Session Information
23 SES 10 B, Advocacy for Educational Policy Change: Strategies, Trajectories, and Lessons from Diverse Actors in Four Countries
Symposium
Contribution
The literature on family engagement has traditionally focused on ways families contribute to their child’s education through partnerships with schools (Epstein, 1995). However, the limitations of this model related to social class, race, language and ethnicity are recognized and alternative frameworks emphasizing more inclusive practices are on the rise (de Carvhalho, 2001). Family engagement does not require families to support school-based initiatives and may entail participation in actions directly opposed to education stakeholders and/or policies. With parent activism on the rise in the USA (Warren, 2014), Canada (Winton & Brewer, 2014), and in countries throughout Europe and Asia (Hargreaves & Shirley, 2012) there is a need for more research that examines the role of parental dissent in education policymaking. Our research uses a case study of the opt out phenomena in the USA to better understand how families frame participation in acts of dissent as a form of engagement. The opt-out phenomena in the USA is one recent example in which families are demonstrating their opposition to dominant education policy narratives. Our research utilizes a mixed-methods approach including a survey of 208 Ohio parents who opted their children out of standardized tests in 2014-15 and qualitative interviews with families residing in places with high percentages of opt-outs. We utilize Hirschman’s Exit, Voice and Loyalty as our theoretical framework to explore how acts of parental dissent may be interpreted as a form of family engagement. According to Hirschman (1970), the two main courses of action for people in response to declining performance in social, economic or political systems are exit and voice. Exit refers to an individual deciding to leave the system altogether, while voice is a broad term for people seeking change within the structure of an organization (Jacobsen, 2009). Participants in the opt out phenomena are both exiting one aspect of public education (testing), while simultaneously voicing their dissatisfaction with public education. The findings suggest that the act of opting out is a form of family engagement, but that families have diverse motivations and objectives. This research is timely as parents and educators globally engage in policy dialogues (e.g., school closures in England; assessment in the USA; curriculum issues related to controversial topics in France and Germany). Policymakers and school leaders faced with acts of parental dissent are called upon to re-consider how they might engage with families to address concerns and achieve shared goals for public education.
References
Epstein, J. (1995). School, family, and community partnerships – caring for the children we share. In School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Preparing Educators and Improving Schools (pp. 401-425). Boulder, CO: Westview. de Carvhalho, M. P. (2001). Rethinking family-school relations: A critique of parental involvement in schooling. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Goodall, J. & Montgomery, C. (2014). Parent involvement to parent engagement: A continuum. Educational Review. 66(4), pp. 399-410. Hargreaves, A. & Shirley, D. (2012). The global fourth way: The quest for educational excellence. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Hirschman, A. O. (1970). Exit, voice, and loyalty: Responses to decline in firms, organizations, and states. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Jacobsen, R.J. (2009). The voice of the people in education policy. In G. Sykes, D. Plank, & B. Schneider (Eds.) Handbook of Education Policy, 307-318. Winton, S. & Brewer, C. (2014). People for Education: A critical policy history. Qualitative Studies in Education, 27(9), 1091-1109.
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