School, family and community partnerships, from the perspective of Secondary school management teams

Abstract

The aim of this work is to identify good practices, and drawbacks, in the partnerships formed in Secondary schools between the school, the family and the community, as seen from the perspective of the school management teams. Two studies are presented here: the first is part of an investigation into student efficacy in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country in Spain, which was then presented at a Secondary school head teachers’ conference; the second is formed of contributions from head teachers attending that conference. The first study, which combines a quantitative and qualitative methodology, consists of interviews with 16 management teams from the top-ranking Secondary schools in the ACBC. The second study, which applied the World Café methodology, is based on contributions from 24 head teachers from various autonomous communities around Spain. According to the management teams at the best-run Secondary schools in the ACBC, the partnership practices most closely related to good student performance were: positive communication between the centre and the students’ families, close collaboration with the community, and family involvement in children’s learning at home. As school managers, the head teachers attending the conference offered a broad and complex view of the difficulties and challenges involved in partnerships and in the development of good practices.