The Materialisation of School in Families' Everyday Lives

Abstract

This article explores how school is materialised within Danish families and the significance for both children and parents. Based on ethnographic research and inspired by materiality studies and by family and childhood studies, the analysis describes how school-related objects, such as schoolbags, actualise school within the family and create intensive 'school parenting'. The article also illustrates how the materialisation of school both entangles with family routines, becoming part of being a family and feeds into processes of demarcation and ways of reducing the importance of school in family routines.

Exploring material things in family life : Morality and intimacy in sibling- and child-parent interaction

“…Research has also found that family intimacy and togetherness is accomplished during everyday family activities (Dannesboe, 2019;M. H. Goodwin & Cekaite, 2018;M.…”

“…Another example of how material things can be taken into account as actors in everyday family activities is exemplified by Child Studies researcher Dannesboe (2019;. She conducted two studies, with children aged 12-14 years, of how school is materialised in the everyday lives of Danish families.…”

“…She conducted two studies, with children aged 12-14 years, of how school is materialised in the everyday lives of Danish families. For instance, through schoolbags (Dannesboe, 2021) and homework (Dannesboe, 2019). In these studies, Dannesboe (2019) draws on themes from STS relating to how material things are "part of micro-processes of everyday life" (p. 13) and how school is "enacted" as a family practice in the daily engagements of "children, parents, furnishings and school-related objects" (p. 113).…”

“…For instance, through schoolbags (Dannesboe, 2021) and homework (Dannesboe, 2019). In these studies, Dannesboe (2019) draws on themes from STS relating to how material things are "part of micro-processes of everyday life" (p. 13) and how school is "enacted" as a family practice in the daily engagements of "children, parents, furnishings and school-related objects" (p. 113). For instance, she found that schoolbags were a constant topic of discussion and objects of negotiation and conflict as parents snooped in children's bags to monitor their progress at school.…”

How to do things with food: The rules and roles of mealtime ‘things’ in everyday family dinners

“…Since recent conceptualizations of materiality in childhood studies have been largely theoretical (Esser, 2017), there is a call to further study children's material practices. Some studies have had such an explicit focus and found that everyday things, for example school bags (Dannesboe, 2019), socks (Orrmalm, 2020), rooms (Palludan & Wentzel Winther, 2017) and tools (Zotevska et al, 2020) were central actors in the everyday lives and relations of children and families. For instance, Rautio and Jokinen’s (2016) study on children's engagements with a snow pile argues for focusing on activities with things that ‘matter’.…”