Parent school relationships have been a persistent area of interest for researchers across Europe (see for instance the European Network About Parents in Education and the accompanying International Journal About Parents in Education). However, despite a myriad of different initiatives to involve parents in different ways, in school life, some groups of parents remain on the margins. For example the European project, Involve Parents-Improve School focuses in particular on addressing the marginalization of migrant parents. The project’s website argues that the key to involving more parents in governance  - especially disadvantaged parents and those with a background of migration - ‘is achieving successful parental involvement at class level’ (http://www.involve-migrants-improve-school.eu/index.php?id=70). This paper concludes by considering one common site of parent-teacher interaction – consultations - and discusses how these can be developed into more  interactive and dialogic events .

First, the paper starts by reviewing the body of literature on home and school which points to the importance of social class and ethnicity in shaping parent teacher interactions (e.g Dahlstedt 2009, Vincent 2000, Reay 1998). I draw on the work of Bourdieu in examining i) the fit between the capitals and dispositions valued by the school and that which the children bring from home, and, ii) the differential resources parents can bring to bear as they constitute their children as ‘learning ready’ (Vincent & Ball 2007, Lareau 2003), and iii) the deployment of class based cultural, social and economic capitals by middle class parents – in a process of ‘parental managerialism’ (James et al 2010) as they monitor their children’s progress and that of the school. As a result of the advantages indicated above middle class parents, especially those of a non minority background, are in a strong position to demand teacher time and attention. Second, the paper considers the intersectional relationship of class and ethnicity, arguing that class based resources go some way to strengthen parents’ positioning in relation to the school, but that the fear of potential discrimination persists (Vincent et al 2012). Third, the paper considers how parent teacher consultations could be developed in order to address the marginalisation of many working class and minority parents (also Symeou 2008).

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