Preservice teachers' notions of families and schooling

Although there is widespread support given to the idea of strong home-school relations, little attention is paid to the issue in teacher education programs. To understand the perspectives prospective teachers bring to their professional program about working with families, we surveyed students just beginning elementary and secondary teacher education programs. Results of the survey indicate that teacher education students enter their professional preparation with constructions of family and education that reflect their own experience and that assume that families support teacher work in the classroom. Out of these assumptions, prospective teachers develop strategies for interaction with families in the future. These limited constructions and expectations of families constrain opportunities for support, knowledge, and collaboration by holding parents at a distance. Thus, teacher education programs must provide opportunities for students to expand their theoretical background while gaining experience working with families in a variety of settings.