Problematic Parents and the Community Parent Education: Representations of Social Class, Ethnicity, and Gender

Abstract

The author presents an analysis of the Swedish version of the Community Parent Education. The analysis was done by using Bacchi's (2009) policy analysis approach combined with an investigation of how social categories intersect in the material. The material consisted of the course leader manual and a DVD with 22 film sequences illustrating poor parenting. The author shows that in relation to the history of child-care, popular education, and enlightenment in Sweden, the ideals on parenting presented in the Community Parent Education portray working class parents and immigrant parents as being problematic. The educational material also tends to reinforce traditional complementary gender stereotypes.