Independence and support: Making parent/school relationships work for teenage students

This qualitative study was designed to explore the role teenage students play in shaping the relationship their parents/guardians have with their high school. It examines some of the benefits and barriers to parental involvement and looks at how students can control parental access to information from the school. The site is a rural dual track (French Immersion and English) high school of 800 students situated in Prince Edward Island, Canada. The data is collected from a randomly distributed survey and subsequent interviews. There were 136 surveys completed by students in grades 10–12 as well as four interviews (conducted after the survey) with students wishing to further discuss the subject of parental involvement. The survey consisted of 14 questions both open and closed-ended and the interviews were made up of four open-ended questions. The questions on both instruments were similar and the responses were consistent between the surveys and the interview data. Through the data analysis it was discovered that the students did play a role in shaping the amount of parental involvement and the access to information that parents have. Some of the major factors governing the desire for teens to keep information from their parents centre around a desire for independence, privacy, and space.