Incentives and sanctions for achieving parental participation in the school life

In the last years, beginning with the political and economical changes following the post-communism period, the educational system in every South East Europe (SEE) country changed constantly. A multitude and overlapping short term and long term reforms took place in the past two decades in the educational systems of the SEE countries, which encountered numerous challenges and demands. New regulations and legislative improvements had been enforced. Part of these regulations are structural and comprehensive aiming to decentralisation of the educational system for example, while others are focused on particular issues, such as inclusive education for the minorities and vulnerable, socio economically disadvantaged children as well as children with disabilities. There were national reforms in education and training, as well as regional platform and initiatives of cooperation among countries in the field of education and training. For example, for the period 2005-2010, the thematic areas of interest for educational reform is SEE region were quality of education and equity in education, lifelong learning, and European and national qualification frameworks2. There were structural changes in educational systems from preschool level to higher education. The implementation of the new educational policies at the school level was not every time successful. There are few evidences of the results of the implementation of anti-discrimination legislation and new democratic school governance rules and the general achievement of the pupils in schools are still poor. Researches made both by governmental institutions and civil societies organizations often showed the inequality of access to quality education for minorities, as well as for the children with disabilities. The weakness of pupils and parents participation in school life is also identified by the educational experts and Open Society Institute (OSI) representatives as a common shortcoming for the education in the SEE countries.