Digitalization of Home-School Relationship and Parental Involvement: How Does It Affect Questions of Inclusion and Exclusion?

• In Event: Digitalization and Its Impact on Home-School Partnership and Parental Involvement

Abstract

Research aim
The aim of this paper is to discuss whether and in what way digitalization in schools may affect home-school relationship and parental involvement in school. In particular, the paper will focus on challenges that may arise when digital media are introduced to relations that have traditionally been characterized more as eye-to-eye encounters, such as the parent-teacher relationship. The question of whether digitalization in school may serve as a tool of increased inclusion or as the opposite, as something that leads to increased differences between different groups of students through their parents’ interaction with school, will be discussed in relation to the Nordic model of education.
Theoretical framework
The theoretical framework rests upon Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of social field and different forms of capital (Bourdieu, 1986). Education will be discussed as a social field where power dynamics play out between different agents within the field (Bæck, 2009), aiming to provide some insights into how such power dynamics can be influenced - either reduced or exacerbated - by the introduction of digital tools.

Methodology/research design
The paper mainly offers theoretical insights into the area in question, using empirical examples from digitalization efforts taking place in schools in Norway.
Expected results/findings
The paper shows that increased digitalization of the home-school relationship may affect the parent-teacher relationship and parents’ position in school. Also, such efforts may have consequences when it comes to questions of inclusion and exclusion.

References
Bæck, U.-D. K. (2009). From a distance - how Norwegian parents experience their encounters with
school. International Journal of Educational Research, 48, 342-351.
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. G. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook for the theory and
research for the sociology of education (pp. 241-258). New York: Greenwood Press.

Author

• Unn-Doris Karlsen Baeck, UIT The Arctic University of Norway