by the parent representatives of the School Board


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Extent of satisfactionGraphs by Country

Main findings

School Principals perceive parental engagement to have an important and overall positive impact on:

• school climate, • the general attitudes and behaviors of

parents towards schools, • the support that is offered to school, • pupil education outcomes.


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• In all countries the actual rate of schools that deliver support services for parents to help their children education is considerable lower than that of School Principals with a positive attitude about the utility of such services.


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• Principals report that parental influence on decisions taken at classroom level tends to be a common practice. However, limited levels of influence are reported by Principals in the cases of teacher performance assessment, textbook choice and school budgeting.


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• Despite an overall positive evaluation by School Principals of the influence of the Parent Committees’ to involve parents in school life, in all countries the largest share view this to be only limitedly successful.


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• All in all:• creating opportunities by the school for

parents to support school activities has been found to be the most favored way of engaging parents in school life

• school support to parents to help their children in education as a critical to improve overall pupils' performance


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ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Dzenana Trbic

Snjezana Mrse

Lana J urko

Suzana Gerzina

Igor Repac

Gordana Miljevic

CENTRAL RESEARCH TEAM

Veljko Djuric

Daniel Pop

Steve Powell

COUNTRY TEAMS

Albania

Bardhyl Musai

Mimoza Gjika

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Esad Bratovic

Ivona Celebic

Kosovo

Dukagjin Pupovci

Nora Tafarshiku

Macedonia

Suzana Kiradziska

Petar Atanasov

Moldova

Viorica Postica

Bezede Rima

Montenegro

Tamara Krivokapic

Maja Kovacevic

Milos Becic

Romania

Daniela Elena Nita

Ovidiu Voicu

Serbia

Tatjana Stojic

J elena Vranjesevic

EXTERNAL CONSULTANT

J ohanna Crighton

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Further information

The South East Europe Education Cooperation Network

http://see-educoop.net/aeiq


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cross-national survey of school principal daniel pop education support program open society...

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