社會階級與家長參與：一個香港的個案研究

Social Class and Parental Involvement: A Case Study in Hong Kong

鼓勵家長參與學校教育是近年在香港推行的學校改革之一。本文報導一個質性的個案研究，以探討社會階級如何影響家長參與學童的教育。本研究的樣本乃在香港一所小學中八位來自六個不同社經背景家庭的家長。研究員透過深度訪問，去探究和詮釋中產階級及勞工階級家長在參與子女教育過程中的感受與經驗，從而比較他們的參與如何受其階級位置所影響。從蒐集得來的質性資料中衍生了八個概念化的主題，包為子女選擇中學、家庭規條、參與分工、社會網絡、參與能力差異、親師關係、對投訴的理解和參與的目的等。研究發現，勞工階級家長在參與子女教育過程中較中產階級家長處於一個不利的形勢。

Encouraging parental involvement in school education has been one of the educational reforms in Hong Kong in recent years. This article reports on a qualitative case study research which explores how social class differences affect parental involvement in children's education. The samples of the study include eight parents from six families of different social backgrounds in a primary school. Through in-depth interviews, the investigator explores and interprets the perceptions and experiences of both middle class and working class parents in participating in their children's schooling process so as to compare how their involvement is influenced by their social positions. Eight categories of propositions emerged from the qualitative data collected, including choosing secondary school for children, home rules, division of labor in participation, social network, capability difference in participation, parent-teacher relations, understanding of complaints and purposes of participation. The findings indicate that working class parents were in a less favorable situation than their middle-class counterpart when involving themselves in their children's schooling process.