New perspectives on the positioning of parents in children’s bullying at school

Abstract

This article explores the subject of parents with respect to children’s bullying at school. The overarching claim is that parental agency and positions on children’s bullying at school are produced and made possible by an apparatus of multiple, concurrent forces that provide poor conditions for a constructive partnership between parents and schools in cases of bullying. This research adds to the existing literature in the field by suggesting that the connections between schools, parents and their children’s social behaviour at school must be seen as complexly entangled and involving a range of forces at local, societal and political levels. Furthermore, based on an emergent research design, the article contributes to the discussion of post-qualitative research, drawing upon varied, qualitative empirical material and analytically experimenting with combining Adele Clarke’s idea of situational analysis and Karen Barad’s concepts of intra-action and apparatus.

Keywords:

• School bullying
• parents
• home–school cooperation
• situational analysis
• intra-action
• post-qualitative research

Notes

1. www.exbus.dk (Accessed 7 November 2016).

2. Since August 2009, Danish folkeskoler (municipal primary and lower secondary schools) have been required to develop an anti-bullying strategy as part of a set of value guidelines.

3. The term ‘curling parents’ is a Danish concept that corresponds to the British ‘lawnmower parents’, which refers to parents who figuratively walk in front of their children and try to clear the way for them.

4. When a child’s problem at school may be defined as ‘being bullied’, Danish schools today are legally required to implement a plan of action.

5. The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a triennial international survey that aims to evaluate educational systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students. http://www.oecd.org/pisa/aboutpisa/ (Accessed 7 November 2016).

6. This kind of approach is in line with what Elisabeth St. Pierre and Alecia Y. Jackson (2014) call a post-coding analysis in a post-qualitative inquiry. As such, the approach can be seen as a break with what Janesick (1994) defines as methodolatry, concerning the widespread privileging of methodological concerns over other considerations in qualitative research.

7. For a critical discussion of this perspective, see Bansel et al. (2009), Schott (2014) and Schott and Søndergaard (2014).

8. This understanding of bullying is expressed in large parts of the work of the research project ‘eXbus’ (see Kofoed and Søndergaard 2009, 2013; Schott and Søndergaard 2014). Also see the work of Zabrodska et al. (2011) and Ringrose and Rawlings (2015), who employ ideas from Barad to examine bullying at universities and to consider the complex relationships of bullying in their analyses of gender and bullying at school, respectively. For alternative perspectives on the phenomenon of bullying, see Jacobson (2010), Walton (2011) and Ryan and Morgan (2011).

9. The original analysis is part of a peer-reviewed PhD thesis (Hein 2012).

10. https://backend.folkeskolen.dk/~/Documents/41/55841.pdf (Accessed 7 November 2016).

11. From The National Association of Councils (Kommunernes Landsforening) and The Department of Education (Undervisningsministeriet). 2003. ‘Preparation of the Distribution of Tasks and Responsibilities between School, Parents and the Surrounding Society’. http://docplayer.dk/21923837-3-rammerne-for-ansvars-opgave-rollefordelingen-mellem-skole-sfo-foraeldre-og-elever-i-dag.html (Accessed 7 November 2016).

12. For an interesting perspective on the political representation and construction of problems, see Bacchi (2009).

13. In 2005, the new law on ‘Strengthening of Parental Responsibilities’ (LF 108) was passed. See https://www.retsinformation.dk/Forms/R0710.aspx?id=103366 (Accessed 7 November 2016). This law made it possible for local authorities to impose so-called ‘parental charges’ on parents, which obligate parents to carry out certain actions related to their children, and to introduce the concept of ‘parent programmes’, proposed to help parents be better parents.

14. In Danish, this is termed ‘ressourcesvage forældre’ (parents poor in resources).

15. http://www.stm.dk/multimedia/Debatopl_g_folkeskole.pdf (Accessed 7 November 2016).

16. The concept of ‘family classes’ came to Denmark in 2005. They were inspired by similar classes in the United Kingdom and have the same objective of improving the pupil’s social behaviour through closer cooperation with his/her parents. Family classes typically last three months and parents have the opportunity to participate in the classes one to three times a week.

17. https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/ft/20081BB00183 (Accessed 7 November 2016).

18. This analysis is fully unfolded in Hein (2013).

19. I did not attend this meeting but a later meeting between the parents.