Evaluation of the family's participation in the educational process in the context of its economic, cultural and social capital: The case of Eskişehir

This research aimed to evaluate the participation of the family in the educational process of the child in the context of economic, cultural and social capital. In line with this purpose, as a result of the fieldwork conducted in Eskişehir, the participation of the family in the educational process has been considered from a sociological perspective. The research was conducted with a situation pattern within the framework of a qualitative study. In this context, data were collected through a semi-structured interview form with a total of 51 participants at Secondary School affiliated to the Ministry of National Education, selected using the contrary sampling technique, 10 students of 7th and 8th grade, 10 student parents from each school and a total of 11 teachers were selected using the homogeneous sampling technique. The field process lasted between the 21th of February and 1th of May 2023. Within the framework of the data obtained as a result of the field research, three main themes were identified under the heading of cultural and social lives, academic life and expectations, and the parent's contribution to the child's future, and thematic analysis was performed. The research results have shown that the parents of the YSP school, where the parents with a high socioeconomic level are concentrated, are in an advantageous position compared to the parents of DSP school in terms of cognitive awareness, acquisition of cultural and social practices, the way of communication with the school, providing out-of-school learning opportunities and economic capital. In addition, it was found that parents at DSP school were insufficient in providing resources both economically, culturally and socially. As Bourdieu expressed it, it has been revealed that YSP and DSP school parents who are in a struggle cannot fight on equal terms, and YSP school parents develop various strategies by reading the game well in accordance with the capital they have.