Education's Transformation: School, Family, and Society

The Evolution of Education and Its Societal Impact

Historically, the Church emerged as a pivotal institution embracing the educational mission for children. During the Middle Ages, early monastic and claustral schools emerged. Access to these schools was primarily granted only to the elite, children from the ruling class.

By the eighteenth century, with the rise of Enlightenment ideas, there was an early advocacy for secularism in education and the concept of universal, free, and compulsory schooling. Fortunately, the twentieth century saw the global implementation of compulsory schooling. With the decline of child labor, schools not only undertook the task of shaping values and preparing children for future life but also served a crucial role in the custody and guardianship of minors. Thus, school education emerged as, par excellence, the most significant developmental influence on children after the family.

Understanding the Evolving School-Family Relationship

Identifying the changes in the school and family relationship reveals distinct stages:

Stage 1: Close School-Community Ties

This initial stage was characterized by a close relationship between school and community. This was expressed through the direct control of the academic curriculum, the hiring of teachers, and the scheduling and duration of the school day by representatives of the Church and the parents.

Stage 2: Distancing and Role Specialization

From the early twentieth century, a distancing in school-family relations emerged. The specialization of teaching work, and thus the instruction of complex subjects by teachers, left little room for the insertion of non-experts such as parents. This led to the delineation of specific roles for school and family. Parents were responsible for preparing children with patterns of behaviors and attitudes that fostered their entry to school. For their part, teachers were responsible for teaching literacy, numeracy, and scientific knowledge. This functional dichotomy between family and school sometimes resulted in conflicts in their everyday activities.

Stage 3: Integration and Collaboration

The current prevailing perspective is an integrationist approach, which assumes that both school and family influences are converging. It posits that the most beneficial way to foster the development of children is through active collaboration between parents and teachers.