Family-school relationship: perception of teachers and parents/guardians at a public school in Angola

The family-school relationship is considered fundamental to the success of students and school institutions and influences decision making by school leaders. This paper analyses the perceptions of teachers and parents/guardians regarding the family-school relationship in the context of a public school with primary and secondary sections in Angola. For this purpose, a qualitative research was developed based on a naturalistic case. The results of the interviews with teachers and parents revealed that family involvement in school activities, monitoring of children's school attendance, and family participation in decision-making are considered fundamental and contribute to the success and good functioning of the school institution. Participants pointed to the lack of time and the absence of concrete actions and positive feedback from the school as the main reasons for the low level of family involvement, summarizing the family-school relationship through participation in meetings of parents and guardians. According to the teachers, the parents with the highest socioeconomic status, at least in this school, are the least involved in school actions and their children present poorer school performance.