School Culture as A Facilitator of Parent-Teacher Relationship: Comparative Case Study of Elementary Schools in Korea and Japan

• In Event: Highlighted Session: Family, School, and Intergenerational Pathways: Educational Trajectories from Schooling to Early Careers in East Asia

Proposal

Relevance
Amid growing global conflicts, fostering peaceful and trusting relationships within organizations has become crucial, including educational fields. For example, parents and teachers have significant impacts on children's development and learning, so if they do not build collaborative partnerships, education may suffer. This study examines how school culture and leadership shape parent-teacher relationships and explores strategies for resolving internal conflicts in school and fostering harmonious partnerships.

Theory and Context
The study draws on two frameworks. First, Epstein’s Framework of Six Types of Parental Involvement (2007) outlines various ways parents engage with schools—parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision-making, and collaborating with the community. This study focuses on how parents and teachers communicate, what decision-making process parents try to participate in, and what resources or programs can potentially lead collaboration in the school community.
Second, Organizational Culture Theory (Chance, 2009) explains how values and norms within an organization influence behavior and interactions among its members. Open school cultures encourage teachers to seek support from colleagues and administrators when they encounter challenges, including parent-teacher relations. Kim (2019) found that such cultures fostered trust-based communication among school members in schools under Korean context.
This study is particularly relevant to the East Asian SIG of the Comparative and International Education Society because the main focus of this research is on Korean and Japanese elementary schools, and the participants are able to understand and explain the cultural characteristics of East Asia. The participants in this study describe the educational environments of South Korea and Japan based on their own cultural contexts. In South Korea, strong emphasis on education has intensified parental involvement and sometimes resulted in conflicts between parents and teachers. In a survey conducted by the Korea Research team of Public Opinion in Public Opinion, 78% of respondents among 1,000 subjects seriously perceive the violations of teachers’ rights in K-12 schools in South Korea, and 71% of respondents consider parents of students as the primary stress factor of teachers (Shin, 2024). Japan faced similar issues in the early 2000s, when “Monster Parents” was coined to describe andoverly demanding parents who overprotect their child (Naoki, 2008). However, the term is now seldom used, and parent-teacher partnership seems to be more cooperative than Korea although Japan also puts high value on education. Therefore, this study compares school culture and principal leadership in both countries to identify approaches that can turn conflicts and divisions between parents and teachers into collaboration.

Inquiry
This study employs a qualitative research design using a comparative case study method to explore the similarities and differences of elementary school teachers’ experiences of parental involvement alongside the influence of school culture and principal’s leadership on parent-teacher partnerships between Korea and Japan.

Research Questions
1. How do elementary school teachers in South Korea and Japan perceive the current level of parental involvement?
2. What roles do principals’ leadership and school culture play in parent-teacher relationships?
3. What similarities and differences exist between two countries regarding these dynamics?

Sampling and Setting
The study involves four elementary schools—two in each country. Each case includes one principal and three to six teachers, a total of 19 interviewees. Schools were selected through convenience sampling due to the researcher’s existing personal connections with school gatekeepers.

Data Collection
Semi-structured in-depth individual interviews were conducted in person, and each session lasted 60 to 90 minutes. Interviews were semi-structured to induce more flexible responses as questions do not necessarily need to follow the exact outline (Bryman, 2016). Questions explored teachers’ experiences with parental involvement and perceptions of school culture and principal’s leadership styles.

Data Analysis
Interviews are being transcribed and analyzed using thematic coding (Saldaña, 2016). The sets of data from the transcription are coded manually through two cycles: Descriptive Coding and In Vivo Coding. Codes are developed inductively to capture emerging themes related to parental involvement and school culture.

Findings
RQ1) Teachers in both countries valued active parental involvement and recognized that it strengthened cooperation. One teacher in South Korea responded, “I hope parents will take more interest in school and their children's education.” One Korean school in a low-income area reported that parental involvement was insufficient, which is worsening the relationship between parents and teachers.
RQ2) Regardless of nationality, most teachers perceived that an open school culture helped improve parent-teacher relationships. Teachers were able to share their concerns about parents, offer each other advice, and better resolve conflicts with parents under open school culture. In addition, principals who practiced transformational, authentic, or servant leadership were seen as ideal for fostering cooperation and protecting teachers from excessive demands.
RQ3) Japanese teachers observed that “Monster Parents” are declining nowadays. The atmosphere is shifting toward the idea that all children as well as one's own child are precious. Japanese schools hosted events involving parents and local communities to promote cooperation. Some Korean teachers, however, reported more excessive demands from parents and limited support from school districts. They said that when parents make unreasonable complaints, the school district or school does not take responsibility, so the teachers have to deal with the situation sorely themselves.

Contribution
This study contributes to the discourse on education by 1) highlighting the role of school leadership and culture in transforming parent-teacher relationships with conflicts into collaborative partnerships, and 2) providing comparative insights into how different educational contexts navigate conflicts, which may offer lessons applicable to other divided educational environments. For example, Japanese society has a norm that all school members should raise children all together, whereas my-child-only mindset is relatively more widespread in Korean society according to the interviews. Lastly, this research can initiate discussions regarding policies and practices that can increase mutual trust. For instance, just as schools in Japan hold school events with local communities and parents to promote mutual understanding and cooperation, establishing a similar tradition in Korea would improve the relationship between parents and teachers. Thus, this study provides insights into fostering positive relationships within educational institutions, which serve as the foundation for broader social peace and integration.

Author

• Taehyeong Kim, Soka University of America