Between Structure and Agency: A Qualitative Study of Institutionalization and Parental Involvement in Chinese Primary Schools

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 11:45 am - Gold 3
  In Roundtable Session: Learning from International Context: Promoting Home-School Engagement

Abstract

Amidst national policy pushes in China, this study investigates the institutionalization of family-school collaboration in non-first-tier cities. Grounded in Scott's and Bourdieu's theories, and drawing on interviews from four primary schools, findings reveal a dual impact. Institutionalization formalizes parental involvement under a school-dominated logic and offers a baseline for "low-involvement" families. However, it also embeds implicit cultural thresholds, creating new disparities. This process has also sparked a rising parental rights consciousness, making institutional spaces more negotiated. The study argues that effectiveness hinges not on normative consistency, but on fostering genuine cultural resonance, recognition, and inclusion in everyday family-school interactions.

Authors

• Yuting Wang, Beijing Normal University

• Xiaohang Luo, University of Pennsylvania