Does greater community involvement mean more parent-teacher interaction?

Periodical
International Journal of Educational Development
Volume
83
Year
2021
Relates to study/studies
PISA-D

Does greater community involvement mean more parent-teacher interaction?

Evidence from seven developing countries

Abstract

Advocates for school autonomy and decentralisation argue that community involvement in school decisions would bring positive educational outcomes by increasing parent-teacher interaction. In this study, I investigate to what extent community involvement associates with parents-teacher personalised meetings in seven developing countries using Programme for International Student Assessment for Development (PISA-D) 2015 data. Employing ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models, I find that the correlation between community engagement in various school activities and parent-teacher interaction is largely insignificant. Findings rather suggest that private ownership and, in some cases, higher instructional resources of schools are associated with increasing parent-teacher communication. These findings remain similar in several specifications suggesting that community involvement as part of decentralising the education sector should not be seen as a panacea for overcoming challenges in schools in developing countries.