{"title":"Engaging parents in multi academy trusts (MATs) as local civic knowledge experts","authors":"Karen Broadhurst Healey","doi":"10.1177/08920206221144704","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Parental engagement in multi-academy trusts’ (MATs) governance structures and activities is contemporarily constructed in policy as mattering less than engagement by professionalised governors and trustees, and in much of the literature as deficient for operationalising MAT accountability in a public education system. This article problematises the role of local parental engagement in MATs in a depoliticised context to explore an alternative conceptualisation responding to this democratic deficit. A single case study combined with narrative inquiry sought experience beyond the meta-narrative and Gunter and Ribben's conceptual frame of ‘knowledge, knowers and knowing’ provided a lens for interpreting data. Analysis identified that parental engagement was seen as a commodity in the justification of professional's decisions and an opportunity to normalise parent thinking and practices when engaging with the academy trust. Analysis of parents’ stories provided an alternative conceptualisation of parental engagement recognising their agency and contribution to knowledge production through their civic expertise.","PeriodicalId":40030,"journal":{"name":"Management in Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5000,"publicationDate":"2022-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Management in Education","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08920206221144704","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Parental engagement in multi-academy trusts’ (MATs) governance structures and activities is contemporarily constructed in policy as mattering less than engagement by professionalised governors and trustees, and in much of the literature as deficient for operationalising MAT accountability in a public education system. This article problematises the role of local parental engagement in MATs in a depoliticised context to explore an alternative conceptualisation responding to this democratic deficit. A single case study combined with narrative inquiry sought experience beyond the meta-narrative and Gunter and Ribben's conceptual frame of ‘knowledge, knowers and knowing’ provided a lens for interpreting data. Analysis identified that parental engagement was seen as a commodity in the justification of professional's decisions and an opportunity to normalise parent thinking and practices when engaging with the academy trust. Analysis of parents’ stories provided an alternative conceptualisation of parental engagement recognising their agency and contribution to knowledge production through their civic expertise.
期刊介绍:
Management in Education provides a forum for debate and discussion covering all aspects of educational management. We therefore welcome a range of articles from those dealing with day-to-day management to those related to national policy issues. Our peer review policy helps to enhance the range and quality of the articles accepted supporting those new to publication and those that are more expereienced authors. We publish research findings, opinion pieces and individual stories and our contributors come from all sectors of education.