The Working Relationship In Teacher-Student-Parent-Conferences From The Point Of View Of Recognition Theory
Author(s):
Larissa Stabenow (presenting / submitting)
Conference:
ECER 2017
Network:
Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)
Format:
Poster

Session Information

ERG SES D 03, Interactive Poster Session

Poster Session

Time:
2017-08-21
13:30-15:00
Room:
W2.06
Chair:
Sabine Krause

Contribution

Following the results of national and international school benchmarking studies like PISA, IGLU, and TIMSS, a partnership between school and family is an aim of national and international school policy. How can the cooperation between school and family develop from parent involvement to a real partnership on an equal level with specific rights and responsibilities on each side (as organizations like PTA proclaim)? Recognition on both sides is an important condition for that development.

Axel Honneth presented a theory of recognition which forms the basis for the empirical view on recognition. Therefore, the theory of recognition by Honneth is the theoretical framework of the dissertation project, which is presented here.

 

Recognition, according to Honneth (1995), appears in three terms: Love (in a school context the more appropriate term is: emotional esteem (Helsper, Sandring, Wiezoreck 2005)), Rights and Solidarity. Emotional esteem refers to sentimental links between two people. An individual earns recognition in the form of emotional esteem just for himself/herself and his/her character, for example sympathy. The second term defines humans to be subjects with rights and obligations, regardless of individual traits like abilities, origin or success. Separate from this, the third term of recognition is measured by the value of a person to the society. Students receive social esteem from their academic achievement, for example, through marks or certificates. For the relationship between parents and teachers, the view of recognition theory is new. It has to be theoretically clarified based on the data collection in this dissertation project.

 

In a school context, only a few theoretically-based surveys exist about recognition in Germany. The greatest and most important one is about recognition in teachers acting in class: here Prengel (2013) shows different types of recognizing behavior, which vary between teachers although they work at the same school. One of the key findings is that every fourth action of a teacher is harmful for the students, so that they are obstructed in their learning. This shows the importance of recognition especially in conferences about learning development.

 

Since the 2010/11 school year, conferences about learning development between teachers, students and their parents are binding elements in school policy in Hamburg. The conferences are called “Lernentwicklungsgespräche” (conferences about learning development). Once a year teacher, student and parents come together to reflect on the individual learning development of the students and define the next learning objectives. In contrast to international equivalents like student-led-conferences (Sliwka, Klopsch & Yee (2016), teachers are responsible for moderating the course of conversation.

 

As a new type of conversation, german studies about these conferences are limited. Bonanati and Häbig have dealt with the part of the students in conferences about learning development. Bonanati asked from a linguistic perspective how students participate and how self-assessment in the conversations proceeds (Bonanati 2015, 2016). Häbig considered conferences about learning development as an instrument for student performance (Häbig 2014, 2016). The part of parents and the working relationship between students, teachers and parents will be investigated in my study.

 

Having that in mind this paper presents a reconstructive study about the questions:

 

Which orientations of teachers and parents can be reconstructed in the conferences?

  1. How important is recognition in conferences about learning development?
  2. What kinds of recognizing behavior can be reconstructed in conferences between teacher(s), students and parents?
  3. What part do parents play in the conferences?

Method

As this study wants to explore the recognition attitudes and practices of the actors, a qualitative design is useful. The sample for the study consists of twenty recorded and participant-observed conferences and additional interviews with all actors (20 with parents, 20 with children, 4 with teachers, 2 with school leaders) in two schools in Hamburg. For the second research question, interviews with every actor of the conferences are especially necessary. Leading questions for the interviews are: 1. In which ways do parents and teachers recognize each other? 2. Do the actors (especially parents) feel recognized in the conferences about learning development? 3. Comparison of viewpoints: what part do parents play in the conferences? The documentary method will be used for the data evaluation. Theoretically inspired by ethnomethodology and Karl Mannheim the documentary method was worked out in the 1980s by Ralf Bohnsack (Bohnsack 2014, p. 217). With this Method it’s possible to analyze the tacit, implicit knowledge, which is implied in the practice of action (Bohnsack 2010, p. 103) and the discursive knowledge of the actors.

Expected Outcomes

As the survey starts in April 2017, there are no preliminary findings yet. The paper will show a few outcomes of a pre-study as expected outcomes for the main study. To give an idea what role recognition in learning development conferences plays, and how teachers and parents act in terms of mutual recognition, three learning development conferences, which were recorded about two years ago in another framework, will be analyzed. This work is in progress.

References

Bohnsack, R. (2014): Documentary Method. In: Flick, U.: The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis. (p. 217-233). Los Angeles et al.: SAGE Publications. Bohnsack, R. (2010): Documentary Method And Group Discussions. In: R. Bohnsack, N. Pfaff & V. Weller (eds.): Qualitative Analysis And Documentary Method In International Educational Research (pp. 99-124). Opladen et al.: Budrich. Bonanati, Marina (2016): Partizipative Ordnungen in schulischen Lernentwicklungsgesprächen. In: Marina Bonanati und Claudia Knapp (Hg.): Eltern-Lehrer-Schüler. Theoretische und qualitativ-empirische Betrachtungen zum Verhältnis von Elternhaus und Schule sowie zu schulischen Gesprächen (p. 29-46). Bad Heilbrunn: Julius Klinkhardt Verlag. Bonanati, Marina (2015): Selbsteinschätzung in Lehrer-Schüler-Eltern-Gesprächen. In: Heike de Boer und Marina Bonanati (Hg.): Gespräche über Lernen - Lernen im Gespräch (p. 177-192). Wiesbaden: Springer VS. Epstein, J.L. (2016): School, family, and community partnerships. Westview Press Häbig, Julia (2016): "Jenseits von Noten"? Lernentwicklungsgespräche als Bestandteil schulischer Leistungsbeurteilung. In: Marina Bonanati und Claudia Knapp (Hg.): Eltern-Lehrer-Schüler. Theoretische und qualitativ-empirische Betrachtungen zum Verhältnis von Elternhaus und Schule sowie zu schulischen Gesprächen (p. 74-87). Bad Heilbrunn: Julius Klinkhardt Verlag. Häbig, Julia (2014): Lernentwicklungsgespräche: Eltern, Lernende und Lehrpersonen im Dialog. In: Dagmar Killus und Angelika Paseka (Hg.): Mit Eltern zusammenarbeiten (p. 22-39). Berlin: Cornelsen Schulverlage GmbH. Helsper, Werner; Sandring, Sabine; Wiezorek, Christine (2005): Anerkennung in pädagogischen Beziehungen. Ein Problemaufriss. In: Wilhelm Heitmeyer und Peter (Hrsg.) Imbusch (Hg.): Integrationspotenziale einer modernen Gesellschaft. 1. Aufl. (p. 179-206). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Honneth, Axel (1995): The Struggle for Recognition: The Moral Grammar of Social Conflicts. Cambridge: Polity Press Prengel, Annedore (2013): Pädagogische Beziehungen zwischen Anerkennung, Verletzung und Ambivalenz. Opladen, Berlin, Toronto: Verlag Barbara Budrich. PTA (2008): PTA National Standards for Family-School Partnerships. USA. Online: http://s3.amazonaws.com/rdcmspta/files/production/public/National_Standards_Assessment_Guide.pdf (last access: 21.01.2017) Sliwka, Anne; Klopsch, Britta; Yee, Brandy (2016): Partnerschaft für Schulerfolg und Potenzialentwicklung: systematische Kooperation zwischen Schulen und Eltern im kanadischen Schulsystem. In: Susanne Frank und Anne Sliwka (Hg.): Eltern und Schule. Aspekte von Chancengerechtigkeit und Teilhabe an Bildung (p.127-139). Weinheim, Basel: Beltz Juventa.

Author Information

Larissa Stabenow (presenting / submitting)
University of Hamburg
education
Hamburg

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