Challenges of essentialization and egalitarianism in the cooperation between fathers and school

Sučić, Matea. (2017). Challenges of essentialization and egalitarianism in the cooperation between fathers and school. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of Pedagogy. [mentor Kušević, Barbara].

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Abstract

The topic of the thesis are challenges of essentialization and egalitarianism in the cooperation between fathers and school. In the theoretical part of the thesis there is a discussion about the level of the cooperation between fathers and school in the world and in Croatia, about the factors that affect that cooperation and about the influence of fathers’ involvement in the cooperation with school on all factors of the educational process. Relying on the explicated concepts of essentialization and egalitarianism, the problem of this research presented in this thesis is: How essentialistic or how egalitarian are teachersʼ attitudes toward the role of fathers in the cooperation with school, and how do these attitudes reflect on the cooperation between fathers and school? Fifteen in-depth interviews were conducted with teachers from six elementary schools in Zagreb and it was found that the signals of essentialization, which presupposes belief in the innate traits and abilities of men and women, and an egalitarian approach to fathers, which assumes that men and women are equally capable of cooperating and advocates androgynous parenting, could be detected in their attitudes. It has been shown that these attitudes have an impact on the teaching practice: primarily by the essentialists not seeking to involve fathers in the cooperation or by them doing so through stereotypical activities, while the egalitarians do not point out fathers in their calls. Half of the teachers are aware of their roles, while others believe that other factors are important – chiefly the family and society. Finally, teachers consider themselves to be competent to cooperate with fathers even though they generally have never learned about it. Since the area of the cooperation with fathers is insufficiently explored, the research will contribute to the understanding of the quality of the cooperation between fathers and school and will enlighten the question of the influence of teachersʼ attitudes and perception of paternal and maternal roles on it, as well as the question of the implications for teachers’ future work.

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