Patterns of parental involvement in schools of religious communities. A systematic review

• Published in: British journal of religious education 2024-10, Vol.46 (4), p.485-504
• Main Authors: Pusztai, Gabriella, Demeter-Karászi, Zsuzsanna, Csonka, Éva, Bencze, Ádám, Major, Enikő, Szilágyi, Edit, Bacskai, Katinka
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Database Management Systems; faith-based schools; Parent participation; Parent School Relationship; Parental involvement; Religion; religious community; religious education; Religious schools
• ISSN: 0141-6200; 1740-7931
• DOI: 10.1080/01416200.2024.2315550

Research on family involvement has revealed its positive impact on children's academic and nonacademic achievement over the past two decades. However, little is known about parental involvement in religious schools. During our review, we examined studies focusing on parental involvement with special attention to religious schools. 22 papers met the research criteria out of 123 abstracts screened from 85 databases. Management and decision-making participation in religious schools seem to be less important than in Epstein's model. Religious schools have developed a special PI model where parents accept decisions based on staff competence, and teachers work to build a parent community and earn the trust of parents by being accountable for the children's diverse development. Some studies point to inadequate implementation of the ideal model and are critical. The novelty of the analysis is that our analysis was open to schools of all religions. A limitation of the review is that we cannot be sure that all relevant studies were included in the examined databases. As such, further research is needed to better understand this phenomenon.