Parents and Entitlement: a fair deal for all?

Abstract

Recent legislation in England and Wales has aimed to bring a market philosophy into education. Schools are under increasing pressure to provide the kind of education that parents value, or face extinction. It is therefore of crucial importance that teachers are aware of what parents want and can respond accordingly. Our research, based on over 240 in‐depth interviews with both teachers and parents, has focussed on two issues: the extent to which parents and teachers hold differing views and differing values, and the extent to which each group is aware of the perceptions of the other. The focus had been on assessment and reporting at Key Stage one: its usefulness, implementation and parental involvement. Our findings show that most teachers think that parents know enough about the new assessment procedures and do not wish to know more, whereas most parents want to know more and to be more involved. Furthermore a quarter of the teachers show evidence of pre‐judging certain parents according to social class. Implications are drawn for teacher education.

The bill will galvanise parental involvement in schools.... Parents will be far better placed to know what their children are being taught and what they are learning.... The Bill will introduce competition into the public provision of education. This competition will introduce a new dynamic into our schools system which will stimulate better standards all round. (Kenneth Baker, 1987, in the House of Commons, introducing the Education Reform Act, 1988)