Being included: a mixed-methods study identifying parent subgroups and experiences of home–school partnerships in upper secondary education

Research on home-school partnership in upper secondary education remains limited. This mixed-methods study examines the diversity of Finnish parents’ experiences using a large national survey (N = 7,168) combined with reflexive thematic analysis of open-ended responses. K-means clustering identified five distinct subgroups of home-school partnership: high home-school partnership, high home-based partnership, low awareness of school staff, low home-based partnership and low home-school partnership. The results showed systematic differences across the subgroups in both parents’ educational backgrounds and adolescents’ educational tracks. Thematic analysis revealed three overarching themes: intensity of home-school partnership, the nature of knowledge and trust in partnership, further organised into eight sub-themes. The prominence of these themes varied across subgroups, indicating that parents experience partnership practices in divergent ways. The study offers novel insights into the heterogeneity of parental experiences and highlights how home-school partnerships may be strengthened to support adolescence in upper secondary education.