Bronfenbrenner (1979) pointed out that the family is one of the most influential social contexts in the development of human beings. The family also constitutes a true factor for individual and social diversity. It is the first social context that embraces individuals, and from which they receive the greatest influences all through life due to the direct interrelationship with the family members. The Social Capital Theory (Coleman, 1997; Symeou, 2007) refers to the quality and depth of relationships between people in a family or in a community. This form of capital is created by the interrelationships among people, which assist personal development as well as access to social resources. Social Capital in the family is found in the interrelationship between children and parents (and other family members) and the resources generated towards the children wellbeing. This gives children access to the adult’s human capital (education and personal resources) and depends on the attention parents give to the children.

Research on parenting strategies (Martínez-González & Rodríguez-Ruiz, 2007) shows that many parents admit it is difficult for them to understand their children’s behaviour, especially that of teenagers. At that evolutive stage an increasing number of secondary school students show school absenteeism, misbehaviour within the school and academic failure (Chen and Kaplan, 2003). This makes many parents feel guilty and inadequate as parents. Also many recognize the parenting methods they use are framed on the past reproducing their own parents’ parental strategies, which effects on children are not the same today; consequently, many feel they have lost key models for raising children.

 Thus, it seems necessary enhancing policies to promote positive parenting, as the Council of Europe Recommendation 2006/19 claimed, in order to help parents feel more competent and effective.

 In this symposium issues concerning positive parenting, parental education and family-school cooperation are addressed. Parenting assessment, parenting programmes,  parenting programmes evaluation and keys for family and school relationships to promote positive parenting will be considered taking into account a European dimension.

The symposium comprises two parts collecting 6 papers all together. This first part (SYMPOSIUM 1) includes three papers; two of them connected with parenting assessment and another one with intervention. The Emotional and Social Parenting Competence Scale (ESPCS) will be introduced by Dr. Martínez-González (University of Oviedo,Spain) as a valid instrument to identify and assess parental competences. Dr. Perala-Littunen (University of Jyväskylä,Finland) will show results obtained when analysing parents’ beliefs on ideal upbringing and caring children. Regarding intervention, findings from a quantitative and qualitative study exploring the impact of a short intervention for new parents called Let’s Stick Together (LST) in theUK, will be introduced by Dr. Spielhofer (The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations (TIHR),United Kingdom).

In the second part of this symposium (Symposium Part 2) new papers are introduced to contrast and reinforce the results of this one (Symposium Part 1).

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The Ecology Of Human Development. Cambridge, MA, Harvard, University Press. Chen, Z.-Y., & Kaplan, H.B. (2003). School failure in early adolescence and status attainment in middle adulthood: A longitudinal study. Sociology of Education, 76, 110–127. Coleman, J.S. (1997). Family, school, and social capital. In L.J. Saha (Ed.), International encyclopedia of the sociology of education (pp. 623–625). Oxford: Pergamon. Kluwer, E. S. (2010). From partnership to parenthood: A review of marital change across the transition to parenthood. Journal of Family Theoryand Review, 2, 105-125. Martínez-González, R.A. & Rodríguez-Ruiz, B. (2007). Assessing Parents’ Satisfaction With Their Parental Role For A More Effective Partnership With Schools (2007). In H. Phtiaka, H. & S. Symeonidou (Eds.). Schools And Families In Partnerships: Looking Into The Future (Pp. 33-43). Cyprus, University of Cyprus Symeou, L. (2007). Cultural capital and family involvement in children’s education: Tales from two primary schools in Cyprus. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 28(4), 473–487.