Cross-Currents in Communication to and About Parents: An Analysis of Islamic School Websites

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: Family-School-Community Partnerships Poster Session

Abstract

Islamic schools are evolving policies and practices to support parent engagement; however there has been little research to guide them. This study investigated web-based communication as an element in an education ecology to inform a planned stage of empirical research with school communities. Texts drawn from the websites of three Australian Islamic schools were examined using membership categorisation analysis (MCA). Clusters of meaning associated with categorisations of parents and their relationships emerged. First, information mediated the relationship between the parent and the school. Second, parents were represented as guarantors of their children’s compliance. Third, parents were represented as potential risks to children’s education and wellbeing. Fourth, parents were addressed as members of a community of shared Islamic beliefs and values.

Authors

• Sue Mary Nichols, University of South Australia

• Nadeem Memon, University of South Australia