This article draws on data from 20 years of qualitative projects with parents to discuss and analyse four issues. The first is the apparent responsibilities of parents to deliver both the school and home setting which will provide "the best" for their children. Second, the gendering of parental responsibilities. Third, I investigate how…

This paper reports on qualitative data that focus on the educational strategies of middle-class parents of Black Caribbean heritage. Drawing on Bourdieu's key concepts of habitus, capital and field, our focus is an investigation of the differences that are apparent between respondent parents in their levels of involvement with regard to schools.…

Professor Carol Vincent gets the 2012 Professorial Lecture series underway with a thought provoking talk drawing on research projects conducted over the last twelve years. The lecture will explore factors identified in current policy, media, and other social and political forums as the risks and responsibilities of contemporary parenting, with a…

This paper reports on data drawn from a study exploring the educational strategies of 62 Black Caribbean heritage middle-class parents. In this paper, we consider the respective roles of race and class in the shaping of parents' educational strategies, deploying an analysis that focuses on their intersection and seeks to hold both race and class…

While recognition of the need to involve parents in the life of the school grows in public policy, anxiety continues at the intervention of 'the angry parent'. This paper seeks to develop understanding of this communicative action and apply it to a study of parental voice in schools that identified a number of expressions of 'storming'. The paper…

This paper reports on a small-scale, recently completed qualitative project conducted in the United Kingdom that focuses on links between refugee families and the schools their children attend. The project attempted to study the relationships between refugee parents and education professionals in order to identify factors that encourage or hinder…

Examines a number of connecting themes concerning home-school relations. Argues the important developments upon which future analysis should concentrate are those where parents seek to define for themselves new understandings of what constitutes an "appropriate" parental role. Considers potential areas for future research on home-school…

This paper examines the concept of "empowerment" and analyzes contrasting perspectives on the empowerment of parents that have informed developments at national and local levels in the United Kingdom and also in the United States and other countries. Empirical data illustrate the limited impact these approaches have on a group of…