Social practices of parents' participation in the life of the school (based on the materials of a sociological study in Barnaul)

Popov Evgenii Aleksandrovich Doctor of Philosophy Professor, Department of Sociology and Conflictology, Altai State University 656049, Russia, Altai Krai, Barnaul, Dimitrova str., 66, office 520 popovea@mc.asu.ru Other publications by this author     Akhmedova Angelina Rustamovna Student, Department of General Sociology and Conflictology, Altai State University 656049, Russia, Altai Krai, Barnaul, Dimitrova str., 66, office 520 axmedovaangelina@mail.ru Other publications by this author     Koda Egor Aleksandrovich Student, Department of General Sociology and Conflictology, Altai State University 656949, Russia, Altai Krai, Barnaul, Dimitrova str., 66, office 520 kodaegor@yandex.ru Other publications by this author     Podyapolsky Aleksandr Dmitrievich Student, Altai State University 656049, Russia, Altai Krai, Barnaul, Dimitrova str., 66 axmedovaangelina@mail.ru

Kozlova Viktoriya Aleksandrovna Student, Altai State University 656049, Russia, Altai Krai, Barnaul, Dimitrova str., 66 axmedovaangelina@mail.ru

Education is currently one of the most popular services provided by both the state and private individuals. Moreover, school education is directly related both to the student himself and to the student's family as a whole. The family becomes a kind of controller of the quality of educational services, but gradually the education system is commercialized, which is why the system of interaction between the institute of family and the Institute of education is changing ^[6]. In the Soviet past, the institution of the family only reinforced the institute of education, permanently influencing the student in order to improve his academic performance, today parents are beginning to influence the institute of education, that is, directly on the school or teachers in order to improve the student's academic performance. If we talk about new points of interaction between the Institute of Education and the Institute of family, then it is worth noting the system of social practices of interaction between parents, teachers, schoolchildren, as well as school administration, which makes it possible to turn the process of school education into a single smoothly functioning system, when each component supports the viability of the other component.

The problem of social practices of parents' participation in school life finally identified itself after 2012, since the adoption of the new law on education, when parents became full-fledged subjects of school management at the legislative level along with the school administration, moreover, the powers of each component became clearly spelled out ^[15]. On the one hand, this state of affairs allowed the most proactive parents, legal representatives represented by parent committees to solve important and urgent problems in educational institutions: different types of school violence, conflict resolution between teachers and schoolchildren or schoolchildren and school administration. Parent committees also had a positive impact on improving the quality of education and the school environment for students. At the same time, a fair number of informal instruments of parents' influence on the school administration were formed, which is why parents began to abuse these tools themselves, as a result, the communication system between the Institute of Education and the Institute of family suffered. The subordination boundaries between the teacher and the student have changed, which is why the teacher has become virtually disenfranchised in front of all kinds of deviations of schoolchildren, as well as their parents. This state of affairs leads to the destruction of the institution of education from the inside. Social practices of parents' participation in the life of the school are designed to correct the current state of affairs. The phenomenon of social practices will ensure the cooperation of the family and the school both at the institutional and interpersonal levels, such cooperation will eliminate the strictly unidirectional influence of one subject on another.

The theoretical development of this issue is at a fairly high level. The phenomenon of social practice has been studied in sufficient detail within the framework of modern sociological knowledge. The general concept of social practice and the mechanisms of the formation of social practices were defined by V.S. Erokhin, and N.V. Mezdrina identified the main mechanisms of the influence of social practices on the world as a whole, as well as on the phenomenological field of an individual's life activity, in particular ^[7]. In addition, A. Yarulin considered the existing tasks facing social practices, as well as the possibilities of solving these very tasks ^[18]. In the works of T. Lukman, the need to consider social practices in the context of an individual's daily activities is described in sufficient detail, omitting this fact, social practice simply ceases to have any meaning. The possibility of applying social practices in the educational process and the education system as a whole was studied by such scientists as A. Kravchenko and L.V. Mardakhaev, and V.M. Lizinsky formed a general classification of social practices in the education system ^[11]. In turn, L.V. Vandysheva characterized the possibility of building an integral system of interactions between parents, schoolchildren and an educational institution ^[4]. Despite the rather detailed theoretical elaboration of this problem, the question remains open about the place and role of social practices of parents' participation in school life, options for this very participation, as well as mechanisms for the formation of social practices of parents' participation in school life. Moreover, there are no comprehensive local studies of social practices of parents' participation in school life, which will be the novelty of this work.

The purpose of this work is to study social practices in the life of a modern school, and the subject of this work is the specific social practices of the family institute in the life of a modern school.

The theoretical and methodological basis of the work is based on the concepts of phenomenology, symbolic interactionism, as well as the theory of constructing social reality by P. Berger and T. Lukman. The choice of such a complex methodological approach is due to the complexity of the phenomenon of social practices, since on the one hand they are generated within the framework of phenomenological interactions of individuals, occupying a certain place in the social field of life, thereby constructing a certain social reality, and on the other hand, social practices have their own meanings and meanings for each participant, which also needs to be taken into account in a comprehensive study this social phenomenon.

In general, social practice is an activity reproduced by an individual or communities that has a social character, while such activity is included in the system of social relations. Of course, the existence of social practices is possible only in a social reality that contains certain value-normative boundaries, consists of various formal, informal norms, as well as certain values ^[7]. Social practice consists of two basic parts, namely the external manifestation of social practice as a component of action and activity, as well as the internal manifestation of social practice, which implies the presence of certain spiritual, personal and volitional efforts, which pushes the individual to implement external forms of social practices. The most useful social practices are fixed in the system of social interactions, thereby gradually institutionalized, as a result, they can significantly influence the life of society ^[16].

Social practices that are carried out in a comprehensive school are aimed at reducing the likelihood of all kinds of deviations, problems both on the part of students and on the part of the school administration and teachers. Social practices of interaction between school and family form a kind of social field where three educational subjects converge – parents, children and an educational institution. Within the framework of this social field, it is possible to comprehensively and quickly solve emerging problems and contradictions. There are 4 main groups of social practices in the school education system, we are talking about such groups of practices as personal-group social practices, intergroup practices, personal-mass practices and interpersonal social practices ^[11].

Personal-group social practices represent the direct activity of an educational institution, which is aimed at fruitful interaction with both schoolchildren and their parents. A typical example of such a practice is a parent–teacher meeting, when the class teacher, as the organizer of social practice, that is, the subject, directly interacts with the object of social practice - a group of parents ^[12]. It is worth noting that the interaction is not one-sided, parents within the framework of such practices raise important and significant issues both in the life of their children and in the life of the entire educational institution. The social practice of a parent-teacher meeting has both positive and negative aspects of interaction. On the one hand, the content of such social practice turns out to be understandable and obvious to all subjects of the educational process, in addition, such social practice is traditional and unusual, since each parent in retrospect was a schoolboy and communicated with his parents after such meetings ^[3]. The disadvantage of such social practice is often a one-way flow of information in the form of a monologue from the teacher to the parents. At the same time, such a monologue can be successfully interrupted by parents, it will move into a phase of dialogue when problems and contradictions important for all educational subjects will be discussed and resolved.

Intergroup social practices imply a slightly different level of interaction ^[4]. Such practices can be considered meetings of parents with representatives of the school administration, various educational master classes from the best teachers of the district, city or region, which are held for parents of students. Various conferences and meetings, practical seminars on the progress of children, the success of their socialization – all this can be considered intergroup social practices. Such social practices imply the existence of a practice-oriented model, which turns out to be relevant, necessary and important both for parents and for the administration of an educational institution. The key task of such practices is to translate the pedagogical experience of specialists for parents in an accessible form so that they apply the knowledge gained in the upbringing and socialization of children. It is worth noting that intergroup social practices of interaction between parents and schools have a number of drawbacks, for example, it is necessary to invite competent teachers, draw up rather complex and detailed programs for such events, and also take into account the wishes of parents of students, moreover, wishes of both a temporary nature (the start time of the event) and wishes of a meaningful nature ^[5]. To some extent, the above shortcomings are leveled within the framework of the implementation of personal and mass social practices of interaction between parents and educational institutions. Variants of such practices can be both pedagogical literacy trainings for parents, and various variants of parental general education – educational program. However, this type of social practices is not without drawbacks – the benefits of such events are strictly local, without the possibility of extrapolation to other educational institutions.

According to the authors of this work, interpersonal social practices are the most effective of those described above. The thing is that they are organized in the form of thematic events in which parents, teachers, representatives of the school administration, and, if necessary, students of the school participate ^[1]. The key advantage of such social practices is the universal interest in a positive outcome of interaction: teachers experience certain problems when communicating with students, parents experience various kinds of difficulties in implementing the educational process, and the school administration, in fact, may not have levers of pressure on a particular student ^[2]. As a result, it is interpersonal social practices that are particularly effective in achieving their goals. In addition, the implementation of this type of social practices is possible through the use of various kinds of technical means, which allows the parent not to take time off from work, but simply to allocate some time to discuss and solve pressing issues.

A different classification of social practices can be distinguished. So the parent meeting is a subject-object interaction, since the initiator of this event is the class teacher or another teacher of the school, respectively, the key issues on the agenda of this event will be voiced by an employee of the educational institution ^[18]. Parents, as a rule, are objects of interaction within the framework of a parent-teacher meeting. Although there are exceptions when, within the framework of such social practices, parents raise important and topical issues, then the interaction goes to a slightly different level. As for exclusively subject-subject social practices, we are talking about various kinds of events where the participation and initiative of not only an employee of an educational institution, but also parents themselves is important. Examples of such social practices can be round tables and thematic events held by the school. Despite the effectiveness and efficiency of such interactions, they are used only when students go to the final grades to discuss organizational issues regarding the prom and all related formalities. In the lower grades, this practice is practically not used ^[17].

An important component of successful social practices in the school system in general and the participation of parents in the life of the school, in particular, is communication, that is, the availability of communication channels between parents, teachers and schoolchildren. With the advent of messengers, communication has greatly simplified, and the traditional communication channel – a parent's visit to school or a teacher's home to a student has become a thing of the past. Moreover, there are different forms of communication, that is, synchronous communication, for example, when making a video call or talking on the phone, and asynchronous communication using messages in messengers or SMS messages ^[10].

Parental participation practices represent different forms of the parent's presence in the life of the school, moreover, such practices can be both group and individual ^[8]. Examples of parental practices of participation in the life of the school can be the activities of the school's board of Trustees, the parent committee, the volunteer activities of individual parents, as well as an innovative form of social practice – the activities of the council of fathers ^[9]. The Parent Committee is a self-governing body in which parents hold key positions. They control and monitor the conditions in the educational organization, as well as carry out permanent communication with employees of educational institutions ^[14]. The Board of Trustees is a self-governing body, which includes both parents and directly employees of the educational institution. This goal of this self-government body is to attract funds from various sources to improve the material base of the educational process. Sole volunteer parental assistance is the practice of individual parents. It consists in providing all possible assistance in various areas of the school's activities. This practice takes place in the absence of organized associations of parents.

Social practice acts as a kind of link between the school, school students and parents. Social practices make it possible not only to simplify the socialization and adaptation of students, but also to ensure fruitful interaction between the educational institution and the parents of schoolchildren ^[13]. A large number of social practices are due to the diverse activities of the modern school, its desire to satisfy all reasonable requests of schoolchildren as the main subject of the educational process.

The methodology of this sociological research was based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. The quantitative methodology of this sociological research is represented by a mass questionnaire survey, which was conducted both in person, among parents of schoolchildren, and in an online format. The sample set of the mass survey was 226 people – parents of students in grades 1-11. The sample was formed by the method of typical representatives, while the sample type is targeted. The survey of exactly 226 respondents is determined by the information saturation of the respondents' responses. Considering the fact that parents of students in 15 schools and lyceums of the city of Barnaul were interviewed, the representativeness of the sample population should not raise questions. The qualitative methodology of this sociological research is presented by an expert survey, the experts in which were employees of the Altai Institute for the Development of Education named after A.M. Toporov, as well as current specialists of the education system of the city of Barnaul, that is, head teachers, teachers, school principals. So 12 experts were interviewed in full-time format. There is no doubt that the current specialists of the secondary education system, as well as the employees of the Institute for the Development of Education, are quite competent in matters of social practices of parents' participation in the life of the school.

Initially, a mass survey was conducted, which made it possible to identify the presence of certain social practices of parents' participation in the life of the school, after which an expert survey was conducted, where the effectiveness of a particular social practice, the importance of such social practice, etc., was found out. The use of a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods increases the heuristics of the conducted research, as well as increases the reliability of the data obtained.

126 parents of schoolchildren of Barnaul educational organizations of various types (Table 1) aged from 31 to 52 years took part in a questionnaire survey as part of a sociological study of social practices of parents' participation in the life of the school (Table 1). Respondents were asked to answer 24 questions, which can be divided into 3 semantic blocks and a passport. The link to the online survey was distributed by employees of educational organizations using parent chats in messengers.

The first set of questions of the questionnaire is aimed at revealing how well or poorly parent-child communication is established: whether parents help their child, how much time they can devote to him, whether they are interested in school affairs. The closeness of the connection with the child is very indicative. If the parent does not interact with the child properly, firstly, the work of upbringing and socialization will not be done properly, which will affect the child; secondly, the lack of participation in the child's life and trusting communication between the parent and the child also significantly complicates the interaction of the parent and the school. Parents who pay enough attention to their child will also be interested in his school affairs, which means that parental involvement in the life of the school will be much higher.

The time that is given to the child largely depends on how much time the parent spends at work. So parents who do not work due to certain circumstances (mainly due to maternity leave) can afford to study with their child all day or more than two hours a day, which is confirmed by the distribution received (57.6%). Parents working remotely have to do a fairly large amount of work, so even if they are at home, they can mostly devote 1-2 hours to the child on weekdays. Parents who work 5 days a week can study with their child for more than two hours a day. Those who work according to schedule 6/1 and those who go on business trips (from a week to several months) practically do not devote time to their child. From 1 to 2 hours can be given to their child by those who work shifts, but on rest days the amount of time spent may increase. Also, online communication is very developed nowadays, so children and parents can easily keep in touch with each other, but you still need to understand that this has a much lower effect than "live" communication. Parents were also asked whether they help their children with homework (Fig. 1). It can be seen that parents, in general, help schoolchildren, but with the transition to secondary and high school, the percentage of those helping decreases, which is quite expected. Elementary school students are still "learning to learn" on their own, so the degree of parental involvement will be much higher than in middle and even more so in high school. Also, with each class, the tasks become more complicated, so it becomes more difficult for parents to help their children.

Fig. 1. The ratio of respondents' answers to the questions: "In which class is your child studying?" and "Do you help your child with homework?" (in% of the number of respondents)

Thus, it can be seen that parents give their children mostly 1-2 hours or from 2 hours on weekdays, and their participation depends on the work schedule. Assistance in homework is provided by parents, and it is directly proportional to the age of the child. In general, based on the results obtained, we can say that work with schoolchildren at home is also carried out.

The next set of questions is aimed at identifying the most popular forms and channels of communication between parents and the school, as well as issues on which interaction most often occurs.

Most parents are satisfied with the relationship they have with the school. Thus, 50% of respondents note the openness of the school to interaction, efficiency in solving issues and "excellent" assess the existing relationship with the school. 39.7% also speak positively about the school where their child is studying, but indicate that some emerging issues are not resolved as quickly as we would like. 6.3% of the respondents assess the relationship with the school satisfactorily. They note difficulties both in building communication with the school and in solving emerging issues. And 2.4% of parents consider the school closed for communication, and 1.6% find it difficult to answer (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Distribution of respondents' answers to the question: "How do you assess your existing relationship with the school?" (in% of the number

the respondents)

The most frequent practices of interaction with the school used by the respondents are parent meetings (74.6%), communication with the class teacher (57.2%) and viewing social networks and/or the official website of the school (44.5%). Also, 76.2% of respondents interact with the school not only when they are called, which is a positive trend. The respondents practically do not communicate with the school administration and subject teachers. More than 50% of respondents are rarely organizers and participants (spectators) of school events. The least popular among parents is the practice of attending open lessons – 75.4% of respondents noted that they rarely or almost never participate in them.

As a result of the answer to the question "Which school self-government bodies do you belong to?" it also turned out that the majority (54%) of parents surveyed are not members of school self-government bodies, but attend parent meetings and/or conferences. This is confirmed by the above conclusions. 23% of respondents are members of the parent committee. Only 2.4% are members of the Board of Trustees, however, 13.5% of respondents indicated that, although they are not members of school self-government bodies, they provide sponsorship to the school. Also, 7.1% are in no hurry to join management bodies, limiting themselves to joining the group of an informal association of activist parents. 9.5% also do not belong to any of the formal associations, but provide volunteer assistance in organizing school-wide and/or classroom events. A fairly large percentage (19.8%) of parents are not members of school self-government bodies and practically do not participate in the life of the school their child attends. As a result, we see that parents use the most typical and familiar practices to interact with the school.

Respondents were also asked about which of the listed issues they contact the school most often (Figure 3). It turned out that the child's academic performance (76.2%) and the child's behavior (36.5%) are issues that parents are more interested in and for which they most often turn to school. The social and cultural life of the child (26.2%), his interaction with classmates (24.6%) and individual teachers (18.3%), as well as the conditions in which he studies (17.6%), are also raised by parents, but to a much lesser extent. The most unpopular question for interaction with the school is the question of the child's academic load, it was chosen by only 4.8% of respondents.

Fig. 3. Distribution of respondents' answers to the question: "On which of the presented questions concerning your child do you interact with the school most often?" (in% of the number of respondents)

The answers to the question of the extent to which the issues that parents address to the school are solved were distributed as follows. The majority of respondents noted that the issues are "solved completely" or "solved, but you have to apply again" – 63.7% and 21.8%. At the same time, 3.2% of respondents noted that the issues on which they turn to the school are almost not solved. And only 0.8% indicate the absence of any solutions. 10.5% of respondents found it difficult to answer this question.

The majority of respondents noted that they communicate with other parents (88.1%). This question is needed to determine the formation, coordination and integrity of the parent community. When solving various school issues and problems, parental organization is important for expressing opinions and making recommendations, since in this way it is possible to interact with the school most easily, effectively and promptly. Knowing the general parental request and taking the initiative, it is easier to solve the problems that arise.

Most often, communication takes place at parent meetings (59.5%), as well as personal meetings (55.6%) and communication in social networks and messengers (or other online platforms) are no less popular (52.4%). The parent Committee is a way of communication for 24.6% of parents. During the preparation of school and classroom events and participation in them, 19.8% and 13.5% of respondents communicate. The most unpopular form of parental communication is the Board of Trustees – 1.6%. Also, only 4% of respondents noted that parents do not maintain relationships with others. In general, it can be noted that, despite the low percentage of communication in organized formal associations (the Board of Trustees and the parent committee), parental communication is still well developed.

Fig. 4. Distribution of respondents' answers to the question: "How do you most often communicate with other parents?" (in% of the number of respondents)

Thus, as a result of the answers to the questions of the second block of the questionnaire, it was found out that parents, for the most part, have a positive attitude to the school in which their children study. According to respondents, Barnaul schools are open enough for communication, respond to parental requests and solve emerging issues and problems promptly. It also turned out that more than half of the respondents are not members of school self-government bodies (parent committee, board of trustees) due to lack of time, but communication with other parents and the school is relatively well established. Not all parents realize the importance of their participation in school life. A typical channel of interaction of the type "parent-school", "parent-parent" are parent meetings. And the issues that parents are most interested in are the academic performance and behavior of their children.

This is followed by the third set of questions, as a result of the answers to which the presence of problems was determined, the areas in which these problems manifest themselves were noted, as well as ways to solve them were proposed.

So, the majority (41.3%) of respondents are satisfied with the existing relationship with the school, so parents would not want to change anything. 19% of respondents indicated that they would still like to make some changes in their interaction with the school (table 1). There is also a high proportion of those who have not thought about this issue before. This may indicate a lack of involvement of parents in the life of the school.

Table 1. Distribution of respondents' answers to the question: "Would you like to change something in your relationship with the school?" (in% of the number

the respondents)

From the suggestions in the following question ("What exactly would you like to change/improve?") There was only one point in which the parents surveyed wanted or rather would like to see some changes – "To receive more information related to my child from the school" (61.3%). The other points of interaction with the school indicated in the question are satisfied with the parents, they do not see any problems in them.

At the same time, academic performance is the most frequent issue for parents' interaction with the school, it also, as respondents note, needs the most attention and needs to be worked out (46%). Also, parents would like the conditions at the school where their children study to be better than they are now (41.3%). In other matters, parents practically do not see problems and do not see the need to pay more attention to them.

To the question "What else would you like to change/improve?" respondents replied that in addition to the above options, they see the problem in the small variety of extracurricular activities of their children, and therefore would like to see more events, concerts, trips to museums, organized clubs, etc. Also, the interviewed parents noted that they would like better conditions for the child's education: good repair and technical equipment. The issue of nutrition in the school cafeteria is another popular point in which parents would like to see improvements.

The cancellation of the second shift and weekend training is a rather acute and problematic issue. Many parents have indicated these two options when answering this question. As for the transition to five-day training, then, in accordance with the new educational standards, from September 1, 2022, all schools in the Altai Territory, presumably, will abandon the "six-day" and will teach children 5 days a week. However, everything is not so simple and, most likely, not all schools will be able to adjust their educational program and learning process to a five-day week.

The second shift is prohibited for students of the first, fifth, ninth, tenth and eleventh grades, according to the requirements of the SanPiN. The remaining classes can be transferred to the second shift if it is necessary for the school (exceeding the permissible number of students). In case of violation, parents can contact the school administration to resolve the issue. It is worth noting that this issue requires more detailed study, as it has quite a lot of nuances and controversial points.

Parents also indicated that they see a problem in filling out an electronic journal and would like it to be filled in more quickly.

Next, the parents were asked what actions the school can take in order to promptly and effectively solve the issues and problems that have arisen or will arise in the future. The majority of respondents (54.8%) noted that for this it is necessary to develop online communication by creating chats in messengers, social networks or other platforms. The second place was shared by the following recommendations chosen by parents – "active management of the school group in social networks" (23.8%) and "access to the child's progress through an electronic diary" (23.8%). And the third option was "conducting training seminars, lectures and master classes for parents on child rearing" (23%). The other options presented in this question were practically not chosen by the parents.

Further, the experts justified the options they had chosen in the previous question. They pointed out that individual consultations make it possible to work out the problems and questions that parents and their children have directly, as well as in more detail and in depth, since it is problematic and even impossible to do this at the same parent meetings. As a result of the implementation of this practice, it is possible to strengthen the relationship between a parent and a teacher. Individual consultation allows you to take into account all the characteristics of the child and come to the actions that will be most useful for him. However, experts noted that although this practice promotes the establishment of the closest and most trusting relationship between a parent and a teacher, and also significantly improves the educational process, it does not develop collective communication and does not allow discussing broader issues and making appropriate decisions on them.

As for parent meetings, it is at them that the most general issues are discussed. Accordingly, it is the collective of parents present at the time of the meeting that comes to a certain decision. The benefit of parent meetings is that, firstly, parents have the opportunity to announce their opinion about a certain situation and promptly receive feedback - during the dialogue at the parent meeting, it will be much faster to come to a common decision, and this decision is more likely to be the most effective, since when it was taken into account all the nuances; secondly, this form of interaction strengthens the connection between teachers and parents (or other school staff in the case of a school-wide meeting), as well as between parents themselves, and also forms an organized parent community. The parent meeting allows you to consider issues of a different nature, not necessarily related to the upbringing and socialization of the child: discussion of events and activities, discussion of school conditions, etc. However, the parent meeting has its drawbacks, which are the possibility of a conflict of interests of parents, low frequency of holding, low attendance.

Online communication, as experts noted, has a high degree of efficiency. With the help of created online channels (chats, groups, video conferences, etc.), it is possible to notify parents of any important news as soon as possible and get quick feedback. This practice is very easy to organize and does not require complex preliminary preparation. However, as a result, the ties between parents and parents and parents and the school are significantly weakened. Online communication on efficiency cannot replace meetings and discussions in face-to-face format.

The experts also gave the following comment on the most effective ways of communication chosen by them: the presented practices are most effective and effective in the case of their integrated use, since the problems that one solves cannot be solved in the other. It is very important that these methods are balanced in parent-school interaction – in this case, it is possible to work out all the points sufficiently.

As a result of the questionnaire survey it was revealed that online communication is the most common and preferred practice of interaction between family and school, the experts were asked to assess whether this trend is positive, or it still complicates parent-school communication. Experts assessed this trend as positive, but also pointed out that it is not "all substitutive". Below are some expert comments:

 "Positive, but less effective (prompt delivery of the necessary information, but does not allow you to get emotional feedback on how the information is received), and sometimes negative (in the case when parents litter the chat messages with abuse against the teacher and the school or send messages outside the teacher's working hours)" (woman, 46 years old, school principal); "Positive. Parents and teachers have the opportunity to get information at a convenient time for them. If this is an online event, a parent can take part without interrupting work and personal affairs" (a woman, 35 years old, head of the department); "A positive trend, parents react faster to teacher's messages, exercise control over the child's academic performance (a man, 37 years old, head teacher)", etc. However, experts noted, as in previous questions, online communication significantly affects the closeness of ties. Many parents who are in parent chats and almost never attend parent meetings and other meetings often have no idea what other parents look like. Of course, in this case it is impossible to talk about effective communication. Yes, of course, in modern realities such a way of interaction is a necessity, but it is still not worth abusing it. Since it turned out that the issue of children's academic performance, according to the majority of parents surveyed, is not well covered by the school, the experts were asked which ways of informing them also seem to be the most effective. In the matter of academic performance , it is most advisable to use the following practices: individual consultation, online communication and filling out an electronic diary. These practices allow us to discuss the progress of the child pointwise and promptly.

Next, the experts were asked to assess the importance of parental organization. All experts agreed that the organization and coordination of parents' actions certainly affects the development of interaction with the school. The formed team of active and interested parents greatly simplifies communication, makes it clear and well-coordinated. With developed parental interaction, according to experts, it is much easier for a school to understand parental requests, predict their expectations, as well as convey important points to the parent community and receive feedback. This is how cooperation is achieved, which is beneficial to all sides of the educational process.

In order to promote the development of an organized parent community, to increase the involvement of parents in school life, experts recommend:

- create a favorable atmosphere at school: be open to information, "hear" parental requests and wishes and respond to them, learn to look for compromises;

- take an active part in various competitions, create projects to improve the conditions of the school, and involve parents in this;

- to motivate parents by introducing a system of bonuses and incentives: opening access to educational content for the family taking an active part in the life of the school; awarding thanks, diplomas, letters for their contribution to the development of education;

- conduct educational seminars or other events that offer parents to acquire new skills that are useful, for example, in raising a child;

- organization of classroom/school-wide events with the involvement of the parent community.

So, a sociological study of the social practices of parents' participation in the life of the school was conducted, as a result of which the following conclusions can be drawn. Today, family and school relations and education in general are undergoing changes. The main tasks in the field of parent-school relations are to build cooperation, develop convenient and effective channels and forms of communication with each other, support the initiative of parents from the school. At the moment, there are a large number of useful social practices used by parents and the school in their interaction: parent meetings, individual consultations, online communication, conferences, meetings and seminars with specialists, round tables. It is important to find a balance and an effective combination in their use. It turned out that the schools of Barnaul are open enough for communication, parents evaluate the interaction with the school in a positive way and believe that all the issues and problems they address to the school are solved immediately or almost immediately. As for intra-family interaction, parents devote two or more hours to their children on weekdays. The time that parents can devote to their children directly depends on the work schedule. Parents help elementary school students with homework to a greater extent, participation in high school is minimal. Based on the above questions, it can be concluded that parents are sufficiently involved in the child's life and constantly keep in touch with them, so they can respond to difficulties that arise in the child at school. The most popular ways for parents to interact with the school are parent meetings and online communication. As a rule, parents also prefer not to join formal associations of school self-government, but willingly provide volunteer assistance.

There were also some contradictory points: parents would like the material and technical component of the school to be improved, but at the same time the percentage of their membership in the board of trustees is quite low; parents would like their children to have more intense and diverse extracurricular activities (activities, hiking, etc.), but a fairly large percentage of parents they do not join the parent committee and do not participate in the organization and conduct of school events. Parental communication is developed, but also mainly not in the parent committee, but at parent meetings and in messengers/social networks. Also, a significant part of parents do not think about the importance of their own participation in the life of the school in which their children study.

Based on the results obtained, as well as suggestions from experts and parents, the following communication methods were formulated that will help eliminate the contradictions identified during the study and make parent-school interaction more effective:

1. To increase the degree of parental involvement and improve the conditions of the school, the school itself can practice participation in project activities. An example of this practice is the competition

"I believe" is a regional grant competition of school initiatives, which is held in the Altai Territory. In it, parents can provide both gratuitous assistance in the implementation of a school project, and become a sponsor by providing financial assistance. As a result of such an interesting practice, it is possible to strengthen and establish communication between the subjects of the educational process, improve school conditions by making them modern. What is most important in the implementation of this practice is the real result achieved during the implementation of the project, which can be seen immediately after its completion.

2.                          In addition to existing and well-functioning practices (parent meetings and online communication), include others to achieve more effective work and increase the effectiveness of interaction. For example, it is possible to organize various educational events for parents and children with the involvement of specialists (for example, psychologists) in a more free and informal form (quests, quizzes, master classes), as well as with the possibility of online participation.

3.                        The involvement of parents in the organization and conduct of school events and in the life of the school as a whole can be carried out by introducing a system of bonuses and incentives: opening access to educational content for the family taking an active part in the life of the school: awarding thanks, diplomas, letters for their contribution to the development of education.

4. In order to increase the number of parents who are members of the formal organizations of school self-government, the school can increase information work, bringing to the attention of parents all the advantages of this work. Also, the bonus system will be quite applicable here.

5.                        Prompt informing of parents about the progress, achievements of their children, as well as sending out the schedule of events and Olympiads and other events can be carried out by organizing a parent's personal account on the school's website. And also set the frequency of sending information. The parent will be able to view all the information at any time and, if necessary, contact the school.