Parents of the Welfare State: Pedagogues as Parenting Guides

Abstract

In Denmark, a process of defamilising has taken place since the expansion of the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) sector in the 1960s, in the sense that children now spend a large part of their childhood outside the family. Nevertheless, parents are still seen as key figures in children's upbringing and as having primary responsibility for the quality of childhood, implying a simultaneous process of refamilising. Based on ethnographic fieldwork we show that parents are not only held responsible for their children's lives at home, but also for ensuring that ECEC staff have the best possible opportunity to support children's development at ECEC institutions. We analyse how ECEC staff offer guidance on how to be a responsible parent who cooperates in the right ways, and on how to cultivate children's development at home. Parents willingly accept such advice because of a strong risk awareness embedded in diagnostic forms, positioning ECEC staff as parenting experts.

We all care just as much about the child: stakeholders’ experiences of parenting support in a Norwegian school context

“…In their study parents viewed the school staff as guides they could turn to both in everyday life and in crisis. As in the research of Dannesboe et al ( 2018 ), we also found that this expertise has to be operationalized and aimed at the child’s and the family’s particular situation. In addition, our study highlights that the value of the expertise depends on the knowledge the professionals have gained about the child and family acquired through daily interactions.…”

“…Not recognizing this element of equality may leave a negative impression of parenting support, as Sandbæk ( 2017 ) pointed out because parents are then seen as passive and non-competent receivers, rather than resource-orientated equal partners who have the right to self-determination. Having said this, it was expected that the professionals should use their expertise, not by providing general advice on a know-it-all basis, but in line with the findings of Dannesboe et al ( 2018 ). In their study parents viewed the school staff as guides they could turn to both in everyday life and in crisis.…”

Parenting Support in Europe's North: How Is It Understood and Evaluated in Research?

“…The course targets first-time parent couples and is offered free of charge by municipal health centres. Hennum (2010) also focuses on the increased influence of experts in defining parenthood, and the issue is also discussed in the present themed section (see Dannesboe et al ., 2018).…”

“…Many of these contributions are inspired either by Foucault's governmentality perspective or by research from other countries (such as the UK, Netherlands, and Germany), stating that parenting support represents a tendency towards increased responsibilisation of parents for raising ‘good’ future citizens (Gillies, 2005; Ellingsæter and Leira, 2006; Furedi, 2008; Oelkers, 2011; Richter and Andresen, 2012; Lee, 2014; Knijn and Hopman, 2015). The basic line of argumentation here is that parents are expected to make greater effort to ensure the positive development of their children, and to adapt their attitudes and practices to the contemporary ideas of ‘good’ (positive, attentive) parenting that such experts promote (see Dannesboe et al ., 2018). Some also argue that this promotes the view that parents can be held responsible for problematic child development.…”

Introduction: Parenting Support in the Nordic Countries: Is there a Specific Nordic Model?

“…The contribution from Denmark, authored by Dannesboe, Bach, Kjaer and Palludan (2018), discusses the issue of parental responsibilisation, though with the critical remark that responsibilisation of parents does not necessarily indicate that the state withdraws from its responsibility of caring or governing for the sake of 'positive' child development. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) institutions, the article shows how deeply involved the state is in shaping parents' approach to their children.…”