Thus, the clarification of the concept of parent-teacher partnership can contribute to the improvement of school practice, based on more rigorous research in the field of home-school relations. This illustrates the benefits of the Christian parent's active involvement in the school as an institution (Anthony, 2001; Halverson, 2000; Post, 2000). Since the late 1960s, the concept of partnership between parents and teachers to improve the child's life chances has interested policy makers, researchers and practitioners in Western education systems (Gestwicki, 2000), and more recently in other parts of the world (Zaoura & Aubrey). , 2011).
With this in mind, the purpose of this paper is to achieve a more precise conceptualization of partnership in the context of the parent-teacher relationship, with a special emphasis on the Christian perspective. The parent-teacher partnership was examined through a formal analysis of articles using "partnership" and "parent" in the titles of English-only interdisciplinary literature between 1995 and 2010. Using an inductive stance, the researcher looks for the shared use and meaning of the words concept in order to identify associated attributes. .
Finally, a total of 279 quotes regarding collaboration between parents and teachers in the context of the school were retained. After selecting the final sample, the documents (downloaded and printed from the electronic databases) were organized and labeled by database. An inductive data analysis of the parent-teacher partnership concept was conducted to categorize the data under the following headings as suggested by Rodgers: antecedents, attributes, consequences, context, surrogate terms, and implications.
The final paper was read by a recognized expert in the field of home-school relationships to review and critique the interpretation made of the sampled literature.
Findings
The study itself thus confirmed the striking inconsistency in the use and interpretation of the concept and the lack of a definition of the relationship between parents and teachers in the general literature and the literature devoted to religious and Christian education. A third general finding was that the majority of authors in the sample justified their research by referring to the benefits of an ideal parent-teacher partnership. Even taking into account the very wide variety of ways in which the partnership between home and school is established, a consensus emerged among the authors in the sample on the characteristics of partnership.
Activity Attributes: The sample overwhelmingly showed that the partnership between parents and teachers is built through an open range of diverse activities that can take place at home, at school or in the community. Consequently, the antecedent of the school-issued invitation included all other antecedents presented in the literature. Consequences are the result of using a concept in a practical situation (Rodgers, 2000; Tofthagen & Fagerstrom, 2010). To this end, when parents and teachers understand the real values that partnerships can provide, they create change (consequences) in the home and at school.
In the sample studied, teacher-parent partnerships were generally associated with very positive outcomes for the members of the partnership, the parent and the teacher. With an ally in the parent, the teachers felt less alone and isolated in the educational activity, as their responsibility for the child was shared with the parent (McBride et al., 1998). It extends to the children whose well-being is primarily the justification, goal and driver of the partnership.
The parent-teacher partnership is eminently forged to benefit a third party, the child, and is not in the first instance a partnership forged for the benefit of the partners themselves. These positive effects for parents, teachers and children are well documented in the various national contexts represented. Price-Mitchell (2009) eschewed a functionalist approach, whereby it is argued that the parent-teacher partnership mechanistically produces positive outcomes in school, and emphasized the complexity of the parent-teacher relationship in which parties must negotiate identity boundaries to achieve success. .
The socio-political background of parent-teacher partnership often identified by authors was the democratization and accompanying decentralization of education that has occurred in the US (US Department of Education, 2001), the UK (Hodge & Runswick-Cole, 2008). Europe (Dom & Verhoeven, 2006) and Australasia (Onsman, 1996) and, finally, in other parts of the world, such as Korea (Kim, 2004), Singapore (Khong & Ng, 2005), Hong Kong (Katyal & Evers , 2007) and South Africa (Bojuwoye, 2009). Another element involved in the context in which the partnership is promoted is the parent as a client/consumer of educational services (Sykes, 2001). With regard to (i), the existence of enabling conditions (eg, legislation, positive school ethos, and teacher attitudes) in the school are insufficient to "start" (Khong & Ng, 2005) a partnership.
Research to determine the success of partnership policy implementation in the wider life of the school community would increase understanding of the effectiveness of education policy in school reform. Rodgers' method of analysis as used in this article has been limited to the use of partnership in the period 1995 to 2010 and to a specific sample.
Conclusion
Partnership and conflict between parents and schools: How schools respond to the new participation law in Flanders (Belgium). A new wave of evidence: the impact of school, family, and community connections on student achievement.
