This paper examines the perspectives of immigrant parents with respect to their experiences of schools and the education of their children in Ireland, as well as their attitudes toward being involved in a meaningful manner in school activities. The title of the paper reflects the challenges as well as opportunities that exist in promoting positive and constructive involvement of minority ethnic parents in newly multi-ethnic schools. The paper raises questions about how parental involvement is defined, and the extent to which the inclusion of minority ethnic parents is framed in terms of a social justice perspective, moving beyond tokenistic modes of representation to a more deliberative democracy (Blackmore 2006) that engages in a meaningful manner with the diversity of cultures and experiences that are reflected in newly multi-ethnic schools.  It has particular relevance to understanding school contexts of new immigration in Europe, and builds on work which has been done in other countries with a relatively long history of immigration. 

Situated in the context of Bourdieu’s analysis of both the productive and reproductive tendencies within the field of education, the paper considers how parental dispositions are themselves mediated by their access to capitals, and the extent to which their ‘habitus’ (hence that of their children) dovetails with that of the school. Parents thus position themselves and are positioned differently with/by the school - those who are most aligned with the dominant school culture moving seamlessly between home and school, like a ‘fish in water’. The school defines 'the rules of the game' with which parents must choose to comply. The analysis draws also on previous work in this area (e.g. Crozier and Davies, 2007; Vincent and Ball 2006; Vincent and Martin 2002, Ran 2001) highlighting the intersection between class, race and gender in minority ethnic parents' positioning with schools. Theoretically the paper also draws on Blackmore's work (2006) in relation to the concept of parental voice being located firmly in terms of the creation of a deliberative democracy, that ties in with social justice, social cohesion, citizenship and community.

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