Saving Little Red Riding Hood: A Qualitative Study of Parental Role Construction for Involvement in Children’s Education

In the Hoover-Dempsey at al. model (2005), parental role construction for involvement in children’s education is defined as socially constructed beliefs and expectations about what parents should do in relation to their children’s education. The qualitative exploration of parental role constructions and factors that might shape parents’ understanding of their role was conducted in five elementary schools in Zagreb, Croatia. Data was collected via 59 semi-structured interviews with parents of children attending primary and lower secondary education. Reflexive thematic analysis was applied for interview data coding and analysis. Most parents exhibited an active role construction and experienced a strong sense of personal responsibility for their children’s educational outcomes and development. Parents’ beliefs about necessary and appropriate involvement activities, rights and responsibilities were shaped by immediate and wider social contexts including school, as well as by perception of the child’s developmental needs. Parents constructed their role through processes of social comparison with other families in their social networks, and by reflecting on their childhood memories and their own current experiences with others related to schooling. Three modalities of role construction were identified that shape parental decisions regarding the form and intensity of their involvement with their child: proactive support and assistance, on-demand activation and active control