Teachers' implicit pedagogies and their initiatives for cooperation with parents

The article presents an analysis of the results of the research aimed at examining the relatedness of the teachers' implicit pedagogies and their initiatives for cooperation with students' parents. The starting hypothesis was that the acceptance of modern pedagogical ideas (new pedagogic paradigm) leads towards more successful initiative of the teachers for the cooperation with their students' parents. The sample included 118 subject teachers and 78 class teachers from elementary schools in Serbia. The procedure included a correlation chart and special assessment scales were construed for examining implicit pedagogies and teacher's readiness for cooperation with parents. The results indicate the lack of the initiative of both groups of teachers for enhanced cooperation with parents as it should be in modern school. The research showed the implicit pedagogies of the teachers are still somewhere between traditional and modern pedagogic ideas. Subject teachers showed lower levels of initiative for cooperation with parents, as well as lower levels of acceptance of the 'new pedagogic paradigm' in comparison with class teachers. Among the latter the relatedness of their implicit pedagogies and initiatives for cooperation with parents was established, while it was not evident among subject teachers. In order to enhance the cooperation between school and family the existing personal pedagogic ideas of the teachers should change and come closer to the 'new pedagogic paradigm' which might be achieved through pre-service and in-service teacher training and provision of more support by school and educational system.