Rethinking the marginalizing discourses around teenage pregnancy

ABSTRACT

This article examines the literature on schooling for teenage mothers in order to expose the normalizing discourses that position young mothers as at risk for failure. Through an exploration of the historical and socio-cultural positioning of teenage mothers over the past few decades, the author illustrates the schooled responses to adolescent mothers and the responses of adolescent mothers to school structures and marginalizations. The article concludes with suggestions for further research that would address the achievements and the strengths of young mothers and may provide space for thinking about other groups of students who have traditionally been labeled at risk.

KEYWORDS:

• School achievement
• teenage mothers
• ‘at-risk’ students

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID

Elizabeth Chase http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4036-5576