Alienation with Top-down Initiatives on Family-school Cooperation among Teachers in a Chinese Middle-class School

• In Event: Education, Social Mobility and Struggles

Proposal

Purposes of the Study
In the 1990s, global “parentocracy” drove education privatization, making parents vital in education. More countries acknowledged family-school cooperation's importance (Brown, 1990). Scholars discussed optimal methods (Epstein, 1996). In 2018, China introduced laws supporting school-family cooperation.
Teachers are vital in cooperation but face evolving pressures altering their role. They had high socioeconomic status (Robertson, 1981; Giddens, 2006), but marketization promoted meritocratic self-improvement over state aid (Ong & Zhang, 2008), reducing their status. "Quality education" emphasizes international "best practices," demanding more from teachers (Woronov, 2008; Kipnis, 2006). Middle-class schools intensify teacher pressure through strong parental involvement (Lareau, 2011).
Though studies stress cooperation's importance, no research examines how teachers' emotions relate to it. This paper aims to answer: What challenges do middle-class teachers face? How do they cope? How does this interact with family-school collaboration?
Theoretical Framework
In a swiftly changing society, people pursue a better future but face increased distress. Rosa's social acceleration theory identifies new alienation forms from societal speed, suggesting resonance as a solution (Rosa, 2019). Researchers expanded Rosa’s theory, stating education technology and diverse curriculum fail to ease education alienation. They argue fostering genuine care and stimulating emotions is vital (Felski, 2020).
Methods
This ethnographic study involved participant observations, in-depth interviews, and text analysis with 18 teachers, 23 parents, 21 students, and 2 school administrators at Sunshine Primary School (a pseudonym) in an eastern Chinese city. The area where the school is located is expensive. Teachers' incomes are above 150,000 yuan, exceeding the top 20% of high-income families in China. Many parents hold academic, government, or corporate positions, with average income surpassing 600,000 yuan. The principal putting family-school partnership at the forefront nationally.
From June 2022 to June 2023, the first author participated in a family-school project at Sunshine Primary School. Extensive fieldwork included observing the curriculum, parent-teacher meetings, and parent lectures. Researchers conversed with teachers and parents and conducted interviews. A total of 21.7 hours of interviews generated about 348.7 thousand Chinese words of transcribed data.
Preliminary Conclusion
“Every Child is Everyone’s Child”: Resonance in Ideal Family-school Cooperation
At an event, the principal of Sunshine Primary School delivered a heartfelt speech on family-school cooperation. He expressed:
Our school is like a big village, and our communities are tightly knit. Every child is my child, and every child is everyone’s child.
The principal's belief in a shared cultural atmosphere between family and school for student growth resonated with many parents. Yuqi’s mother, with a child in third grade, recalled the principal's speech, finding it memorable and fully agreeing.
The most important thing for family-school cooperation is that parents and teachers should be in one mind.
The ideal family-school cooperation envisions emotional bonds in education, fostering shared love and passion. However, at Sunshine Primary School, cooperation differs. It's not voluntary but guided by top-down national education policies.
“Iron Rice Bowl” and “Golden Spoon”: The Dilemma that Teachers Face in the Middle Class Family-School Relationship
However, during interviews with teachers, they expressed experiencing more fatigue and distress in the context of family-school cooperation. Allen, a sixth-grade teacher, candidly vented his feelings, saying:
Some parents have doctoral degrees, and their occupations are also very prestigious, looking down upon the profession of primary school teachers.
Besides urging teacher method adjustments, parents also readily complain to the education department. Chuanze shared the school receives up to five daily reports from the education department due to parental complaints.
Each time a complaint is received, the school administrators tend to immediately assume that the teacher has failed to communicate effectively with the parents.
Through the behavior of teachers and parents, as well as the school administrators’s responses, intelligent students quickly perceive the unusual power dynamics between them. Chuanze remarked:
Modern children are incredibly perceptive; they observe how parents treat teachers and quickly deduce that since teachers appear afraid of parents, they need not fear the authority of teachers themselves. It is true that we have an “iron rice bowl”, but these children have grown up with a “golden spoon”!
“Appease,” “Act,” and “Hold Back Unpleasant Information”: Teachers’ Strategies
To address these issues, teachers employ various strategies. “Parents in the classroom” is a common Sunshine School activity but disliked by teachers. Parents sit at the back, observe, then provide written feedback. Fengjuan, shared her perspective:
For example, if some students disturb the class order, it is reasonable to say that you should give him a fire, but if the parents are in the classroom, you can’t do this.
Teachers’ strategies are not only evident in public classroom activities but also in their day-to-day communication with parents. Mingyu, shared with the researchers:
When students make mistakes and need to inform their parents, do not use an accusatory attitude, you know, to come up with everything for the child’s attitude. Parents are worried, you have to look more worried than parents.
Teachers clearly prioritize avoiding conflicts and maintaining less involvement when dealing with parents, taking precautions to safeguard themselves from potential complaints. Instead of addressing demands, they avoid conflicts. Han's mother, a third-grade parent, told researchers, “Some activities are mere motions; attending them wastes time.”
Significance of the Study
The educational concept of family-school cooperation aims for emotional connections among educational individuals, hoping to establish "resonance" aiding student growth through diverse family-school collaboration. However, state policies and education scholars tend to overlook the power imbalances that exist in the family-school relationship and the impact of these inequalities on teachers feelings. The various challenges and pressures arising from family-school cooperation have led to new forms of alienation in teachers’ behaviors. They cleverly put on the cloak of “resonance” to shield themselves from complaints and potential harm from parents and school administrators, but this approach also prevents parents’ educational demands from being fully addressed. Indeed, in reality, the initiative of family-school cooperation has not achieved its intended purpose of bringing families and schools closer together; instead, it has further widened the gap between parents and teachers.

Authors

• wenjing li, School of Philosophy and Social Development, Shandong University

• yong zhao, Middle School Attached to Shandong University

• miao li, School of Philosophy and Social Development, Shandong University