Le travail des chefs d’établissement avec les parents d’élèves : des activités complexes à l’interface entre leur hiérarchie et les enseignants

Abstract

Although the training of principals in France is strongly established, referenced and defined by a body of theoretical and practical knowledge, their daily professional activities are not specifically addressed. The purpose of this study is therefore to identify, formalize, and analyze some of these activities, particularly those involving contact with students’ parents, as they are underrepresented in current scholarship. As part of a research program dedicated to professional training, this study consists of analyzing the meetings between two principals and parents of students. Each meeting was recorded, and self-analysis interviews were carried out with these high school principals. The results demonstrate the complexity of their work: on the one hand, the intricacy is due to the diversity of the activities they undertake with students’ parents (convincing them, giving them examples, offering explanations, reaffirming their idea of the high school’s identity, responding to their questions, and bringing them together), and then on the other hand, it is because these activities are combined with others that they carry out with teachers and/or their supervisors. The complexity of the principals’ activities as they work to interface between their supervisors and teachers is amplified by the specific context of a major teaching reform. Based on a discussion of these results, leads for future research and potential training tools for principals will be suggested.

Keywords

• educational cooperation and collaboration
• family and education
• organization and functioning of the establishments
• autonomy and socialization
• sciences (teaching/education/relationship)