ABSTRACT
While a Pathway 1 approach to the family–school partnership is ideal, the reality is that there are often barriers to achieving this. Parents themselves may be the barrier, operating through a Pathway 2 lens, not wanting to engage with the school in partnership. Parent beliefs, cultural norms, societal factors and parents’ life contexts all may present schools with challenges in operating as a Pathway 1 school. A family–school partnership that is poorly executed may create a long-term and devasting impact on the ability of the school to create a partnership. Teachers themselves may not know how to create a family–school partnership, as pre-service training in this area can be weak or non-existent, compounded by poor experiences of the trainers.
