Parental competence and (non)pedagogical professions

Mandarić Vukušić, Anita. (2016). Parental competence and (non)pedagogical professions. PhD Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of Pedagogy.
(Poslijediplomski doktorski studij pedagogije) [mentor Maleš, Dubravka].

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Abstract

Background. This thesis comprises a theoretical and an empirical part. The theoretical part of the thesis first problematizes the question of contemporary families and their functions, considers the changes that occurred in family education under the influence of contemporary social change and considers the new role of parents in this context. Parenting is seen as a role, process and/or relathionship, and an emphasis is placed on examining the association between parental and work roles and parental competence. The underlying postulate of this approach is that modern parent is expected to raise independent, productive and responsible individuals, and that only pedagogically competent parents who are able to recognize, understand and appropriately respond to the child's needs may successfully respond to this task. Within this doctoral thesis a comparison is made with respect to parental self-competence, specifically the aspects of parental satisfaction and self-efficacy, parental beliefs regarding child-rearing practices, image of the child, and general sense for competence in parental role, among parents with pedagogical and non-pedagogical professions. This research was motivated by previous studies wich confirmed that the level of parents' education and type of occupation may impact parental behavior. Therefore it was hypothesized that pedagogical competences that form the basis of pedagogical professions could make pedagogical workers become more competent parents. Aim. The aim of empirical part of the conducted research study was to determine whether there exist any differences in parental self-competence, specifically the aspects of parental satisfaction and self-efficacy, parental beliefs regarding child-rearing practices, image of the child, and general sense for competence in parental role, among parents with pedagogical and non-pedagogical professions Methods. The research sample included 437 parents with higher educational degrees among which 208 parents had pedagogical professions (kindengarden teachers, elementary school teachers, class teachers, subject teachers of specialized teaching), and 229 parents had non-pedagogical professions (economics, medicine, law, engineering, computer science, electrical engineering). Furthermore, all parents in the sample were required to have a child between the ages of three to seven years (regardless of the number and ages of the other children in the family). Results. The general hypothesis of this study stated that there is no difference in parenting self-competence with respect to the investigated aspects of parental satisfaction and self-efficacy, parental beliefs about child-rearing practices, image of the child, and general sense for competence in parental role among parents with pedagogical and non-pedagogical professions, which was partially confirmed. The differences between the two samples were revealed on the following subscales: parental self-efficacy, beliefs about parental involvement in raising the child, the use of induction, responding to a baby's cry and the unnecessity of physical punishment. In contrast, no differences were revealed with respect to the subscales: parental satisfaction, beliefs about the importance of obedience and subordination of the child, the image of the child and the self-evaluation of knowledge and skills related to their parental role. Conclusion. The results confirmed that parents with pedagogical professions feel more effective in their parenting, and have more contemporary beliefs about the importance of parental involvement in raising the child, the application of induction, desirable beliefs of response time to baby's cries and unnecessity of corporal punishment of children than parents with non-pedagogical professions. This result showed that the pedagogical professions of parents are related to parental competence, suggesting that pedagogical competencies which represent the foundation of pedagogical profession can contribute to parental competence, although not in all its aspects. Application. Based on all obtained results, the final parts of the thesis discuss the study’s main conclusions, its limitations and advantages, as well as a summary of recommendations for future research on this topics. Results of this study will serve as scientific basis for development of programs for parents with non-pedagogical, as well as pedagogical professions, with the aim of acquiring and improving parental competencies.

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