Abstract

© 2020, The Author(s). This paper presents a case study of one mother’s experience of engaging with her children’s schools after leaving a long-term relationship characterised by years of family violence perpetrated by the children’s father. We interviewed Bernadette as part of an ongoing study of parents’ experiences of school engagement during family separation and divorce. Her family circumstances and the role the children’s schools played in that story merit consideration by educators, school leaders and education policy makers. Informed by theories of everyday cultural practices and sociological studies of gendered power relations in education, we argue that gender politics and organisational strategies for keeping parents ‘in their place’ can significantly contribute to systemic failures and school cultures that reinscribe the effects of family violence.

RAS ID

32537

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

2021

School

School of Education

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Publisher

Springer

Comments

Saltmarsh, S., Tualaulelei, E., & Ayre, K. (2021). ‘I’m trying to tell you this man is dangerous… and no one’s listening’: Family violence, parent–school engagement and school complicity. The Australian Educational Researcher, 48(4), 771- 794. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-020-00415-7

Share

 
COinS
 

Link to publisher version (DOI)

10.1007/s13384-020-00415-7