Education in poverty contexts, the role of parents' participation in public primary schools

Access to primary education is an essential element for addressing social inequalities in developing countries around the globe.  Nevertheless, in places like Mexico (with high per capita income and high inequality) deficient schools, particularly in poor areas, have shadowed the accomplishments of universal access.  Thus, questions that have been traditionally a concern within developed economies, regarding the quality of teaching methods, infrastructure and the education system in general, have become a crucial issue in development policy discussions in the South.  This paper analyzes one element that has the potential to improve the overall performance of the schooling system: family participation in school-centered communities.  There are different theoretical models that explain the participation of families in education, mostly drawing evidence from the US and Europe.  This paper builds on this area of sociological theory in order to identify different typologies of parents’ participation within the Mexican context, specifically in public elementary schools in the city of Monterrey, Nuevo León.   A case study is presented from ethnographic data (spanning a school year) and in depth interviews to parents in one primary school situated in a marginalized area. A profile of parents’ participation is identified, as well as the circumstances of such participation.  Furthermore, the contextual characteristics of the participant parents are analyzed in comparison to those who do not participate.  Thus, a contribution is made to the broader sociological literature regarding parents and their role in children’s schools, as well as the communities they form in poor areas.  Finally, some conclusions are made regarding the study’s findings and their relation to social development policy options in Mexico.