“Parents’ Weapon”: Rights Protection Behaviors in Parental Participation and Transformation of Family-School Relationship in China

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 1:30 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Navigating the Possibilities and Paradoxes of Parent and Family Engagement and Partnerships (Table 2)

Abstract

Parental participation is crucial for family-school partnership within the realm of elementary education in China. However, current participation often involves an increasing incidence of parents’ rights protection behaviors. This study aims to investigate such behaviors through the lenses of embeddedness and micro-political theory. Employing a qualitative case study approach, researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with parents and teachers to collect data. It is found that “complaint” “disturbance” “exposure” have become powerful “weapons” for parents to express interest demands and seek problems resolution. There are some invisible endogenous and exogenous driving-mechanisms. Parents’ rights protection reflects the power-structure transformation of Chinese family-school relationship. The promotion of family-school cooperation coexists with conflicts, generating new demands for the construction and development of family-school relationship.

Authors

• Shengxuan Mao, Beijing Normal University

• Yu Kai, Beijing Normal University