Educational Reforms, Gender and Families

Abstract

My research on families and education, a form of feminist critical policy analysis, linking empirical studies with broader policy questions and issues, is the subject of this chapter. Given the recent election of a New Labour government and its commitment to ‘Education, education, education’, this research evidence becomes significant. Mothers’ perspectives on their involvements in their children’s education are explored in the context of recent educational reforms towards marketization and privatization of education and the wider social and familial changes which have influenced more general cultural shifts, including that towards parental involvement. My aim is to illustrate and elaborate mothers’ understandings of the various changes; they are aware of the increasing inequities created by education reforms which are often at odds with the impact of cultural changes. Moreover, there is a dissonance between the discourse of educational reform and the practices of families in which mothers bear the burden.KeywordsParental InvolvementPrivate SchoolEducational ReformLone ParentParental ChoiceThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.