Search

Drawing on interview data with school staff and parents from seven primary schools across England, this paper explores how schools and homes worked together during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the impact this had on their relationships with one another. Given that research before the pandemic has indicated that much of the communication taking place between home and school tends to be 'one way' – from the school to home (Meier and Lemmer 2015; Leenders et al. 2019), this paper demonstrates how enforced school closure meant that schools had to find new, or modified ways of communicating and interacting with children and their families. Forty-nine interviews were conducted with participants including headteachers, classroom teachers, teaching assistants, school office workers and parents. Participants were asked to talk about their own experiences of the pandemic including how they communicated with one another. Findings revealed that the pandemic facilitated a great deal more collaboration and 'partnership' between teachers and parents. Participants reported that they had developed a better understanding of one another and that this had positive implications for the children's education. Given the lessons learned from this study, this has important implications for all schools about promoting effective communication practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on spatial–temporal enactments of home-schooling among low-income families of primary-aged children in England. COVID-19 re-set boundaries and spaces of formal education for children across the globe, bringing it directly into homes and shifting the involvement of parents/carers in their children’s education. In England, “home-school” engagement was brought into sharp focus as “home” became a more visible quasi-public space through which multiple government COVID-19 policies were enacted. Despite emerging literature on home-schooling during the pandemic, voices of parents and children from low-income families have been little heard. Here we take a critical family approach and draw on interviews with low-income families to understand how education was negotiated, enacted and reconfigured within the home during the pandemic. Drawing on literatures relating to policy enactment, carescapes and home-school engagement, we offer unique insight into spatial and temporal constraints of the everyday and the necessary reconstitution of wholescale policy enactment among low-income families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internationally, there continues to be a rise in the popularity of home‐schooling. Although the growth in the numbers of families choosing this alternative approach was evident prior to the Covid‐19 Pandemic school closures, it appears to have impacted on the decision for some to home‐school permanently. Using a scoping review of the literature, this paper considers the research evidence around home‐schooling in the United Kingdom and Europe. It then focuses on home‐schooling in the Republic of Ireland to assess the change and development of home‐schooling over time. In line with trends internationally, Irish administrative data show an increase in the numbers of families engaging in home‐schooling in recent years, particularly for students with disabilities. The paper situates these findings within the context of ongoing debates on inclusive and special education in Ireland and the capacity of mainstream schools to educate and include every student. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning with technology is increasingly understood to be a social process involving unique and telling discourses. An emerging research agenda has resulted, investigating the links between ‘talk’ and student technological practices but is yet to include home-education. Preliminary evidence exists of a relationship between particular types of ‘talk’ and success with particular online activities, namely online search. This may prove especially pertinent to home-educators who report that their most prolific online activities are those reliant upon search engines like Google. This paper presents select findings from a study into online search and the associated discursive practices among early primary students and their parent-educators in Australia. Data from observations, tests and interviews with five home-educating families were analysed recursively using a system guided by Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis. Specifically, this paper seeks to investigate: which discursive practices are privileged in these sites during online search; the extent to which these practices contribute to relations of power and the extent to which these practices are found alongside effective online search. Findings revealed a prevalence of inequitable discursive practices, those that either inhibited the equal conversational power of speakers or which naturalised inequitable power relations more generally. These discursive practices were found alongside ineffective online searches. Notwithstanding, participants continued to speak positively about search engines and their educational power. This rhetoric-reality gap is theorized in the paper as the work of dominant ideologies surrounding technology in education. Findings can assist the growing number of home-educators and their students to use online search more effectively. Insights regarding links between discursive practice and search practice may also help ensure that discourse helps to maximise the educational benefits associated with online search.

Learning with technology is increasingly understood to be a social process involving unique and telling discourses. An emerging research agenda has resulted, investigating the links between 'talk' and student technological practices but is yet to include home-education. Preliminary evidence exists of a relationship between particular types of 'talk' and success with particular online activities, namely online search. This may prove especially pertinent to home-educators who report that their most prolific online activities are those reliant upon search engines like Google. This paper presents select findings from a study into online search and the associated discursive practices among early primary students and their parent-educators in Australia. Data from observations, tests and interviews with five home-educating families were analysed recursively using a system guided by Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis. Specifically, this paper seeks to investigate: which discursive practices are privileged in these sites during online search; the extent to which these practices contribute to relations of power and the extent to which these practices are found alongside effective online search. Findings revealed a prevalence of inequitable discursive practices, those that either inhibited the equal conversational power of speakers or which naturalised inequitable power relations more generally. These discursive practices were found alongside ineffective online searches. Notwithstanding, participants continued to speak positively about search engines and their educational power. This rhetoric-reality gap is theorized in the paper as the work of dominant ideologies surrounding technology in education. Findings can assist the growing number of home-educators and their students to use online search more effectively. Insights regarding links between discursive practice and search practice may also help ensure that discourse helps to maximise the educational benefits associated with online search. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keywords: COVID; children; media; digital media; autism; lockdown; education; home-school EN COVID children media digital media autism lockdown education home-school 33 36 4 03/08/21 20210201 NES 210201 As COVID-19 swept across China and Italy in the formative months of the year, we watched tentatively from the U.K. with an intense fear of what was coming. Sensory curation: Theorizing media use for sensory regulation and implications for family media conflict. COVID, children, media, digital media, autism, lockdown, education, home-school. [Extracted from the article]

This paper offers a new methodology for researching children's identifications in the early primary phase that makes visible the 'seeds' of academic dis-/identities, which typically flower later in adolescence. It focuses on the 'case' of mathematical identifications (MI) to exemplify how children come to dis/identify from the academic curriculum more broadly. MI is defined as any act where cultural representations of being mathematical are reflected back on to the child by others or the self, as they engage in mathematical activity. Data are presented concerning Bilal and Nico to show identifications in a hybrid home–school mathematics activity that contradict or 'align' with MI elicited in school-mathematical activity. It is argued that contradictions between these MIs indicate 'potential' development towards disengagement (the case of Nico). This contrasts with home–school alignment involving Bilal's 'schoolified' home activities, which (re)validate school-mathematical activity. It is further argued that this conceptual innovation offers potential for investigating identity in early childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Self-regulation is a core life quality and human right in democratic societies. The views and experiences of Australian students who had transitioned between home education and conventional schools were sought to explore the similarities and differences between two educationally diverse systems. Through qualitative research using guided interview questions these students were asked to identify similarities and differences in their experiences of home education and conventional schooling that were then analysed through grounded theory and interpreted through historical sociocultural theory. Students identified and highly valued three types of opportunities for self-regulation while learning at home, which were not available to them while attending conventional schools. Cultural differences between home and conventional schools were identified as major contributing factors to these different opportunities to engage in self-regulation. This research illustrates ways conventional schooling could learn to develop more effective programmes to achieve this highly valued characteristic from home education practices and better prepare students for an engaged and effective adult life.

Drawing on discursive psychology this article examines the understandings teachers and principals in Danish Public Schools have regarding Somali diaspora parenting practices. Furthermore, the article investigates what these understandings mean in interaction with children in the classrooms and with parents in home–school communication. It is argued that in a society with increased focus on parental responsibility the teachers and principals draw on a deficit logic when dealing with Somali diaspora parents and children which consequently leads to teachers either transmitting their expertise by educating parents or compensating for perceived deficiencies in parental practices. Both these strategies result in significant marginalizing consequences where ‘difference’ is understood as ‘wrong’ or ‘inadequate’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Schools and the families they serve are sometimes perceived as deficient and in need of fixing. One response has been the implementation of evidence-based family intervention programmes, which may be highly regulated and prescriptive as a condition of their (often philanthropic) funding. This article seeks to explore and bring to the foreground the often hidden role of the pre-existing, informal community networks with a view to more authentic evaluation of these externally imposed programmes. The article draws on a range of qualitative data reflecting the lived experiences of participants-including parents and other community members-in a family and parenting programme at an English primary school. The analysis uses the work of Tönnies as a theoretical lens. It suggests that while there are tensions caused by the rigid requirements of external programmes, these are overcome in many cases by the highly effective, but often unacknowledged, contributions of the informal aspects of community. It is argued that these operate within and complement the formal programme. Far from subverting the more overt procedures, they actually enable it to function successfully, leading to additional, unanticipated transformations among participants. The article concludes that these organic, often invisible connections need to be identified, documented and nurtured if their full potential is to be recognised and realised when evaluating similar interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This exploratory study addresses the call for an increased presence of key stakeholders’ perspectives in educational research involving students with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASDs) (Duquette, Stodel, Fullarton, & Hagglund, 2006a). Specifically, greater understandings are necessary to support the educational success of students with FASDs. The analysis of 11 focus groups and 3 interviews with teachers, administrators, caregivers, and allied professionals (total n = 60) revealed three themes: fostering relationships, reframing practices, and accessing supports. These findings have important implications for the use of a qualitaitve approach in generating evidenced-based educational practices for stakeholders reflective of enhanced communication and collaboration that better meet the needs of students with FASDs.

A notable increase in the number of U.S. families choosing to homeschool their children in recent years has underscored the need to develop more systematic knowledge about this approach to education. Drawing on a theoretical model of parental involvement as well as research on families’ social networks, this study longitudinally examines home- and public-school parents’ motivations for home-based involvement in their fourth through eighth grade children’s education at two time points. The study also examines whether involvement activities predicted student proximal achievement outcomes (academic self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation for learning, and self-regulatory strategy use) across the two groups. Results suggest that parental self-efficacy for involvement, specific invitations from the child, and parent social networks are positively related to home-based parental involvement across the groups, although home- and public-school parents recorded significantly different perceptions of personal self-efficacy, role activity beliefs, social networks, and child proximal achievement outcomes. Findings are discussed with reference to implications for future research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of this study is to investigate current parental support for student learning with information technology (IT) in Hong Kong. A total of 3340 and 3656 parents and 539 and 440 primary school heads responded to two surveys in 2005/06 and 2006/07, respectively, in this cross-sectional study. The results show a persistent positive perception of and support for IT among educators and parents, which signify a solid foundation for the extension of student learning from the classroom to the home environment. The high level of expectation among school heads for parental support reflects the need for schools to initiate cooperation with parents to extend IT-supported learning to the home setting. The shift in parental apprehension from worry over the provision of IT facilities to worry over the cultivation of proper attitudes toward the use of IT reveals the importance of fostering information literacy in home–school collaboration. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Parent education programs, offered via family-school partnerships, offer an effective means for promoting the mental health and educational functioning of children and adolescents at a whole-school level. However, these programs often have a low uptake. This study aimed to identify strategies for increasing the uptake of parent education programs within preschool and school settings. A three-round Delphi procedure was employed to obtain expert consensus on strategies that are important and feasible in educational settings. First, thirty experts rated statements identified from the literature and a stakeholder forum. Next, experts re-appraised statements, including new statements generated from the first round. Ninety statements were endorsed by ≥80% of the experts. Primary themes include strategies for program selection; strategies for increasing the accessibility of programs and the understanding of educational staff on parent engagement and child mental health; strategies for program development, promotion and delivery; as well as strategies for increasing parent and community engagement. This study offers a set of consensus strategies for improving the uptake of parent education programs within family-school partnership.