Abstract
Based on data from an ESRC-funded project exploring the communication practices at secondary school parents' evenings, this chapter was originally presented as part of an ESRC seminar series on home-school partnerships. The data consisted of audio-recordings of parent-teacher exchanges at parents' evenings in three secondary schools in Norfolk and one in London. These recordings were subjected to discourse analysis. Seen from a Foucauldian perspective, the results problematise the notion of home-school partnerships', on which much policy emphasis has been placed in recent years. The findings from this study indicated that the power and knowledge relations in the interactions in these events are highly complex yet largely unrecogniseable to the participants, something that should be acknowledged when establishing such partnerships. This is a dual-authored paper with a 50% contribution from each researcher.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Activating Participation: parents and teachers working towards partnership |
| Editors | G. Crozier, D. Reay |
| Publisher | Trentham Books |
| Pages | 97-110 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| ISBN (Print) | 1858563259 |
| Publication status | Published - 2005 |