Parental voice: An exploration

Abstract

This article analyses data collected in the first phase of an ESRC-funded project based in the United Kingdom, and studying the formulation and expression of parental 'voice' in school. The project takes as its starting point a conceptualisation of parent-teacher relationships which posits parents as citizens relating to public sector institutions. In this article, the authors first consider some theoretical formulations of citizenship, identifying radical understandings of citizenship and differentiating them from more traditional versions. Then, turning to the data, the home-school relationships in the case study schools are described and analysed, and the authors then consider what the practices and activities structuring those relationships tell us about the type of citizenship on offer to and practised by parents at the schools. The authors conclude that the expression of parental 'voice' was often heavily controlled and managed by the school, and identify three relationships - consumer accountability, active volunteerism and tutelage, which have little articulation with citizenship practices. However, they suggest that a more participative parental role is allowed for in some school fora where (admittedly fragile and partial) spaces for debate between educators and parents concerning the purposes of education do exist. One such example is descibed here