The origins of the conflict between school and family – the teachers’ voice

Abstract

This article aims to present the first part of a broader study on the relationship between school and family, which appears to be pertinent given the increasing conflicts between these two educational agencies. The primary objective is to survey the opinions and experiences of teachers on this topic: for this purpose, a comprehensive questionnaire was administered in 2020 to 803 participants across Italy, who were asked to narrate instances of conflict with families. This article provides an initial representation of the “voice” of teachers by analyzing the lexicon used in the reported incidents. Different lexical profiles in the accounts of teachers from various grade levels are compared, revealing certain characteristics that hold promise for educational policies and practices aimed at fostering the school-family relationship.