There has been an increasing focus from policymakers, academics and journalists on parents as the source of their child's anti-social behaviour both in and outside of the formal school setting. One intervention proffered is the parenting order. The language of parenting orders and parenting interventions obscures a distinct truth, that parenting orders are really mothering orders. This paper draws on findings generated during interviews with 26 parents attending a parenting education programme in a city in the north of England. This paper explores the gendered nature of parental education, in that the overwhelming majority of parents ordered by the courts to attend parenting classes are women. The paper explores mothers' experiences of receiving coercive parenting education, examines the reasons why mothers were given parenting orders and explores the nature of these mothers' relationships with their child's school. IntroductionParenting orders were first introduced to England and Wales in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, New Labour's flagship law and order act which also established anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs). Parenting orders were made available when a young person was given an ASBO, or they were convicted of a criminal offence. With respect to truancy, a parenting order could be triggered if a parent was convicted of an offence under section 443 (failure to comply with school attendance order) or section 444 (failure to secure regular attendance at school of registered pupil) of the Education Act 1996. Education-related parenting orders are extended by two further pieces of legislation; the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 provides for parenting orders when a child is excluded from school, and the Education and Inspections Act 2006 allows schools to apply directly to the courts for an order following a child's serious misbehaviour which if continued would warrant exclusion from school.Parents subject to an order must participate in a parenting support and education service as directed by the magistrates court (a court that deals with less serious criminal issues). The parenting order is supervised by an 'appropriate officer', named in the guidance produced by Government departments as a probation officer, social worker or other local authority social services officer or a Youth Offending Team 1 officer

No abstract

No abstract

This paper considers the experiences of people ordered by the courts in one area of England to attend parenting education classes and also parents who voluntarily attend these programmes. There has been increasing intervention into family life, designed to improve 'poor' parenting, most notably the use of parenting education programmes. These programmes deliver skills training with the aim of enhancing parenting practices and improving the behaviour of children. The paper provides analysis of parenting programmes delivered by a voluntary organisation service and considers how the parents are surveilled by the parenting workers, who in turn are also subject to scrutiny and monitoring by their managers, using the Foucauldian concepts of pastoral power and governmentality. While there are many theoretical analyses of welfare interventions this paper uses in-depth interviews with those providing and receiving these interventions (n ¼ 22), in one service in the north of England.