Parents play important roles in their children's learning process and in regulating their behaviour at school (Valdés & Urías, 2011). Since parents are the first and longest term educators of their children, parents and other individuals who make up the child's immediate environment need to be part of the child's education (Wheeler, 2007). Family is more prominent in the overall life of the child, while school is important in academic performance for future life chances. Therefore, these institutions have complementary roles in the education of children (Pasidya & Murugan, 2023). Therefore, it is considered important to improve communication and contact between parents and educators to promote positive family-school relationships and improve home-school relationships. Researchers and educators have long agreed that children make more effort and are more successful in school when parents are involved in education (Epstein, 1995). Parental involvement varies from one country to another.  Research has shown that there are differences in parental involvement, parental beliefs, and home-school relationships across socioeconomic, ethnic, and racial groups (Pasidya & Murugan, 2023). Research shows that the role of teachers is crucial in encouraging or discouraging parental involvement. Teachers in different cultures have different perceptions of home-school co-operation (D'Haem & Griswold, 2017; Souto-Manning & Swick, 2006). Teachers' perceptions play a vital role in encouraging or discouraging parents to be involved in their children's education (Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2002; Yulianti et al., 2019]. Various approaches have been developed to help schools achieve greater parental involvement. However, these approaches have not been developed with rural communities in mind. However, some of the studies on parental involvement also reveal that differences in the level of involvement mainly depend on the ethnic and socioeconomic background of parents (Bower & Griffin, 2011; Borgonovi & Montt, 2012). Rural communities are different from urban communities and they are also different from each other (Flora, Spears, & Swanson, 1992, as cited in Maynard & Howley, 1997).  Studies on parental involvement in urban and rural areas have yielded conflicting results. In some studies, parental involvement was found to be higher in rural areas than in urban communities (Sun, Hobbs, & Elder, 1994), while in other studies, it was found that parents living in urban areas were more involved in their children's education than parents living in rural areas (Tembo K, 2017; National Center for Education Statistics, 1994).Rural educators may still face special challenges that are often associated with rural life. Therefore the aim of the present study is to determine how family involvement activities are carried out in rural areas and to identify the views and perceptions of parents and teachers towards family involvement activities.

The study was designed using a case study approach, one of the exploratory qualitative research designs. The qualitative data collected focuses on understanding the factors that prevent rural parents from being actively involved in their children's learning journey before they start kindergarten and primary school, and rural teachers' perceptions, practices and challenges regarding parental involvement. Study group Purposive sampling was used to determine the study group for the research. The criterion of working in rural schools was taken into account in determining the teachers to be included in the study group. The teachers were asked to inform other teachers working in rural schools about the study and encourage them to participate. In addition, the teachers participating in the study were asked to inform the parents of the pupils in their classes about the study and to support them in ensuring their participation in the study. The study aims to reach teachers who have graduated from the Early Childhood Education and Classroom Teaching departments of a state university in the south-eastern part of Turkey. The participating teachers work in rural schools in the southern and eastern provinces. The data of the research will be collected through interviews. Interviews are conducted face-to-face, online and/or via telephone within the framework of the possibilities. Firstly, a personal information form was prepared for teachers and parents. Separate interview forms were prepared for teachers and parents to be used in the interviews. While preparing the interview forms related to family involvement, the opinions of lecturers who are experts in qualitative research in the field of preschool and classroom education were consulted. Nine open-ended interview questions were prepared to allow in-depth information collection. Data collection started in January 2025. The data collection and analysis process is ongoing. The findings were obtained by content analysis method.

In the study, it was concluded that teachers defined family involvement as the participation of parents in education both at school and at home and found it important for success in education. It was determined that the family involvement activities that teachers included were school-based family involvement activities such as parent-teacher meetings, social organizations and home-based family involvement activities such as home visits and homework support. It was determined that they preferred phone calls and whatsapp group messages for communication with families. They saw their role in family involvement as a guide and facilitator for parents. In the study, it was determined that mostly mothers participated in the child's education, family involvement was not realized at the desired level, and teachers mostly saw family-related obstacles as the reason for this situation. Teachers emphasized that parents did not care about their children's education, were not interested, did not have appropriate opportunities for participation (long and tiring working conditions, having young children) and gender roles. These preliminary findings are only from teachers. Parent interviews have not yet been completed. The data to be obtained from parents are expected to reveal their attitudes and perceptions about family involvement.

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