Schools, separating parents and family violence: a case study of the coercion of organisational networks

Abstract

This paper considers how complex family circumstances such as parental separation, custody disputes and family violence intersect with the organisational cultures and everyday practices of schools. In particular, we are concerned with the ways that coercive controla strategy used predominantly by men to dominate, control and oppress women in the context of intimate partner relationshipscan be deployed to manipulate and coerce the organisational networks of schools into furthering abusive agendas. Informed by cultural theory and research from sociology of education, legal studies, criminology and family violence, we show how what we term the 'coercion of organisational networks' (CON) both relies upon and exploits systemic misogyny and gendered unequal relations of power. These issues underpin institutional strategies often used by schools to keep parents -and mothers, in particular -at a distance. When affected by separation, divorce and family violence, being positioned in problematic terms can create additional risks for women and children. We argue that without adequate understandings of coercive control as practices within a broader constellation of systemic misogyny and gender inequalities, and in the absence of organisational cultures committed to addressing these, schools are considered complicit in perpetuating family violence and its effects.

Separated parents’ experiences with the Australian school system: an overview

“…Despite the scant amount of Australian literature from which indicative results can be drawn, a renewed focus on the experiences of separated Australian parents has started to emerge. Recently, research by Saltmarsh et al ( 2021a , 2021b , 2021c ) have explored parent–school engagement during times of post-separation transition, including school cultures of complicity and everyday exclusionary practices that exacerbate separated parents’ already diminished sense of engagement. While Saltmarsh et al draw attention to these complex entanglements through a series of interviews with separated parents ( n = 4, 2021a ) and a subsequent case study with a separated mother ( n = 1, 2021c ), recent research is constrained to small sample sizes.…”