Parent involvement as professionalization: professionals' struggle for power in Dutch urban deprived areas

Abstract

Parent involvement policies have been central in the Dutch push towards educational governance. How the implementation of these policies plays out on the ground is context‐dependent. The ethnic and class cleavages impacting the Dutch educational system should be taken into account. On the basis of 50 in‐depth interviews with teachers, social workers and school managers in secondary education, we analyse what ‘parent involvement’ becomes in Dutch urban deprived areas. We characterize our respondents as ‘hybrid professionals’, constantly manoeuvring to establish and expand professional content. Parent involvement policies in context turn out to be vital stakes in our respondents' attempts to ‘become better professionals’. Policy goals and responsibilities for success or failure become displaced in the process.