This research is based on the Model of Overlapping Family, School and Community Spheres by Epstein (1987, 2001), to analyze family-school partnership. This model suggests that schools, families and communities are the main contexts of influence in children’s education, so that greater collaboration between them generates benefits in children and adolescents’ learning and development. Thus, the need for collaboration between parents and teachers is unquestionable (Hansen, 1986, Martinez- Gonzalez et al., 2000). When students perceive a positive relationship between their school and their family, they tend to get higher qualifications and academic success because it fosters the development of personal skills, self-control and maturity, and reduce school conflicts (Garcia-Bacete, 2006; Bogdanowicz, 1994).

In the last decades, Spanish researchers showed an increasing interest in analyzing factors affecting school-family-community partnerships as a potential predictor of children’s behavior and school achievement. The results show that fathers and mothers played a differential role regarding family responsibilities and children’s education, being the necessary collaboration between families and schools mainly performed by mothers (Martínez-González, Rodriguez y Rodrigo, 2012). For this reason, The objective of this study is to compare fathers’ and mothers’ perceptions of their partnership in compulsory secondary schools in Spain with the aim of identifying potential factors which both facilitate and make it difficult for fathers to be actively involved in their children’s school and education.

Bogdanowicz M. (1994). Rapport merica sur la participation des parents aux merica scolaires dans les douze pays de la Communauté européenne. Commission des: Communautés européennes: Convention n° 93-02-Eur-0032-00. Epstein, J.L. (1987). Parent involvement: What research says to administrators. Education and Urban Society, 79, 119-136. Epstein, J.L. (2001). School, family, and community partnerships: Preparing educators and improving schools. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. García Bacete, F.J. (2006). Cómo son y cómo podrían ser las relaciones entre escuelas y familias en opinión del profesorado. Cultura y Educación, 18(3-4), 247-265. Martínez González, R.A., Pérez Herrero, M.H.y Rodríguez, B. (Eds.) (2005). Family-school-community partnership merging into social development. Oviedo: SM. Martínez González, R.A., Rodríguez, B. y Gimeno, J.J. (2010). Áreas de cooperación entre los centros docentes y las familias. Estudio de caso. Educatio Siglo XXI, 28(1), 127-156. Martínez González, R.A., Rodríguez, B. y Rodrigo, M.J. (en prensa). Fathers’ and Teachers’ perception about their partnership. En D. Hiatt-Michael y H.Z. Ho (Eds.), Promising Practices for Fathers’ Involvement in Their Children’s Education. USA: IAP. Redding, S. (2005). Improving student learning outcomes through school initiatives to engage parents. In R.-A. Martínez-González, B. Rodríguez-Ruiz, & H. Pérez-Herrero (Eds.), Family–school–communitypartnerships merging into social development (pp. 477–501). Oviedo, Spain: SM Editorial Group.