Parental involvement among primary school parents in China: A reconstruction under policy reform and educational digitalization

Under the dual context of the "Double Reduction" policy and digitalization of education, Chinese parents' educational participation and role perception are undergoing profound changes. This study aims to explore how parents in urban and county areas engage in their children's learning within this new educational ecology and how they perceive and adjust their parental roles. Guided by an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach, ten parents of primary school students were recruited using a combination of purposive and convenience sampling. Data were collected through two rounds of semi-structured interviews, participant diaries, and visual materials. The study observed four categories of parental involvement in the new context: home-based involvement, school-based involvement, community-based involvement, and digital involvement. In addition, the study revealed structural differences between urban and county parents regarding their involvement in school planning, home-school communication, and utilization of community resources. Finally, the study observed a shift in parents' role perceptions from "supervisor" to "co-teacher", as well as the phenomenon of intergenerational reverse socialization of digital literacy. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of parental involvement under policy and technological change, extend existing theoretical discussions on parental involvement. Meanwhile, they provide practical insights for optimizing the home-school cooperation mechanism and identifying alternative solutions to extracurricular training under the new policy.