The School Participation of Families Through Digital Platforms

A democratic and participative education has been claimed for several decades. The application of digital technologies in the management of institutions has helped to redefine the concept of participation. This concept is rooted in the cultural practices of families and, for this reason, we have analyse the perception of the emerging participation model evidenced by a sample of families of students in the area of the Valencian Community. We focus attention on the equipment and connectivity of homes, both are essential requirements to interact with the platforms. Next, we analyse the representations that families make explicit to us through semi-structured interviews and a focus group. We discover that technological equipment directs participation more towards the dimensions related to control than to collegiality in decision-making. It is necessary to continue deepening in the ways of how participation is being redefined in a more instrumental than in a political sense.