Tracing My Research on Parent Engagement: Working to Interrupt the Story of School as Protectorate

Culture at the core : the impact of culturally relevant professional learning on teacher beliefs and practice : a collection of scholarly papers.

“…The child in me does not recall, but I can only imagine that the role my mother had was that of many parents-that of volunteer, spectator, and homework helper (Pushor, 2012). I imagine that my teachers explained to her how I was doing without soliciting her input on my learning and growth, my strengths and weaknesses, my hopes and dreams.…”

“…Pushor links the position teachers often take toward families to the concept of a protectorate (Memmi, 1965in Pushor, 2012. Within this structure, those in power take it upon themselves to protect those they see as having little or no strength.…”

“…Pushor posits that within our educational system, teachers play the role of protector, believing their professional knowledge and experience qualify them as the sole decision-makers in schooling. They do this with the best of intentions and with the best interests of children at heart, but in doing so they further marginalize parents and position them as periphery elements in student learning (Pushor, 2012).…”

“…Parents from minority backgrounds and parents from low socio-economic backgrounds are less likely to be involved in education and have nonexistent or difficult relationships with schools (Horvat et al, 2003;Lareau & Horvat, 1999). Further, teachers and parents have varied perspectives of the roles of parents in education (Linek et al, 1997;Pushor, 2012) and educators tend to operate from what Auerbach (1989) calls a "deficit hypothesis" in dealing with families, which assumes that parents lack the skills needed to promote school success in their children and that schools must "fix" them (Auerbach, 1989;Compton-Lilly et al, 2012;Dudley-Marling, 2009;Edwards, 1992).…”

“…For example, historically oppressed peoples might resist what they see as assimilating to the dominant culture of their former oppressors (Bloome et al, 2000;. Mending the partnership between schools and historically oppressed populations will require many measures, such as fostering respect for family and community literacy practices among teachers and administrators (Bloome et al, 2000), including more successful literacy models in teacher education programs and teacher professional learning experiences (Linek, Rasinski, & Harkins, 1997), encouraging and supporting collaborative networks of teachers and parents across sociocultural backgrounds (Horvat, Weininger, & Lareau, 2003;Moll, 1992), and shifting perceptions of parent roles among teachers, parents, administrators and the educational community at large (Pushor, 2012).…”