basis of the answers from the respondents, it is difficult to draw any conclusions regarding the parents´ opportunity to take part in decisions in the schools. It is also difficult to make an overview on opportunities for decision-making in each of the schools. Sub-headings for each of the schools are therefore not included in this section.
As shown in the previous sections on parent meetings and parents´ committees, there are no clear observed differences between the private and the public schools regarding what kind of issues the parents discuss and work with. Thus, there does not appear to be any clear
difference between the two types of schools regarding what type of decisions the parents are able to influence. The exception is an indication of greater opportunity for parents in the public schools to take part in budget-decisions, as described in the previous section. In
addition, as explained in chapter six, the headmasters in all the public schools explain that the school´s budget is published on the internet. The headmaster in the private school “Rosario” however, explains that since it is a private school, they are not obliged to publish the school´s budget to the parents or on the internet. She says that parents can ask her for information about the budget if they want to, but she is not obliged to give this to them. For the private school “Havana” information on this issue was not obtained. Whether or not the schools publish their budget is interesting regarding parents opportunity to influence budget-
decisions. If the budget is published, parents may be better able to make opinions related to it.
7.7 Criticism, suggestions and opinions from
parents
This study has also been concerned with the extent to which parents raise criticism towards the school or come with suggestions and opinions, as well as what kind of criticism,
suggestions and opinions they give. In order to obtain information on this issue, the parents were asked questions such as “Do you or the other parents sometimes raise criticism towards the school?” and “Have there been times when you have been unsatisfied with the school?” The headmasters and teachers were also asked similar questions related to criticism, opinions and suggestions from the parents. It should be mentioned that the respondents might have had
- 66 - different understandings of the term “criticism” in this context. Some of them might
understand this term as including strong emotions and loud protests towards the school, whereas others might understand criticism as raising their own opinions in a polite way. Still, questions such as “Do you or the other parents sometimes give your own opinions in the meetings or at other occasions?” and “Do you or the other parents sometimes come with suggestions for change?” were also asked. Thus, various understandings of the term “criticism” have been sought achieved.
However, this issue turned out to be difficult to investigate. In all the schools, both the private and the public, when the parents were asked directly, most of them answered that they are generally satisfied with the school and that they feel that the headmaster and teacher listen to their wishes and needs. Still, many parents both in the private and the public schools might have feared negative consequences of expressing critical opinions in the interviews. Their positive answers therefore have to be interpreted with this in mind.
Two examples serve to underline this point: First, most of the parents in the private school “Havana” express positive attitudes toward the school. There is however one father who is more negative. He says that the teachers are sometimes impolite and do not always listen to him. However, in order to avoid any problems the father says that it is best “not to speak” because he is afraid that the teachers might pick on his son and give him bad grades. Second, a couple who is interviewed together in the public school “Cartagena” suddenly exclaims in the course of the interview that “we have to be careful with the information we give, because a lot of things are happening”. This interview is conducted close to the school gate and the couple do not say more about what they meant by this. However, my local interpreter told me afterwards that they probably thought that we were from the government and feared that what they said would end up there.
Similarly, it might be that neither the answers from the headmasters nor the teachers are entirely honest, as they could fear negative consequences of expressing critical attitudes and of informing about criticism from the parents. They might also have been concerned about the reputation of the school. In all the schools, both the private and the public, the headmasters say that although many parents give opinions and although many parents come with criticism, the school still has a good relationship with the majority of the parents.
- 67 - Still, when the respondents are asked about various types of criticism, opinions or suggestions from the parents, they mostly provide quite detailed answers. However, no particular
differences were observed between the private and the public schools on this issue. Sub- headings for each of the schools are therefore not included in this section. In all the schools, the respondents inform that parents complain about issues such as the teacher not doing a good job, that the teacher has preference for one child rather than their child or that the teacher does not give sufficient attention to the parents.
In the private school “Havana” some parents argue that since they pay tuition fees, the facilities of the school should be better. They say that the school has not improved or
changed, even though the parents pay fees and have collected additional funds. Parents in all the public schools inform that they or the other parents sometimes get upset when they are asked for financial contributions. For instance, one mother in “San Antonio” mentions an episode when the parents were asked to pay for some of the children´s books. Many parents protested on this because they had been told that all the necessary books should be given by the state. One mother in the public school “Cartagena” explains that she has been frustrated when the school has asked the parents to contribute with money to buy water or ink for the copy machine. Moreover, criticism of the facilities and lack of space in the school is
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