The Student-Parent-Teacher Conference is a pedagogical feedback tool of a new Austrian school type, the New Middle School, and is held twice a year to foster communication and cooperation among the actors of inner- and outer-schooling environments. While traditional modes of interaction, like parents’ evenings, are between teachers and parents, the main innovation of the Student-Parent-Teacher Conference is that students are actively involved by making presentations on topics learned and competencies acquired (Gössinger, 2012; Derfler et al., 2012), and being able to raise objections in case of misunderstanding. The focus of communication thus shifts to discussing the current situation with the student instead of discussing the student and relating to past events. The aims of the Ministry of Education also provide that parents become more involved in the learning processes of their children through the Student-Parent-Teacher Conference whereby regular discussion among parents, students and teachers on student potential and progression is intended to reinforce a shared responsibility for student learning processes (BMUKK, 2012).

This new way of working with parents is important since communication between parents and teachers only occurs when problems at school arise, an empirical finding of many studies (BIFIE, 2010; Sacher, 2006; Wild, 2003; Helsper & Busse, 2010) and the case for most schools in German-speaking countries. Parents of students in Austrian New Middle Schools feel adequately informed about their children’s learning abilities, opportunities and situation in school. Although parents’ evenings are the most important opportunity for receiving feedback on a child’s learning, parents report that apart from the Conference and the parents’ evenings there is no communication between teachers and parents (BIFIE, 2010).

So, can the Student-Parent-Teacher Conference improve communication and information exchange between the school and the home? Empirical studies have found a relationship between working with parents and student achievement in standardized tests (Cox, 2005; Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1997), but they mostly focus on parental involvement at home and efforts to foster parental involvement through better parental instruction via teachers (Wild, 2003; Krumm, 1996). Such studies usually focus on how parents use school offerings, but forget that parents can also be an important resource for improving work done at school (e.g., by giving feedback on teachers’ work, being involved in daily school work, etc.) (Kanders, Rösner & Rolff, 1996).

Studies, however, rarely focus on what schools actually do to involve parents in educational and pedagogical processes. As the Student-Parent-Teacher Conference also foresees that parents, teachers and students reflect together in a systemic way on what they could all do to improve the situation for the student, it would be interesting if the Conference had the potential to foster both parental and student participation. The paper thus focuses on parental involvement in schools and the experiences of students, their parents and teachers with the Student-Parent-Teacher Conference. Although experience with this recently introduced setting has not yet been systematically documented and evaluated, there are similarities with forms of parental participation in other countries such as a well-established annual “school-home conference” in Norway, where student learning development in relation to the school curriculum is discussed and parents and teachers share and exchange information (Midtsundstad, 2006).

The purpose of this paper is to examine how students, parents and teachers perceive the Student-Parent-Teacher Conference and whether there are differences in perception. How do they see the preparations for and the Conference itself, and are they able to implement the feedback from the Conference to improve student learning opportunities? Do students, parents and teachers feel themselves as equal partners in the Conference? On which topics are parents informed?

Beveridge, S. (2004). Pupil participation and the home-school relationship. In: European Journal of Special Needs Education, Vol. 19 (1), 3-16. BIFIE, (2010). Metaanalyse. Sicht der Eltern. Online: https://www.bifie.at/buch/1147/4/6, [2.1.2016] Busse, S. & Helsper, W. (2013). Schule und Familie. In: Helsper W., & Böhme, J. (Eds.): Handbuch der Schulforschung. Wiesbaden: VS-Verlag. Cox, D. D. (2005). Evidence-based interventions using home–school collaboration. In: School Psychology Quarterly, 20(4), 473–497. Derfler, B., Kiemayer, R., & Leitner, G. (2012). Kinder – Eltern – Lehrergespräche. Wege zu einer stärkenorientierten und wertschätzenden Kommunikation in Grundschule und Sekundarstufe I . Steyr: Ennsthaler. Epstein, J. (2009): School, family and community partnerships: Your handbook for Action. Corwin Press-Verlag: Kalifornien. Gössinger, P. (2012). KEL – Gespräche – eine spannende Herausforderung in der Neuen NÖ Mittelschule. Erziehung und Unterricht, 162(9/10), 953-957. Hoover-Dempsey, K. V. & Sandler, H. M. (1997). Why do parents become involved in their children`s education? In: Review of Educational Research, 67(1), 3-42. Kanders, E.; Rösner, H. G. & Rolff, H.- G. (1996). Das Bild der Schule aus Sicht von Schülern und Lehrern – Ergebnisse zweier IFS-Repräsentativbefragungen. In: H.- G. Rolff; K. – O. Bauer, K. Klemm & H. Pfeifer (Eds.): Jahrbuch der Schulentwicklung. Bd. 9, Weinheim: Juventa. Krumm, V. (1996). Schulleistung - auch eine Leistung der Eltern. Die heimliche und die offene Zusammenarbeit von Eltern und Lehrern und wie sie verbessert werden kann. In: W. Specht & J. Thonhauser (EDs.): Schulqualität. Entwicklungen, Befunde, Perspektiven (256-291). Innsbruck-Wien: StudienVerlag, Bd. 14. Midtsundstad, J. H. (2006). Communication in the "school-home-conference" – observed as ritual. In: T. Werler & C. Wulf (Ed.) Hidden dimensions of education: rhetoric, rituals and anthropology (S. 125 - 135). Münster Waxmann. Sacher, Werner (2006). Elternhaus und Schule: Bedingungsfaktoren ihres Verhältnisses, aufgezeigt an der bayerischen Studie vom Sommer 2004. Bildung und Erziehung, Vol. 59(3), 303-322. Wild, E. (2003). Einbeziehung des Elternhauses durch Lehrer: Art, Ausmaß und Bedingungen der Elternpartizipation aus der Sicht von Gymnasiallehrern. In: Zeitschrift für Pädagogik, 49(4), 513-533.