The Effects of Parental Involvement, Trust in Parents, Trust in Students and Pupil Control Ideology on Conflict Management Strategies of Early Childhood Teachers.

AbstractIn this study it was aimed to determine the effects of parental involvement, teachers' trust in parents and students, and teachers' pupil control ideology on the conflict management strategies used by teachers in classroom management. Data were collected from a sample of 254 teachers through paper and pencil questionnaires. Data were analyzed with structural equation modeling approach and using Maximum Likelihood method. According to the results, as the parents are more involved, teachers develop trust in parents and their students, and their higher levels of trust lead teachers to develop a more humanistic orientation towards their students. Parental involvement and teachers' trust in parents and their students cause teachers to use more constructive conflict management strategies such as integrating, compromising and obliging. Teachers' lower levels of trust and their custodial orientation cause them to use dominating strategy. The results imply the importance of parental involvement and building trust for effectively solving the conflicts in the classroom.Key WordsParental Involvement, Trust, Pupil Control Ideology, Conflict Management Strategies.Parental InvolvementParental involvement is defined by Grolnick and Slowiaczek (1994) as the devotion of resources by the parent to the child within a given domain. According to these researchers, it can be mentioned three types of involvement in children's schooling such as behavior, cognitive-intellectual, and personal. The first category, the parent's behavior involves participation in activities at school, for example attending parent-teacher meetings, conferences and school activities. Participation in activities also may be at home, for example, asking about school and helping with homework. The second category, cognitive-intellectual involvement includes revealing the child to intellectually motivating activities such as discussing about daily events. The third category, personal involvement, is staying informed and knowing about what is going on with the child in school (Grolnick, Benjet, Kurowski, & Apostoleris, 1997).Parental involvement in their children's schooling has consistently been shown to impact children's school success, and it has been demonstrated across a wide range of age levels and populations (Epstein, 1983; Fehrmann, Keith, & Reimers, 1987; Lee & Green, 2008; Stevenson & Baker, 1987). Parents who have high anticipations have positive effects on their children's academic achievement (Morrow & Wilson, 1961). Parents can also be involved by assisting within the school system, so parental involvement in the school helps students to be successful (Drake, 2000; Machen, Wilson, & Notar, 2005). Enhancing parental involvement in schools can improve schools. Parental involvement is very important for urging the public school systems to higher standards. Also, research reports that occupying parents in an active role in the school curriculum can open alternative opportunities for children to succeed in academics. To build effective parental involvement programs, which range from greater support for the school programs to improve student achievement, researchers must examine how to help school leaders recognize practices and policies that support parents' trust and involvement in the process of schooling (Machen, Wilson, & Notar, 2005). Teachers sometimes resist in the involvement of parents into school affairs, because education is simpler without outsiders, including parents (Hoy, Tarter, & Kottkamp, 1991; Hoy & Sabo, 1998). But there has been increasing request to get parents involved in school decision making (Hoy & Tschannen-Moran, 1999).Parental Involvement and TrustTrust was seen as part of personality attributes that include optimism, a belief in collaboration, and confidence that individuals can resolve their differences and live a satisfactory social life together (Newton, 2004). …