Free Labor or Active Partnership: Toward Sustainable Parental Involvement in International Education

Growing evidence shows that parental involvement improves student and school performance, and supports strategic improvements toward quality education. Monitoring an active partnership between schools and parents becomes significant in maintaining parental involvement sustainability. This research paper investigates factors contributing to the sustainability of parental involvement practices and highlights challenges that could lead to parent disengagement incidents in international education contexts. The current study utilized a qualitative case study design in one international school in the UAE and based its definition of parental involvement on Epstein’s (2002) framework. The study results revealed that three types of Epstein’s (2002) framework were successfully promoted: school-home communication, parents volunteering at school, and learning activities at home. However, there was a failure to demonstrate three other types: parenting, decision-making, and community collaboration. The study also concluded that activating true partnerships between school leaders and parents is challenged by a trust crisis resulting from existing tensions caused by socioeconomic, cultural, and demographic complexities. With such complexities, the study made several suggestions for sustaining parental involvement in international education: (1) legislating parental involvement as a primary criterion in school evaluation, (2) specifying parental involvement duties and rights, and (3) developing parent leadership skills.