Title: | Influential factors behind parents’ general satisfaction with compulsory schools in Iceland |
Author: |
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Date: | 2017-05-04 |
Language: | English |
Scope: | 155-164 |
University/Institute: | Háskóli Íslands University of Iceland (UI) |
School: | Menntavísindasvið (HÍ) School of education (UI) |
Series: | Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy;3(2) |
ISSN: | 2002-0317 |
DOI: | 10.1080/20020317.2017.1347012 |
Subject: | Foreldrar; Viðhorf; Félagslegar aðstæður; Grunnskólar; Parental involvement; Social factors; Single mothers; Parent satisfaction |
URI: | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11815/660 |
Citation:Kristín Jónsdóttir, Amalía Björnsdóttir & Unn-Doris K. Bæck (2017) Influential factors behind parents’ general satisfaction with compulsory schools in Iceland, Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy, 3:2, 155-164, DOI: 10.1080/20020317.2017.1347012
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Abstract:Parents’ experiences and satisfaction with their child’s compulsory school are affected by
several factors. Some, such as parents’ education and marital status, are social factors, while
others are school factors that local leaders and school personnel can address. Findings build
on data from an online questionnaire to parents in 20 compulsory schools in Iceland
(n = 2129). Factor analysis generated two factors: communication and teaching. These,
together with a question on parents’ overall satisfaction with the school, were used as
outcome variables in a regression analysis exploring what influences parents’ satisfaction
with the school. The majority of parents were satisfied, which may make it is easy to overlook
those who are dissatisfied. Parents who felt that their children had special needs that were
not acknowledged in school were more likely to be dissatisfied than other parents.
Educational background was also influential. Single mothers were overrepresented in the
group of unsatisfied parents; they experienced more difficulties in communicating with
school personnel, believed less in the possibility for parents to influence the school, and
more frequently experienced that their child’s need for special support was not met in school.
The findings imply that equity in Icelandic schools is disputable.
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Rights:This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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