School-community relationship and its contribution to educational services

Abstract

Citizen participation and decentralization are a fundamental part of the policies that underpin the educational reform process in El Salvador, in this framework a series of actions have been implemented in different modalities, aimed at supporting the educational process. The study presented here was carried out with the purpose of knowing, analyzing and characterizing the modalities of the school-community relationship and its contribution to the educational services offered by the school. It was developed through in-depth interviews with the different educational and community adores: parents, students, teachers, community leaders and NGO agents. The results allowed to establish three models of community organization and participation; whose degree of intensity and intentionality is determined by the combination of three elements: the explicit need of people to change their current life condition, the educational growth experienced by them and the quantity and quality of organizations and interactions that are generated in the community and its context; which has a direct impact on the attitudes and values ​​that are intended to be promoted from school. In accordance with the foregoing, it is necessary to consider the best relationships found and suggest taking up significant experiences.