Representations of Family and Primary School Relations in National Documents, Laws, and Sub-Legal Acts

Abstract

The aim of this research is to describe how family and school
relations are represented in national documents, laws, and
sub-legal acts that organise the primary education sector.
The research is based on a qualitative research paradigm
and documentation analysis procedure. A reflexive thematic
analysis was carried out on 17 documents, laws and sublegal acts relevant to primary school education in the
Republic of Croatia, which resulted in four basic
representations of the relations between family and school,
placed in the context of humanistic, legalistic, procedural and patronising constructions of their relations. Further analysis revealed examples of incongruity in the generated
representations of family and school relations within
documents, as well as the deviation of individual
representations from recent knowledge about the optimal
positioning of family and school relations. The conclusion
discusses the practical implications of the obtained findings
and potential directions of an empirical approach to the
described problem.