From our responsibility to my responsibility - parents' and teachers' responsibility in the home-school relations

Author(s):

Marja Leena Böök

Conference:

ECER 2009

Network:

14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

14 SES 6.5, Perspectives and Paradoxes in Home-School "Partnerships"

Paper Session

Time:

2009-09-29

13:30-15:00

Room:

JUR, HS 10

Chair:

Linda Mary Hargreaves

Contribution

The paper focuses on Finnish mothers’ and fathers’ views on teachers’ and parents’ responsibility. The aim is to find out what is the responsibility of parents’ and teachers’ in the home-school relations like, how these responsibilities are constructed, and how the positions of a responsible parent and a responsible teacher are constructed. The findings are a part of a larger study that aims at deconstructing parental responsibility and investigating the meanings it has in different contexts. In this research parental responsibility is studied as socially constructed (see e.g. Gubrium & Holstein; Silva & Smart 1999; Morgan 1996; 1999).

Method

The findings in the presentation are based on the analysis of thematic interviews of 24 mothers and four fathers. The textual data have been analysed using qualitative thematizing (See e.g. Denzin & Lincoln 2000 ) and discourse analysis ( see e.g. Potter & Wetherell 1994; 1995).

Expected Outcomes

The discourse that refers to parents and teachers as partners was repeated often. In this discourse parents’ active participation is seen as a key to children’s success and the constructed relation of parent’s and teacher’s responsibilities appears to be symmetrical. These responsibilities can be interpreted in a loose sense to represent a joint responsibility. However, there were contradictory discourses which positioned teachers and parents quite to the opposite positions, e.g. teachers as experts - parents as laymen, and the constructed relation between parent’s and teacher’s responsibilities could be seen as asymmetrical. There were few references to children’s responsibility in the home-school context. However, it can be argued that children are seldom considered as ‘actors’ in the discourses of partnership. The teacher’s and parent’s responsibilities are being negotiated in the school and the home. The boundaries between public and private can be blurred in this process of negotiation.

References

Denzin, N.K. & Lincoln, Y.S. 2000. Introduction. The discipline and practice of qualitative research. In N.K. Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln (eds.) Handbook of qualitative research. Second edition. Thousand Oaks: Sage 1 - 28. Gubrium, J. & Holstein, J. A. 1990. What is family? California: Mountain View. Morgan, D. H. 1996. Family connections. Cambridge: Polity Press. Morgan, D. H. 1999. Risk and family practices: accounting for change and fluidity in family life. In E. B. Silva & C. Smart (eds.) The new family? London: Sage, 13 30. Potter, J. & Wetherell, M. 1987. Discourse and social psychology: beyond attitudes and behaviour. London: Sage. Potter, J. & Wetherell, M. 1994. Analyzing discourse. In A. Bryman & R. G. Burgess. (eds.) Analyzing qualitative data. London: Routledge, 4766. Potter, J. & Wetherell, M. 1995. Discourse analysis. In J.A. Smith, R. Harré & L. Van Langenhove (eds.) Rethinking methods in psychology, London: Sage, 80 92. Silva, E. B. & Smart, C. 1999. The ‘new’ practices and politics of family life. In E. B. Silva & C. Smart (eds.) The new family. London: Sage, 112.

Author Information

Marja Leena Böök

University of Jyväskylä

Department of Educational Sciences

Jyväskylä

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