Though not categorically opposed to the idea, Finnish parents tended to resist rather than endorse the view of parents as tax payers who can make demands for the efficacy of schooling and expected teacher performance. However, parents with vocational training tended to resist this view less than parents from higher educational groups. Additionally, dissatisfaction with a child?s primary schooling and support for a selective educational policy were both associated with a tendency to view this role in a relatively positive light.

This longitudinal study set out to examine, in the light of the parents’ education and gender and the child’s gender, the changes that occurred in the course of five years in parents’ satisfaction with the functioning of their child’s school. Academically and vocationally educated mothers and fathers were asked to indicate their satisfaction with different aspects of their child’s school at the end of the first, third and fifth school year. It was found that the level of parental satisfaction was (...) fairly high at the start, and despite a decreasing trend, it remained high; parental satisfaction was widely shared, and the number of dissatisfied parents remained small and stable. The academic parents displayed more satisfaction with their child’s school success and the fairness of the treatment than the vocational parents did. The results are discussed in terms of educational policy. (shrink)