The “Paradox of Empowerment” in Parent Education: A Reflexive Examination of Parents' Pedagogical Expectations

Abstract

In an action research project designed to develop a new paradigm for parent education in alignment with the “strengths perspective,” a social constructionist epistemology, and the empowerment discourse, it was found that parents joining two parent groups actually valued and sought expert knowledge. Seeking to empower these parents by adopting a collaborative learning approach—facilitating a reflective discussion of their parenting experience while refraining from meeting their expectation to be taught—we were actually exercising professional power in imposing our ideology of empowerment on the parents. To resolve this “paradox of empowerment,” we came to the see that parent educators cannot avoid meeting parents' pedagogical expectation. They should, however, provide expert knowledge and advice with epistemic reflexivity. Moreover, they need to navigate the micropolitics in the interaction between themselves as “educators” and parents as “learners,” so as to negotiate a power relation that is characterized by collaboration and partnership.

An exploratory study on the effectiveness and experience of a parent enhancement group adopting a narrative approach

“…Understand that the identity transformation are accompaniments of deep, relational learning (Walters, 2008); . Co-constitute the reflexive identities with participants in the way that result in them having more expanded personal narratives and interpretations (Lam & Kwong, 2012); and . Create a mutually supportive environment in which the participants can open their minds to listen to others' stories and give one another genuine and inspiring feedback.…”

Reflections on the Traditional Role of Social Workers in Child Protection: Lessons Learned from the Strong Communities Initiative in Israel

“…Research has shown that parenting training can damage parents' confidence or alienate those who feel patronized (Todd and Higgins 1998). In addition, the idea that the practitioner possesses some sort of superior knowledge to that which the parent possesses may only perpetuate the power imbalance in the relationship between professionals and parents (Lam and Kwong 2012;Safford and Safford 1996). For parents, being a recipient of the practitioner's knowledge and skills-training may be interpreted as their giving up their own values and beliefs with respect to parenting.…”

Reviving Parents’ Life Momentum: A Qualitative Evaluation of a Parent Education Program Adopting an Existential Approach

“…A review of the development of parent education in Hong Kong reveals that parent education is commonly offered by parent education practitioners who impart parenting knowledge and skills to parents through various parent education programs, which aim to promote positive physical, intellectual, psychological, and social development of children [1,20,21]. Nevertheless, in their assessment of the existing mode of service provision, Chan [5], Lam [1], Lam and Kwong [2], Leung and Lam [3], and To and Chan [4] comment that parent education programs in Hong Kong are rather problem-focused. It is observed that parents are mainly helped to confront the problems of their children and themselves.…”

“…The current social concerns over parenting in Hong Kong have serious implications for rethinking the direction of parent education [1][2][3][4]. Under the present dominant ideology of parent education, people tend to focus on the predicaments surrounding families while neglecting the opportunities embedded in parenthood for enhancing life advancement, strengths and possibilities for parents to seek positive changes [5,6].…”