From problem to mystery. How to approach family as a partner in education?

Research objectives (aims) and problem(s): In current studies on the educational triangle of school, family, and local community, the distinct character of the family is generally assumed rather than explicitly articulated or critically examined. This study aims to fill this gap as a contribution to dealing with the difficulties of cooperation within the educational triangle. Research methods: This study employs a critical cultural-philosophical analysis of contemporary tendencies in how families are approached in Western societies. This analysis clarifies the main trends in recent studies in pedagogy and educational sciences on educational partnerships between school and family. An investigation of personalist philosophical understandings of family is used to develop an alternative to current dominant views. Process of argumentation: First, the research problem is defined by analyzing how recent pedagogical studies on the educational triangle approach family. Second, the problem is placed in a broader perspective of current social tendencies in viewing the family: either with suspicion or appreciation. Third, the reasons for this dual evaluation are discussed and shown to lead to an impasse: the family is expected to be both opened up and protected and is often instrumentalized, while its specific character remains assumed rather than clarified. Fourth, an alternative approach is explored through the personalist philosophical perspectives on family offered by Gabriel Marcel and Jean Lacroix. They distinguish between approaching the family as “problem” and as “mystery.” The conclusion indicates the value of the mystery approach for addressing the risks inherent in the current impasse regarding how to deal with family, including as a partner of schools. Research findings and their impact on the development of educational sciences: The impact of the findings on educational sciences is presented in relation to four acute risks arising from the impasse, which are also relevant in school–family relations: The risk of overlooking the family’s distinct character. The risk of asking too much of the family. The risk of judging the family. The risk of overly negative, one-sided evaluations of the family’s strong influence. Conclusions and/or recommendations: The findings lead to the following recommendations: In schools’ interactions with families, the unnamable distinctiveness of the family must be respected. To prevent the erosion of the family through excessive external demands, families must be granted adequate non-instrumental space to develop and sustain their own specific identity This distinctiveness should be protected through restraint in judging whether a family is “good.” This also requires restraint in intervening in families from the outside.