With the new primary school law in Iceland 2008, increased responsibilities were placed on parents. Parents’ associations were bound by law, as were school councils, which have a strategic role. Homework assistance and active communication with teachers and school authorities are among the mandatory roles of parents. This development in Iceland is part of a multinational development that revolves around the increased responsibilities of parents towards their children’s schooling (Reay, 2005).

In the years since the law was passed, little has been done to examine the impact it has had or how it affects the ability of different parents to meet the requirements of legal and curriculum policies. In this study, emphasis will be placed on analyzing this reality on the basis of gender, marital and class status as well as other important background factors.

The main goal of the study is to systematically analyze how the work of mothers and fathers is reflected in homework, relationships with teachers and school staff, work with children’s leisure and work with emotional and social aspects that arise in children. The field of education here refers to school work at the lower and middle levels of primary school, leisure and leisure activities that often take over after the school day.