Rate My Professor Sarah Malu

Sarah Malu earned her Master of Education from the University of Western Australia in 2023. Her thesis, entitled "Partnerships with parents in Western Australian lower primary school classes: An interpretivist study," was supervised by Tanya Fitzgerald, Gerardine Neylon, and Loretta Dolan. This interpretivist study examines teachers' perspectives of parental partnerships in lower primary school classes, underpinned by Epstein's parent involvement framework (1995) and Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory (1979). Data were gathered through individual, in-depth, semi-structured interviews with six teachers from lower primary classes at an independent private school in Perth, Western Australia. The thesis identifies the significance of mutual trust and respect in these partnerships, aligning with Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) standards and Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) policy documents. Four themes impacting the parent-teacher relationship emerged: Positive Strategies, Parental Anxiety—with subthemes related to Technology and Social Media as well as COVID-19—Inappropriate Parental Conduct, and Teacher Mental Health. These findings illuminate the intricate dynamics of the parent-teacher relationship, providing valuable insights for fostering collaborative home-school partnerships. The study calls for significant changes to strengthen parent-teacher relationships in Australia.