Applying a family systems perspective for understanding parent—professional relationships: a study of families located in the Anglo‐Jewish community

Under current government directives, parents, along with professionals, are ascribed a central role in contributing to the processes associated with meeting their children's special needs. Yet many obstacles continue to hinder the achievement of good working relationships between parents and professionals. For parents located within minority ethnic communities, however, it is known that the challenges to attaining partnership working are often further heightened. Drawing on the day‐to‐day experiences of six families located in one minority ethnic context ‐ the Anglo‐Jewish community ‐ the author uses family systems theory as a useful lens through which parents' understandings of, and responses to professionals can be further interpreted and understood. All the names used in this article are pseudonyms.     

From Scepticism to the Urge to Take Action,or from Daily Frustration to a Solo Initiative

This paper describes an action research project at the elementary school in Wurflach in Lower Austria during the pilot phase of the Ecologisation of Schools programme initiated by the Federal Ministry of Education and the OECD. Over this period, the author was teaching in the school, and counselling another school in Lower Austria also involved in the programme. After a period of conflict, caused by mutual misunderstandings and lack of communication, the positive effects of the project began to emerge. There was increased team work among the teachers; more positive relationships between pupils and teachers; greater understanding and more constructive working relations between the school community and the school caretaker, Hannerl Bartl; and relations between the school and the parents, the local community, and especially the local mayor, were greatly enhanced.     

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Whilst there is now clearly an expectation upon parents to become more involved in schools and to take a greater part in their children's education, there is still little attempt to address the constraints upon achieving such aims. These constraints have been shown to include social class factors, gender relations, ethnicity and power relationships. This paper will take the analysis of some of these constraints further and, in particular, will focus on the views of working‐class parents on their relationships with, and role in relation to, their children's secondary school. The paper will explore the reasons for the orientation by working‐class parents which would seem to differ markedly from that of middle‐class parents. It will be shown that working‐class parents are committed to their children achieving educational success, and that they perceive their own role as supportive in a variety of ways. However, their position in relation to schools is to view the school as separate from their everyday social and cultural world and that the parent‐teacher role comprises a division of labour. It will be argued that teachers tend to adopt the same strategies for promoting parental involvement irrespective of class, parental needs, individual circumstances, and so on. Hence, because they take no account of differences, and because their strategies are constructed essentially from a logocentric position, then they serve to reinforce the parents’ perception of teachers as the professional ‘who knows best’: as the powerful knower which thus reinforces working‐class parents’ fatalistic view of schooling and their role as passive. The paper draws on data from a three‐year research project into the parents’ relationship with their children's secondary school. The data set which formed the basis of the analysis presented here comprises interviews with 58 parents from one of the case‐study schools which will be known as Acre Lane, and 15 of the school's teachers.     

Making a difference in poor communities: relations among actors in Mexican schools

Even in marginalized towns it is possible to find school communities that have developed relationships that encourage the construction of institutional cultures and management structures prone to superior academic performance compared to others within the same context. This paper presents the findings of a qualitative research project conducted in 8 towns and 16 schools in Mexico. The analytical framework is based on Kenneth Gergen’s social constructionism. The paper highlights the role of the school’s principal in the construction of relationships in the school community and the build-up of practices leading to shared meaning and goals. The desire and ability of the principal to promote dialogue and provide spaces for it are central, as well as her or his ability to interpret and translate the needs of parents and community, and the systemic norms from the Ministry of Education, to the reality of the community and the parents.     

Community polarization over educational programs can be avoided

The series of events involved in implementing an innovative educational project in a fairly conservative community are outlined with particular reference to parental dissemination procedures, the role of the media, and staff response strategies. Shortly after the project's inception, two challenges against the use of an affective curriculum were mounted by a couple of opposition parents. The attempts were considered unsuccessful and several operating assumptions for new programs were described.     

Influencing Student Attitudes Toward Older Adults: Results of a Service-Learning Collaboration

This article describes a service-learning collaboration between a research center at a graduate school of social work and a community college. While the goal of the collaboration was to conduct a community needs assessment of the older population of Bermuda, the project offered a unique opportunity to connect community service, teaching, and research. Students' classroom experience prepared them to play a critical role as interviewers of older adults. Participation in this project enabled students to contribute to a vital step in the process of community change. Students reported more positive attitudes toward older adults and greater interest in working with older adults as a result of this experience. Service-learning can be an effective means of teaching students about aging.     

RESEARCH SECTION: Multi‐agency working: what are the perspectives of SENCos and parents regarding its development and implementation?

With a national drive in England for the development and restructuring of services encouraging interdisciplinary approaches and multi‐agency working, the question remains as to how services should be developed and why it is perceived as so important. This study by Pearl Barnes, who is an Every Child Counts Teacher Leader and a member of the Specialist Advisory Board for nasen and the Child and Family Public Education Board at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, explores the perspectives of special educational needs co‐ordinators (SENCos) and parents regarding the rationale for multi‐agency working and explores what an effective service might look like. The interviews revealed overwhelming support for multi‐agency activity. Although no single rationale was identified, the general consensus was that a multi‐agency approach can provide a child‐centred pedagogical response, tailored to the individual needs of the child. Multi‐agency working was perceived as enabling and enhancing inclusive education by providing an early and holistic assessment of individual needs through identification of all individual barriers to achievement. No specific set of protocols was identified as offering the most suitable way forward within the project region. However, there was general agreement that a multi‐agency teamwork approach, accessed directly by schools and intervening proactively within the community, was an effective way forward.     

Get it Off Your Chest: Contexts in Creative Community Working

Three years ago I started work on the exhibition Get it off your chest, a multimedia project exploring the personal and social role of the breast within British culture. The project would involve over one hundred people as contributors, engaging with ongoing debates within academic, media and informal contexts as to what constitutes and impacts upon constructions of the female image within our society, particularly in relation to the breast as a primary signifier. The working practices evolved in creating Get it off your chest were instrumental in generating a synergy in my own creative activities, enabling some measure of unification to occur within the strands of my art–making and art educational roles. This synergistic approach, which I term ‘creative community working’ will be discussed in this paper alongside the epistemological focus of the exhibition, its inception and its consequent structure, presentation and wider educational role. I will focus throughout on exploring the development of creative community working contexts: the impulse to integrate what sometimes seem like rogue elements of the professional and creative identity is one shared by many members of the art educational community and I hope that this paper will generate feedback and discussion on the diverse ways in which colleagues generate synergy in their own working lives.     

Young people's views of multi‐agency working

This article outlines the findings from an Economic and Social Research Council funded research project that investigated the impact of multi‐agency working on children and their families. It explored the ways in which young people experience multi‐agency working and it investigated whether young people perceive any benefits from a coordinated approach to frontline service delivery. The in‐depth, qualitative study focused on a cross‐section of five local authorities and collected data through semi‐structured interviews with young people and their parents. The study found that where multi‐agency working is effectively integrated and where different professional services are streamlined, there is evidence of a positive impact on young people and their families.     

New immigrant parents’ experiences in a parent education programme

The immigrant population in Hong Kong is steadily increasing every year. This immigrant population largely comprises families, most of whom have pre-school and school-age children. However, limited information is known on the practices that immigrant parents adopt when they become involved in their children’s schooling. In the present study, the researcher implemented a Quality Education Fund project called ‘Building a caring community: Family support and empowerment.’ The project aimed to promote parent education and to build a caring community by implementing a group parent education program (GPEP) for low-income and new immigrant parents. The parent leaders conducted an outreach parent education program in which the low-income, new immigrant parents (target parents) had their children enrolled in two kindergartens. The parent leaders imparted parenting knowledge, shared positive parenting strategies, and exchanged their own experiences with target parents. The present research aims to study how new immigrant parents evaluate their experiences and the effectiveness of the GPEP. Results suggest that providing opportunities for mutual support and emotional healing correlates with improved parenting attitudes and practices.     

家长和社区在日本学校教育中的作用

在日本,人们对家长和社区参与学校教育十分关注。家长和社区对学校教育的传统作用是一种支持。本文分析了日本家长和社区参与学校教育的类型,介绍了日本政府为了提高家长、社区参与学校教育而采取的一系列改革措施,以及这些措施对于完善我国家长、社区参与学校教育的启示和借鉴意义。     

‘I'm just there to ease the burden’: the parent support adviser role in English schools and the question of emotional labour

In 2005, the Department for Education and Skills announced a £40 million investment in a new school support worker role, the parent support adviser (PSA), for 20 English local authorities. A pilot project ran from 2006–2008 and resulted in the establishment of 717 PSAs in 1167 schools. The national evaluation of the project forms the evidential basis of this paper, with interviews conducted with 69 PSAs, 85 PSA line managers and 105 parents and a database recording casework with nearly 21,000 parents. This paper focuses on the nature of the PSA role as the first centrally funded parent support role in English schools. The theoretical framework provided by the concept of ‘emotional labour’ and the development of the concept represented by the 4Ps typology provides the conceptual structure. This paper argues that although the characteristics of the PSA role appear to place it within the category of work requiring emotional labour, PSAs and parents regard that aspect of the role in a positive light. For the PSAs there was little evidence that emotional labour necessary for the role of PSA led to dissonance between role and worker or alienation from the product of PSA labour.     

Learning to talk: community support and views of parents from socially disadvantaged families

Part of a multimethod ethnographic study that aimed to explore the knowledge of local parents concerning children learning to talk is described. The study was carried out with parents from several different ethnic and language groups in a socially disadvantaged part of Sheffield, a large city in the northeast of England.
In the phase of the study reported here, parents (either English, Urdu/Punjabi and Arabic speakers) took part in interviews, as well as contributing to the validation of the project. This study found that parents from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds living in this socially disadvantaged area, believed learning to talk to be very important and that family, community, including faith community, and professionals, have roles in promoting learning to talk. They indicated that local community groups, including faith communities, could play a positive role in supporting and developing their knowledge.
This paper will be of interest to those seeking innovative ways to support parents in socially excluded communities, particularly parents of children learning to talk, and so contribute to better outcomes for children, families and communities. It also contributes to our understanding of the development of parental knowledge about learning to talk in socially disadvantaged communities.     

Variations on a theme: parents and teachers talking

This article draws upon the findings from a unique research project that provided new insights into the relationship between parents and teachers working with children experiencing difficulties in school. The article introduces ten modes of parents and teachers ‘working together’, each of which has implications for the provision for children experiencing difficulties in school, as well as their parents and teachers.     

‘Extended Schools’: an exploration of the feelings,beliefs and intentions of parents and teachers

This research is designed to provide information for participants, facilitators and policy makers in the area of Extended Schools. Its salient purpose is to investigate and examine the feelings, beliefs and attitudes of teachers and parents involved in the development of the Extended Schools project in Northern Ireland. The Extended Schools project was formally launched by the Northern Ireland Secretary of State on 7 March 2006, and aims to provide a wide range of services and activities in school with the intention of helping to meet the needs of children, their families and the wider community. The qualitative approach was deemed the most appropriate methodology for gathering data.     

Community‐based environmental education—a case study of teacher–parent collaboration

A case study of school–community collaboration in an elementary community school in Israel follows up an environmental education (EE) school‐based curriculum that involves the parents and community members in various indoors and outdoors activities. The collaboration was established in the framework of the Community School Approach. In these schools, parents are encouraged to be involved in planning school‐based curriculum and participating in school's formal and informal activities. The aim of the study was to describe environmental education‐based school–community partnerships and to examine the advantages and limitations for such collaboration. Parents, teachers and community members were interviewed for a period of three years. Most of the participants acknowledged the unique nature of EE that allows such a partnership, emphasizing local ideas of project‐based learning in environmental education. The study describes an exemplary collaboration and the development of local school–community partnerships, which could be adapted by other communities within elementary or middle schools.     

Exploring students’ perceptions of service-learning experiences in an undergraduate web design course

Service-learning is an experiential learning experience where students learn and develop through active participation in community service to meet the needs of a community. This study explored student learning experiences in a service-learning group project and their perceptions of service-learning in an undergraduate web design course. The data showed that the service-learning project helped students learn the course material, feel more connected to the surrounding community, and improve their communication and problem-solving skills for their careers. The participants appreciated the opportunity to work with the service-learning partner and will be likely to look for more opportunities to get involved in the community. Time constraints, group work, working with real clients, and technical limitations were reported as major challenges in the group project.     

Parent consulting: Developing power bases and helping people

School counselors can create power bases and have a significant impact upon the surrounding community through work with parents. A three-step program is presented along with supplemental practical activities for consultants to use in working with parents.     

The experiences of parents of gifted African American children: A phenomenological study

This study documents the experiences of parents raising African American children who have been identified as gifted. There is a small but growing body of research exploring the experiences and issues of gifted African American children. Parents play the most significant role in a child's development; however, parents of gifted African American children are not currently represented in the literature. This study utilized semi‐structured interviews with the parent or parents from 12 families to explore their experiences of rearing their gifted African American children. Particular attention was addressed to issues surrounding their children's academic and social experiences, including interactions with school, family, and community. Implications are elucidated for individuals working with this population, and suggestions for future research are provided.