Parent–School Partnerships in Inclusive Education: A Systematic Review of Epistemic Dialogue, Operational Obstacles, and Synergistic Scaffolding Models

Abstract

Fostering authentic inclusive education for diverse learner profiles—includingneurodivergent students and individuals with sensory or cognitive impairments—demands a comprehensive evolution from defensive,compliance-driven administrative tracks toward co-constructed Parent–School Partnerships. This review paper presents a rigorous, journal-levelsystematic synthesis of global literature surrounding the operationalization of collaborative family-school alliances within inclusive ecosystems. Drawingupon Epstein’s overlapping spheres of influence model, social capital theory,and family systems epistemology, the analysis deconstructs the internalmechanisms through which structured parent-educator dialogue altersIndividualized Education Program (IEP) execution fidelity, home-to-schoolskill generalization, and localized school climate indices. The review examines specific interaction styles—contrasting traditional adversarial notification with proactive epistemic dialogue and community-based co-advocacy frameworks. Concurrently, the paper critically diagnoses persistent systemic, institutional, and cultural barriers that generate noticeable field friction, such as deeply entrenched professional insularity, rigid administrative time scheduling constraints, parent defensive anxiety, and severe socioeconomic communication disparities. The empirical findings demonstrate that building holistic, value-aligned partnership matrices generates statistically significant improvements in student social-emotional inclusion and structural academic adaptation, while markedly decreasing parent-school legal friction. Finally, this review highlights critical research gaps surrounding digital asynchronous co-tracking networks and introduces a multi-layered curriculum mapping matrix designed to support sustainable, democratic educational governance. KEYWORDS: Parent–School Partnerships, Inclusive Education, IEP Generalization, Epistemic Dialogue, Institutional Friction, Family-Professional Alliances.