Barriers to school-family cooperation in preschool education and solution suggestions

The aim of this study is to evaluate the obstacles related to school-family cooperation in preschool education according to the views of school administrators, teachers and parents and to contribute to the practice and literature by examining the solution suggestions. The study was conducted in the spring semester of 2024-2025 in primary schools and independent kindergartens with preschools in the central district of Düzce province. Case study design, one of the qualitative designs, was preferred in the study. Within the scope of the study, 9 school administrators, 10 teachers and 9 parents, a total of 28 participants were interviewed. Five semi-structured interview questions were used in the study. The data obtained were analyzed by content analysis and sub-themes were formed by coding. Three sub-themes emerged regarding the reasons for school-family cooperation in preschool education: administrator-related, teacher-related and family-related reasons. Three sub-themes emerged regarding the expectations of school-family cooperation in preschool education: expectations from the administrator, expectations from the teacher and expectations from the family. Four sub-themes emerged as bureaucratic and political, administrator-induced, teacher-induced and family-induced barriers to school-family cooperation in preschool education. Regarding the effects of barriers to school-family cooperation in preschool education, three sub-themes emerged: effects on teachers, effects on families and effects on children. Four sub-themes emerged as bureaucratic and political cooperation barriers, cooperation barriers caused by the administrator, cooperation barriers caused by the teacher and cooperation barriers caused by the family. Within the scope of the research results, some of the suggestions developed are that administrators should have a supportive attitude towards teachers and be open to communication and cooperation with families; teachers should establish open and empathetic communication with families; informative and awareness-raising activities should be organized to encourage families to participate in cooperation; and flexible cooperation plans should be made especially for working families.