Abstract
ABSTRACTAt a time when neo-liberal policy agenda are resulting in many public services being taken away from families with young children, this paper draws on Basil Bernstein's concepts of visible and invisible pedagogies to reveal how professionals offer ‘support’ to parents of young (under five years old) children in a small town in the East Midlands (England). It draws on findings from an ethnographic study which show that mothers are ‘taught’ to support their young children's literacy development differently depending on the way English education policy is interpreted and enacted in the places they visit. It is argued that dominant policy discourses around ‘good’ parenting can lead to inequitable interventions, paradoxical pedagogies and the disempowerment of some parents. The paper therefore contributes to the wider debate about more equitable ways of working with families that will be applicable across other contexts.
Highlights
Using Bernstein’s (1975, 1990) concepts of visible and invisible pedagogies, this paper aims to explore how the education policies of different UK governments have been enacted in various settings set up to provide support for parents of young children in a small town in the East Midlands
Policy is enacted through public services in ways that reinforce the dominant discourse
This can be seen in interventions that employ a visible pedagogy based on the assumption that particular parents need to be taught how to be ‘better’
Summary
Using Bernstein’s (1975, 1990) concepts of visible and invisible pedagogies, this paper aims to explore how the education policies of different UK governments (since 1997) have been enacted in various settings set up to provide support for parents of young children (under the age of 5) in a small town in the East Midlands. Research has tended to either focus on the content of what parents and early years’ settings do to support children’s development and academic achievement Governments across the world are pursuing austerity agenda that have resulted in widespread cuts to public services whilst using ‘evidence’ from neuroscience to assert the importance of the early years for ensuring children’s future success (Gillies, 2017), putting more pressure on parents to provide support for their children’s learning and development. In order to ensure that all children are able to develop well in their early years so they can go on to achieve educational success, it is crucial to understand how families can be supported effectively and equitably
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