School-family relationship is based on the sharing of responsibilities in the education of children and adolescents, considering mutual expectations. When referring to the ideal school-family relationship and the need for parents to be involved in education, specially in homework, as an strategy to promote school success, some factors are not taken into consideration: historical changes and cultural differences in educational and social reproduction modes; power relations between these institutions and their agents; the diversity of family arrangements and material and cultural disadvantages in many households; gender relations shaping the division of labour at home and at school. This text discusses these issues arguing that educational policy, the curriculum, and pedagogical practice coordinate the educational work at school and at home according to an ideal model of family and parental role and based on sex and gender division, subordinating the family to the school and overburdening mothers, therefore perpetuating gender inequity.
GENDER RELATIONSHIP; FAMILY SCHOOL RELATIONSHIP; EDUCATION; PARENTS