Leadership of School-Family Partnerships with  Low-SES Families: Case Studies from Two Primary  Schools in Ho Chi Minh City

Nguyen Thi Ha My

Nguyen Thi Ha My	nthmy@ntt.edu.vn	Nguyen Tat Thanh University (Vietnam)

Summary:

Grounded in Auerbach’s framework on leadership for school family partnerships, this study examines how leadership for partnerships is enacted with low socio-economic status (SES) families in Vietnam. It employs a qualitative case study design involving longitudinal fieldwork over two academic years at two primary schools in Ho Chi Minh City. Data collected from semi-structured interviews with 17 administrators and homeroom teachers, along with school and community observations, were analysed using deductive thematic analysis guided by Auerbach’s five dimensions of leadership. The findings reveal contrasting leadership practices. At Primary School X, informal leadership was exercised by veteran teachers, including grade-level leaders, whose professional authority and community ties positioned them as pivotal in guiding parent engagement. At Primary School Y, the formal school administration principal and vice-principals-actively mentored novice teachers in working with parents. Despite these differences, both schools reflected deficit views of low-SES parents’ capacities and selective structures of parent representation, which constrained opportunities for shared decision making. This study enriches Auerbach’s framework by demonstrating how formal and informal leadership roles are shaped by specific socio institutional conditions, while foregrounding the persistent tension between support and control in engaging low-SES families.

View file

Keywords:

School-family partnerships

low socio-economic status families

family engagement

primary schools

educational equity.

Refers:

[1] Auerbach, S. (2007). Visioning Parent Engagement in Urban Schools. Journal of School Leadership, 17(6), 699–734.

[2] Auerbach, S. (2009). Walking the walk: Portraits in leadership in family engagement in urban schools. The School Community Journal, 19(1), 9–31. https:// www.adi.org/journal/ss09/AuerbachSpring2009. pdf

[3] Auerbach, S. (2010). Beyond coffee with the principal: Toward leadership for authentic school-family partnerships. Journal of School Leadership, 20, 728 757. https://doi.org/10.1177/105268461002000603

[4] Baxter, G., & Kilderry, A. (2022). Family school partnership discourse: Inconsistencies, misrepresentation, and counter narratives. Teaching and Teacher Education, 109, 103561. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.tate.2021.103561

[5] Baxter, G., & Toe, D. (2023). Abandoning a discourse of poverty to develop equitable educational practices through family school partnerships. Educational Review, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2 023.2246683

[6] Bourdieu, P. (1997). The Forms of Capital. In A. H. Halsey, H. Lauder, P. Brown and A. S. Wells (Eds.), Education, Culture, Economy and Society (pp. 46 58). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[7] Bower, H. A., & Griffin, D. (2011). Can the Epstein Model of Parental Involvement work in a high minority, high-poverty elementary school? A case study. Professional School Counseling, 15(2), 77–87. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.5330/ PSC.n.2011-15.77

[8] Bronfenbrenner, U., & Morris, P. (2006). The bioecological model of human development. In R. M. Lerner, & W. Damon (Eds.), Theoretical models of human development (5 ed., pp. 793-828). (Handbook of Child Psychology; Vol. 1). Wiley.

[9] Creswell, J.W., & Poth, C.N. (2018) Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design Choosing among Five Approaches. 4th Edition, SAGE Publications, Inc., Thousand Oaks.

[10] Christianakis, M. (2011). Parents as “Help Labor”: Inner City Teachers’ Narratives of Parent Involvement. Teacher Education Quarterly, 38(4), 157–178. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23479635

[11] Castro, M., E. Expósito-Casas, E. López-Martín, L. Lizasoain, E. Navarro-Asencio, and J. Luis. (2015). Parental Involvement on Student Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analysis. Educational Research Review, 14, 33–46. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.edurev.2015.01.002

[12] Diez-Palomar, J., Gatt, S. & Racionero, S. (2011). Placing Immigrant and Minority Family and Community Members at the School’s Centre: The role of community participation. European Journal of Education, 46(2), 184-196. https://doi. org/10.1111/j.1465-3435.2011.01474.x

[13] Durand, T. M., & Secakusuma, M. (2019). Negotiating the Boundaries of Parental School Engagement: The Role of Social Space and Symbolic Capital in Urban Teachers’ Perspectives. Teachers College Record, 121(2), 1–40. https://doi. org/10.1177/016146811912100205

[14] Duval, J., & Dumoulin, C. (2022). Collaboration école-famille au primaire: types de collaboration et degré de relation entre les partenaires. Revue internationale du CRIRES/ CRI_SAS international Journal, 6(1), 136–151. https://doi.org/10.51657/ ric.v6i1.51475

[15] Doan, T. T. H., & Vo, T. H. (2022). Some solutions for educating cultural values for primary school students in the new period. Vietnam Journal of Educational Sciences, 18(4), 55–61. https://doi. org/10.15625/2615-8957/12210409

[16] Egger, J., Lehmann, J., & Straumann, M. (2015). “Collaboration with parents isn’t a burden. It’s just a natural part of my work” – Parental involvement in Switzerland – An analysis of attitudes and practices of Swiss primary school teachers. International Journal about Parents in Education, 9(1), 119–130. https://doi.org/10.54195/ijpe.18240

[17] General Statistics Office of Vietnam. (2020). Migration and urbanization in Vietnam: Current situation, trends, and disparities. Hanoi: Financial Publishing House.

[18] Gordon, S. P., Jacobs, J., Croteau, S. M., & Solis, R. (2020). Informal teachers: Who they are, what they do, and how they impact teaching and learning. Journal of School Leadership, 22, 1-22. https://doi. org/10.1177/1052684620924468

[19] Hornby, G., & Lafaele, R. (2011). Barriers to Parental Involvement in Education: An explanatory Model. Educational Review, 63(1), 37–52. https://doi.org/1 0.1080/00131911.2010.488049

[20] Huynh, L. A. C. (2015). Managing the coordination between teachers and parents in life skills education activities for primary school students in Ho Chi Minh City. Journal of Science, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, 11(77), 101–111. https:// vjol.info.vn/index.php/sphcm/article/view/22183

[21] Le, M. N., & Nguyen, V. H. (2017). The current situation of collaboration among family, school, and community in primary education under the Vietnam Escuela Nueva (VNEN) model. Vietnam Journal of Educational Sciences, 136, 67–70. http://vjes.vnies.edu.vn/vi/thuc-trang-su-ket-hop giua-gia-dinh-nha-truong-va-cong-dong-trong giao-duc-hoc-sinh-tieu-hoc-theo-mo

[22] Lehmann, J. (2018). Parental involvement: an issue for Swiss primary school teacher education. Journal of Education for Teaching, 44(3), 296-308. https:// doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2018.1465626

[23] Liou, D. D., & Liang, J. G. (2021). Toward a theory of sympathetic leadership: Asian American school administrators’ expectations for justice and excellence. Educational Administration Quarterly, 57(3), 403–436.

[24] Martin, S., Horgan, D., O’Riordan, J., & Christie, A. (2018). Advocacy and surveillance: primary school teachers’ relationships with asylum-seeking mothers in Ireland. Race Ethnicity and Education, 21(4), 458-470. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324. 2016.1248827

[25] Naeem, M., Ozuem, W., Howell, K., & Ranfagni, S. (2023). A Step-by-Step Process of Thematic Analysis to Develop a Conceptual Model in Qualitative Research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 22. https://doi. org/10.1177/16094069231205789

[26] O’Toole, L., Kiely, J., & McGillicuddy, D. (2019). Parental involvement, engagement and partnership in their children’s education during the primary school years. National Parents Council. https:// www.npc.ie/images/uploads/downloads/Parental_ Involvement_Research_Doc.pdf

[27] Paccaud, A., Keller, R., Luder, R., Pastore, G., & Kunz, A. (2021). Satisfaction with collaboration between families and schools - The parent’s view. Frontiers in Education, 6, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.3389/ feduc.2021.646878

[28] Pong, M. (2015). Educating the Children of Migrant Workers in Beijing: Migration, education, and policy in urban China (1st ed.). Routledge.

[29] Rangel, D. E., & Peck, E. (2022). A Qualitative Examination of Work, Families, and Schools in Low-Income Latinx Communities During Strict Immigration Enforcement. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 8(5), 184-199. https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2022.8.5.09

[30] Ratliffe, K. T., & Ponte, E. (2018). Parent Perspectives on Developing Effective Family –School Partnerships in Hawai’i. School Community Journal, 28(1), 217 - 247. http://www.schoolcommunitynetwork.org/ SCJ.aspx

[31] Smith, T. E., Reinke, W. M., Herman, K. C., & Sebastian, J. (2021). Exploring the link between principal leadership and family engagement across elementary and middle school. Journal of School Psychology, 84, 49–62. https://psycnet.apa.org/ doi/10.1016/j.jsp.2020.12.006

[32] Stringer, P., & Blaik Hourani, R. (2013). Home–school relationships: a school management perspective. Educ Res Policy Prac, 12, 149–174. https://doi. org/10.1007/s10671-012-9134-0

[33] Suharta, R. B., Septiarti, S. W., & Kusumawardani, E. (2020). School and family partnership: Informal learning context to build children character. VISI: Jurnal Ilmiah PTK PNF, 15(2), 189-198. https:// doi.org/10.21009/JIV.1502.10

[34] Theoharis, G. (2007). Social justice educational leaders and resistance: Toward a theory of social justice leadership. Educational Administration Quarterly, 43(2), 221-258.

[35] Tran, T. T. H. (2018). Management of coordination among educational forces in environmental education activities for primary school students in Da Nang City. Journal of Education, 427(1), 5–8.

[36] Vu Van Hieu. (2021a). Access to children education in migrant workers in industrial zones, export processing zones in Ho Chi Minh City. International Journal of Advanced Research, 9(12), 471-477. https://dx.doi.org/10.21474/IJAR01/13932

[37] Vu Van Hieu. (2021b). Current access to health care services among children in migrant women’s families in industrial parks and export processing zones in Ho Chi Minh City. American Research Journal of Humanities & Social Science, 4(12), 114-120. https://www.arjhss.com/wp-content/ uploads/2021/12/N412114120.pdf

[38] Yang, B., & Qu, D. Z. (2021). Rural to urban migrant workers in China: challenges of risks and rights. Asian Education and Development Studies, 10(1), 5-15. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEDS-02-2019-0042

[39] Yin, R. K. (2014). Case Study Research Design and Methods (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

[40] Wong, R. S. M., Ho, F. K. W., & Wong, W. H. S. (2018). Parental Involvement in Primary School Education: its Relationship with Children’s Academic Performance and Psychosocial Competence through Engaging Children with School. J Child Fam Stud, 27, 1544–1555. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10826-017-1011-2

Journal:

Volume. 22 - issue 2 / 2026

VIETNAM JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES

Leadership of School-Family Partnerships with Low-SES Families: Case Studies from Two Primary Schools in Ho Chi Minh City