Abstract
This research was conducted in a large preschool in Adelaide where parental involvement was encouraged and emphasised. Parents were interviewed about how they conceived their role in the education of their child. They were classified into one of four groups based on these beliefs. The classification was influenced especially by the parent's ideas about the relative contributions and responsibilities of parents and teachers. The parents were also interviewed about their involvement with the preschool. Finally the parents completed a self-report questionnaire indicating how often they had engaged in each of 58 possible involvement activities throughout the year. Parental views about and participation in involvement activities were in many ways consistent with conceptions of their educational role. It was concluded that parental beliefs about their educational role is likely to be a factor influencing the nature and extent of parental involvement at preschool.