Making working-class parents think more like middle-class parents: Choice Advisers in English education

Exley, Sonia

doi:10.1080/02680939.2012.689012

Cited by 20 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Frequent references are made to the perceived inappropriate and dysfunctional behaviour of parents when their children experience difficulties, with policy implying that these parents are bringing up their children 'without a moral framework' (Edwards, 2010, p. 64), and concerns have been raised regarding how parents are simplistically categorised into the polar opposites of good and bad (Reay, 2010). There is an evident class issue here, with good parenting assumed to equate to middle-class values and norms of parenting (Klett-Davies, 2010;Perrier, 2010), and working-class parents are therefore often surveilled and deemed to be failing in bringing up their children (Arai, 2011;Exley, 2013). This has been exacerbated by the UK riots in 2011, where the violence displayed by many children and young people was attributed to a lack of parental responsibility, and a demonisation of parents has ensued (Jones, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

‘Going the extra mile’: educational practitioners compensating for perceived inadequacies in the parenting of children with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD)

Broomhead

2013

Pastoral Care in Education

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Parents are frequently positioned in policy as blameworthy and lacking responsibility for their children's well-being. However, little research has considered how the socio-emotional needs of children are being addressed whilst attempts are being made to improve parenting. Based on interviews with 15 educational practitioners employed in mainstream and BESD schools, I illustrate how staff perceived pupils with BESD to experience chaotic home lives. Parents were viewed as failing to take responsibility for their children's development and socio-emotional well-being, and their parenting practices were frequently viewed as inappropriate. Educational practitioners consequently compensated for these assumed parental inadequacies to ensure the socio-emotional needs of pupils with BESD were addressed. This highlighted the intense pressure and multi-faceted role of practitioners, due to a moral obligation to support the socio-emotional well-being of their pupils. It questioned how the socio-emotional needs of pupils would be addressed if staff had not been so committed to addressing these issues, in addition to their key role as educator. The paper concludes by considering implications for policy and practice, with a particular focus on the need for further support for educational practitioners if they are to address the socio-emotional well-being of pupils within these circumstances.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

‘Going the extra mile’: educational practitioners compensating for perceived inadequacies in the parenting of children with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD)

Broomhead

2013

Pastoral Care in Education

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“…'Parents' were discussed quite generically by CAs, with references to 'disadvantage', though without clear distinctions drawn between: a) parents merely 'at risk of' choosing unpopular schools through poor information, and b) parents who have no choice but to send their children to -- or whose children already attend -- such schools. Findings here build on previous research by the author which explored the extent to which CAs were 'policy subjects' in their school choice work at the same time as they were policy 'actors' -co--opted into central government discourses treating parents in individualised terms and sidestepping issues of social class and inequality between schools and families (Exley, 2013). Findings are also reminiscent of those reported recently by Higham (2014) on the discourses of Free School proposers in England.…”

Section: Celebrating 'Independence'mentioning

confidence: 50%

“…CA policy fits within libertarian paternalist trends towards a 'nudging' of citizens into 'rational' behaviour (Bradbury et al, 2013). Structural constraints within education markets are known, however (as indicated above), to constrain choice severely for disadvantaged families, even where they receive advice (Exley, 2013;Coldron et al, 2009), and CA might also be considered as reinforcing problems faced by less 'desirable' schools. Guidance notes were produced by central government for LAs in 2006 detailing ways in which CA might be implemented (DfES, 2006).…”

Section: Choice Advisers In English Lasmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Critical friends’: exploring arm’s length actor relationships to local government in education

Exley

2016

Journal of Education Policy

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Discussions charting the changing role of local government in education have often focused extensively on 'concrete' policy changes over time, but have provided less detail on the contribution to changing power relations of less tangible shifts. Drawing on Foucauldian notions of discourse and governmentality, in this paper, detailed rationalities of local third sector and other 'arm's length' actors in English education are explored, with a focus on their relationship to local authority (LA) school admissions teams. The paper aims to provide deeper understanding of tactical struggles for authority which happen within competitive local socio--political spaces. Data is utilised from a study of 'Choice Advice' (CA) in ten LAs, within a background context where arm's length agents deployed to deliver CA have been co--opted into central government marketization regimes, but local state planning of schooling is arguably more equitable for vulnerable families than are logics advancing a marketization of education. The research reveals: 1) discourses valorising 'independence' and 'distance' from local state 'agendas'; 2) discourses separating the interests of 'parents' and 'schools', with LAs positioned as representing the latter; 3) dehumanising representations of LA officers as 'faceless', obstructive and requiring regulation from 'critical friends'.

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“…Since 1988, successive attempts have been made to achieve these aims. Demand-side reforms have seen the government appoint choice advisors to support low-income families in making school choices (Exley, 2013) as well as ever more school performance data for parents (Ozga, 2009). Supply-side reforms have sought to promote institutional diversity by allowing existing schools to convert to new statuses (e.g.…”

Section: Social Selection In School Quasi-marketsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quasi-markets, school diversity and social selection: Analysing the case of free schools in England, five years on

Allen¹,

Higham²

2018

London Review of Education

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The opening of new state schools by non-state actors has intensified debates about social selection and inequality in quasi-markets. This article examines the case of England, where the government allows anyone to apply to open a new 'free school', arguing this will improve social equity. Using data from the National Pupil Database for all 325 free schools established between 2011/12 and 2015/16, we analyse whether the students attending free schools are representative of their local neighbourhoods. We develop the first analysis of whether the specifics of who opens and provides a free school impacts on who attends the school. We also analyse whether opening a free school has an impact on neighbouring schools. We find that free schools are located in areas with above-average deprivation but admit intakes that are more affluent than the average for the neighbourhoods from which they recruit. This is particularly the case for primary free schools, which also recruit students with above-average prior attainment. There is no evidence that free schools become more representative as they admit additional year groups. Significantly, we find that all categories of free school providers have opened schools whose populations are more affluent than their neighbourhoods, with the exception of academy chains. We also find that the opening of a free school leads to a concentrated loss of pupils at the closest school, except in cities, but we do not identify an impact on the student composition of neighbouring schools. Discussing the reasons for this, we conclude that free schools are socially selective and reproduce socio-economic inequalities.

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Making working-class parents think more like middle-class parents: Choice Advisers in English education

Abstract: In this paper, one policy response to the problem of classed school choice experiences in

Cited by 20 publications

References 41 publications

‘Going the extra mile’: educational practitioners compensating for perceived inadequacies in the parenting of children with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD)

‘Going the extra mile’: educational practitioners compensating for perceived inadequacies in the parenting of children with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD)

‘Critical friends’: exploring arm’s length actor relationships to local government in education

Quasi-markets, school diversity and social selection: Analysing the case of free schools in England, five years on

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