Family-school communication in Spain: channels and their use

Abstract

Family/school communication has not been a central theme of educational research in Spain. In fact, it can safely be stated that it has rarely been the focus of work although it is also true that the relation between these two institutions or the participation of the families in the school have been analysed in depth. This text aims to supply an overall view from our own empirical work (ethnographic and survey) of the main channels of communication and the use made of these. The starting point is that there are many channels but that these are not always used or used adequately which leads to important obstacles in the communication and that this can be improved. Moreover, a point that can be highlighted is the scant use of the new technologies despite their potential. The results of the two studies presented, one the base for the other, show that Spanish schools are not taking sufficient advantage of the potential of the new technologies for communication and to make information flow between families and professionals. However, this does not mean that there are no successful experiences.