Involvement in Participation of The Family Committee in School Education Management: Basis for an Improved School Education Management

AUTHOR(S)

Xu Qing

ABSTRACT

In 2010, the first primary school in Zhongguancun started to establish a class family committee, with each class having a family committee. The Family Committee works with the principal, faculty, and administration, or school management in general, to create a successful partnership between home and school. The Family Committee’s lack of involvement in the management of the school’s educational program causes an increase in the number of problems, all of which are detrimental to the students. Problems had been identified at Beijing Zhongguancun Primary School for some time, but measures of existing actions and instruments had not been evaluated. Furthermore, no scientific research, specifically a mixed methods study, was conducted with the participation of the Family Committee to improve School Education Management. Therefore, this research was executed to know the problems and measures of participation of the Family Committee in school education management in Beijing Zhongguancun Primary School as basis for an improved school education management. The study used a mixed methods research design tapping 376 parents who are members of the Family Committee during the school year 2022-2023. Both survey questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were utilized in the implementation of the study. Results revealed that family committee are somewhat involved in the school education management in terms of curriculum development, facilities improvement, student activities, family committee participation and community involvement. In terms of sex, nature of employment and educational attainment, there were no significant differences on their participation and involvement in school education management in terms of curriculum development, facilities improvement, student activities, family committee participation and community involvement except for the variable age. These results were further explained by their experiences extracted from the conducted semi-structured interview. Their experiences show that other family committee members are involved, but not everyone participates and is involved. From on the results of the study, the school managers are recommended to craft programs that will fully involve family committee members in strengthening school programs that will benefit everyone in the school and the community thus an improved school education management is proposed.