Parental involvement as a form of social capital in Japanese elementary school

Melvin A. Jabar

College

College of Liberal Arts

Department/Unit

Behavioral Sciences

Document Type

Article

Source Title

International Journal of Arts and Sciences

Volume

3

Issue

11

First Page

321

Last Page

345

Publication Date

2010

Abstract

This study examines parental involvement in a Japanese elementary school in the context of social capital theory discourses. It is part of an on-going doctoral dissertation on bicultural children's educational experiences and outcomes. Data for this paper were drawn from a 5-month field work in a Japanese elementary school. This paper describes the various school activities, programs and norms aimed at enhancing parental involvement in children's education. To mobilize capital resources, the school has initiated programs to ensure that parents and school authorities meet each other's expectations via school orientation, and school and home visits. The school also requires parents to provide capital resources ( economic and material) to support their children's schooling. School activities such as PTA meetings, undoukai (sports fest), and renrakumou ( contact network) allow parents to establish rapport and trust with the school personnel and their fellow parents thereby increasing their social closure (i.e. contacts with other parents) and access to both material and non-material resources.

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Disciplines

Education | Elementary Education

Keywords

Education, Elementary—Parent participation—Japan; Social capital (Sociology)—Japan

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