Although the benefits of a close relationship between families and school have been already proved, it appears that there still are many obstacles to be transposed in order to make this relationship more effective. The school seems to have difficulties in understanding the reality experienced by their students and families, and the asymmetry in this relationship tends to perpetuate the difficulties of building an effective partnership that encourages student involvement in the academic space. Facing this reality, the objective of this paper is to present the school and family perspectives on the peculiarities of this relationship from the testimony of Parents and Teachers of Elementary School kids. Two focus groups were conducted: one with Elementary School Teachers (ten participants) and one with Parents of students (seven participants) attending the same stage of schooling. By content analysis, the information collected from the groups were categorized. The Teachers' group configured the following topics: Demands of families that appear on teaching practice; Situations that require interaction with families; Teachers' perception about families and their roles. Analysis of the Parents' group resulted in the following themes: Family involvement with their children's school; Communication with the school; Perceived difficulties in family-school relationship, Commodification of Education. The conclusions refer to a reality shaped by diffuse boundaries between family and school, revealing difficulties that obstruct this relationship and converge to a set of mutual guiltiness. It is also discussed the possibility of optimizing this relationship through systematic joint strategies that address Teachers and Parents in their claims. From this perspective, it is highlighted the importance of developing the educational task together, always having the student in focus and as a priority in this process.
Family-School Relationship; Elementary School; Education
