Roditeljsko unutarobiteljsko podržavanje djetetova primarnoga obrazovanja
Authors:   , Sušanj Gregorović Katarina 
Published: February 2025

This paper focuses on parental intra-family support of the child, encompassing all interactions between parents and child pertaining to education (proximal processes), occurring within the family. For the purposes of this paper, this support is hereby described by the term parental intra-family support of the child's primary education. The empirical part of the paper aims to address the construction of parental intra-family support of the child's primary education, adapted to the domestic context and parental perspective. Parental intra-family support of the child's education is placed within the paradigm of social constructivism, as viewed through the lens of the Bronfenbrenner bioecological process– person–context–time model and grounded in pedagogical perspective. By adopting a three- component structure of the theoretical framework, this research suggests that the parental construction of their intra-family support of the child's primary education is shaped not only by the characteristics of the parents and child, but also by various narratives conveyed to the parents through social structures that the parents actively process in line with the micro, meso, exo, macro and chrono-contextual factors. The research, based on the described theoretical grounds, has a twofold aim: 1. To identify and systematize a range of parental practices of intra-family support of the child's primary education 2. To describe narratives that dominate parental understanding of their own role in supporting the child's primary education in their microcontext. In this research, the term narratives implies a socially mediated and established understanding of optimal behavior of a parent as a person who supports the child's education within the family.
The research originates from qualitative research values (critique of quantitative values, the researcher's subjectivity and reflexivity as a resource, knowledge and meaning as contextual, situated, partial) and the application of qualitative methods of data collection and data analysis. Two methods were applied to collect qualitative data in the study: a parent diary and individual, semi-structured in-depth interview. The combination of the parent diary and the first part of the interview was used to address the first part of the research objective, while the second part of the interview was used to address the second part of the research objective. Bronfenbrenner's process-person-context-time model was used as a guide for shaping the semi-structured interview protocol. The interview protocol itself was observed as developmental, and after each interview it was adjusted according to the reactions of previous participants and focusing on the objective of the research. The data collected in the parent diary and the first part of the interview were analyzed by inductive conventional content analysis according to the steps for conducting inductive content analysis described by Vears and Gillam (2022), where codes were derived directly from the data. The data collected through the second part of the interview were analyzed applying the six phases of reflexive thematic analysis as described by Braun and Clarke (2022a). A predominantly inductive approach to reflexive thematic analysis was applied, which implies open coding, but also a certain degree of deductive analysis, which ensured that the shaped themes would be relevant to the research objective. When identifying codes/themes, manifest and latent meanings were taken into account. In the coding process, within both methods, the NVivo qualitative data analysis software was used, to an extent that does not compromise the reflexive component of the thematic analysis, and Sonix software was used for the transcription of the interviews.
The study involved 24 parents (20 mothers and 4 fathers) of primary education students from Primorje-Gorski Kotar county (N=21) and neighboring counties: Istria County (N=1) and Karlovac County (N=2). The basic criterion that the participants had to meet in order to participate in the survey was that they were parents of at least one primary education student in Primorje-Gorski Kotar, or neighboring counties. Therefore, a convenient participant recruitment strategy was applied, resulting in the desired variability across several key elements: parents' level of education, economic status, employment status, gender, and marital/family structure. However, it should be noted that among the study participants, individuals who had only completed primary school were not represented, nor were parents who assessed their economic status as below average. The final number of participants was within the previously defined range, which was determined using key elements of the pragmatic model to estimate the required number of participants in qualitative studies (Malterud et al., 2016). Potential participants received the Invitation to participate in the research (with an accompanying video) sent through representatives of the Parents' Council. The survey was conducted during the school year 2022/2023. All research phases have been continuously considered and adhered to current research ethics standards in the social sciences. In the research process, I reflexively identified my own assumptions, prejudices, values, personal background and choices, i.e. activities during the research process, and reported on reflexivity supported by the entire research and recording in the reflexive diary.
An inductive conventional content analysis resulted in systematization of parental intra-family support of the child's primary education, consisting of four categories (with associated subcategories): 1. Supporting the development of the child's knowledge and skills; 2. Shaping the child's desired behavior; 3. Providing affective support to the child and 4. Supporting the child's interests and affinities. The results obtained by inductive conventional analysis suggest that the participants perceive the concept of education as what includes, but also what goes beyond the process of formal education, therefore they used a number of direct, but also subtle practices of intra-family support of the child's education. The results also suggest that, while there are certain tendencies for parents to adopt certain practices based on their gender, both fathers and mothers are actively engaged in supporting their child's education. The division of roles appears to be influenced more by individual preferences, affinities, and skills rather than strictly by sex/gender. Furthermore, the results showed that among the participants there is no difference in the adoption of certain practices based on the sex/gender of the child. Instead, parental practices appear to be influenced by other child characteristics and contextual factors. The systematization of parental practices identified among the subjects of this research confirmed some previously established systematizations (only partially coinciding with the other level of the Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler model, 2005). The consolidated systematization brought some new insights into the practices of the parents in the domestic (micro)context, distinguishing it from the existing systematizations/models. Reflexive thematic analysis resulted in a description of narratives that dominate parental understandings of their own role in three interrelated themes (with associated subthemes): Social construction of optimal parenting, Social intervention in parenting and Performative action of parents. Starting from a critical perspective to thematic analysis, I wondered what the analysis of parental understandings of their own role potentially tells us about the domestic context. The interpretative analysis of the participants' understandings, brought me to the realization that in the narratives of social structures of the domestic (micro)context, there is a tendency toward high expectations: 1. regarding the child’s competences and academic excellence and 2. regarding intensive parental engagement in the child’s education. This highlights the increasingly widespread ideology of intensive parenting, alongside the growing emphasis on inclusive fatherhood. The following conclusion pointed our that parenting, i.e. parental role in child’s education is a topic present in the social structures at all levels of Bronfenbrenner ecological systems, indicating an increased importance attached to the parental role in the context of child’s education, and consequently an increase in the social responsibilization of the parents. Despite the impact of individual social structures on participant’s beliefs and practices of intra-family support of child's primary education, it has been shown that their role is secondary, i.e. that parents in the target (micro)context still made decisions autonomously and constructed their own parental role and practices of intra-family support of the child's education, in accordance with their own beliefs and capabilities. It has been shown that parental selection of practices is primarily guided by the child’s needs, leading to the conclusion that there is a presence of mindful parenting patterns among the participants of the study.