BARRIERS TO AND FACILITATORS OF TEACHING IN CONTEXTS OF HIGH VULNERABILITY AND ETHNOCULTURAL DIVERSITY. AN APPROACH BASED ON THE FAMILY-SCHOOL RELATIONSHIP

The challenges of a quality education, inclusive of ethnocultural diversity, raised by international and state institutions, must have a local response. However, high social vulnerability makes it difficult to take effective action and requires innovative responses from teachers and politicians to be put into practice in schools. This research work focuses on a case study of five highly diverse and vulnerable infant and primary schools in the Balearic Islands (Spain), the autonomous community with the highest percentage of immigrant pupils. The participatory methodology used has made it possible to understand the difficulties and opportunities of the context in which the schools are located, as well as the strategies proposed. The results show that family participation, the characteristics of the pupils, the policies promoted by the Administration, the resources external to the school and community work can become important resources for improving the quality of education and the academic outcomes of the pupils to such an extent that they add to the education provided by the schools.