Peer-reviewed article

The guardians' view on the nurturing in primary school

Giulia Oreto · 1 Jan 2023

Abstract

Objective. The aim of this study was to carry out a survey on the guardians’ views on nurturing in primary schools. The focus was on three dimensions: guardians' views on nurturing in general, nurturing in primary school and co-operation, and the need for cooperation in primary school nurturing. The secondary aim was to investigate whether there were statistically significant differences between the guardians’ background variables, regarding their views on nurturing within these three dimensions, and whether correlations/relations could be identified. Research on nurturing in our primary schools was considered important because the curriculum for basic education in Finland describes the school as an nurturing arena, which is visible especially in the lower grades of primary school where nurturing is constantly present in both teaching and interaction, and emphasises individual national goals for nurturing. However, studies conducted in Sweden showed that teachers do not always agree, or are unsure, on how to approach the nurturing task.In Finland, guardians perceive the general co-operation between the school and home to relate specifically to the child's learning and success, but not to the child's overall well-being. The child's closest adults, in this case carers and teachers, play a major role in the child's learning, development and growth. Cooperation between home and school, including in nurturing, therefore plays a significant role in children's well-being and makes the theme important. The views of parents and carers were considered extremely important in order to get an overall picture of the situation regarding the theme. The studies and theories of Joyce L. Epstein on partnership serve as a theoretical frame of reference for this study. Methods. The research approach was mainly quantitative, with an electronic questionnaire as the primary data collection tool. The response options regarding education consisted of 5-point Likert scales. Most of the questions/statements also included an optional open comment field, which enabled the collection of qualitative data. Therefore, the study could also be seen as a mixed methods study. The voluntary comments were analysed phenomenographically to visualize the variety of views on nurturing in primary schools. A total of 144 respondents, carers, answered the questionnaire. Results and conclusions. According to the quantitative data, guardians' views on the nurturing role of schools were on average relatively positive. Guardians were somewhat satisfied with the nurturing in the school and were comfortable or somewhat comfortable with the nurturing role of the school in the specified themes. The need for closer co-operation regarding nurturing was moderately perceived. However, the qualitative data showed that a large proportion of the parents did not really know how the school worked regarding nurturing and therefore found it difficult to answer the questionnaire. A few carers also felt that nurturing is not really part of the school's mission, while a large proportion were very satisfied with the school's efforts in this area. On average, they seemed to have confidence in the nurturing role of the school and felt that it was a good support for the nurturing role of the home. On the whole, lack of time and insufficient communication were perceived as obstacles to cooperation. A statistically significant difference was found between school sizes and how comfortable guardians were regarding the nurturing theme: behaviour and etiquette. Carers with children in a small school were more comfortable with the nurturing role of the school in the stated theme than carers with children in a large school. The following correlations were identified: The better the child did in primary school, both academically but also socially and behaviourally, the more satisfied the parent was with the nurturing in the school, more comfortable with the stated nurturing themes and perceived the quality of nurturing in the school to be higher. The more positive the carer's attitude towards the curriculum's nurturing objectives, the more satisfied they were with the nurturing in primary school. The higher the guardian's perception of the quality of co-operation, the lower the need for co-operation and the more satisfied they were with primary school nurturing. Thus, the problem remained a lack of clarity about the school's approach to nurturing and mutual exchange between school and home. Improved dialogue and common guidelines could be crucial to strengthen cooperation, which in turn can have a positive impact on the holistic development of children.