This book maps globally shifting relations between families, schools and the state across a range of nations (Australia, Germany, India, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, USA) in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Featuring contributions from leading international experts, the book’s eight chapters reflect upon the apparently vital responsibility of parents for choosing the rights sort of educational pathways for their children, offering comparative insights into several different kinds of state, with different contexts for the practices of ‘educational’ parenting. The contributors consider the proposition that a significant focus of the material, emotional and occupational investment of contemporary parents is the formal education of their children, re-shaping not only the relationship between parents and schools but also the nature of parenthood itself. Parents are analysed both as local actors in schools and as subjects of national and international policy regimes, particularly recent and contemporary imperatives of marketisation.. With a focus on social change, the chapters examine the operation of global educational programmes and ideas in national and local settings. The collected national and local studies attend to different confluences of local, regional and transnational, considering a variety of social and cultural patterns as well as national and local educational structures and policy regimes. Parents, Schools and The State: Global Perspectives will be a useful resource for academics, researchers, and advanced students of comparative education, educational policy and leadership, educational research, history of education, sociology, research methods and politics. This book was originally published as a special issue of Comparative Education.

Crittenden defends the right of parents to induct their children into a way of life, and argues that they should be able to choose among various kinds of schooling, both public and private. But this freedom to choose is subject to important constraints arising from the independent moral status of children, the nature of education, the authority which the state may legitimately exercise over the practice of education, and respect for the ideal of equality and other social values.

Who holds ultimate authority for the education of America's children—teachers or parents? Although the relationship between home and school has changed dramatically over the decades, William Cutler's fascinating history argues that it has always been a political one, and his book uncovers for the first time how and why the balance of power has shifted over time. Starting with parental dominance in the mid-nineteenth century, Cutler chronicles how schools' growing bureaucratization and professionalization allowed educators to gain increasing control over the schooling and lives of the children they taught. Central to his story is the role of parent-teacher associations, which helped transform an adversarial relationship into a collaborative one. Yet parents have also been controlled by educators through PTAs, leading to the perception that they are "company unions." Cutler shows how in the 1920s and 1930s schools expanded their responsibility for children's well-being outside the classroom. These efforts sowed the seeds for later conflict as schools came to be held accountable for solving society's problems. Finally, he brings the reader into recent decades, in which a breakdown of trust, racial tension, and "parents' rights" have taken the story full circle, with parents and schools once again at odds. Cutler's book is an invaluable guide to understanding how parent-teacher cooperation, which is essential for our children's educational success, might be achieved.

This book is based on the premise that schools and parents need to work together for the social, emotional, cognitive and academic development of children. While the school provides a leadership model, parents act as reinforcers of learning and prime movers in their children's education. The authors emphasize throughout the book that parents and educators need to celebrate the pleasure of teaching. In clear and accessible language, this work presents theories on learning and human relations. It then charts and reviews the important components of a successful school-parent partnership, giving specific recommendations on the best way to involve diverse groups of parents. Chapters are: US Families in the Context of Change; The African American Experience in Family Context; The Hispanic American Experience in Famiy Context; The Asian American Experience in Family Context; Communities of Education: Concepts Defined; Empowerment for all Parents; Required: A Positive Self-Concept; Successful Schools: A Parents' and Educators' Partnership; Successful Students: Ability, Effort and Parental Involvement; Parents: First and Most Important Teachers; Recommendations for the Improvement of Parental School Involvement; Advocacy for School and Home Partnership; author and subject indexes.

This book explores parents' legal rights concerning their children's elementary and secondary education. Besides certain constitutional rights (including parents' right to direct their children's education), parents and students have been granted various rights under state and federal statutes. This book aims to demystify the law and provide parents with the necessary knowledge to assert their rights (outside the court system) and bring violations to the attention of teachers, administrators, and other parents so that their children receive an appropriate education. Following a brief overview of parents' rights, chapters 2 through 6 discuss rights derived from the Constitution, including a student's right to fair treatment by a school disciplinary system, First Amendment protections of freedom of speech and press, freedom of religion and separation of church and state, and equal educational opportunity. Chapters 7 through 9 focus on the common law and state control of education, covering compensation for injured children, damages collection for poor teaching, and conflicts between parent and state education agencies. Chapter 10 treats parents' rights concerning school records under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974. Chapter 11 discusses federal law governing rights of parents of children with special education needs, highlighting the Education for All Children Act of 1975. Chapter 12 concerns physical appearance (proper dress), while chapter 13 confronts the rights of poor and non-English-speaking parents and children. The final chapter covers legal literacy for parents. Three appendices provide constitutional amendments of special relevance to parents and students, legal research hints, and two Supreme Court decisions. Also included are a table of cases, chapter endnotes, and an index. (MLH)

These hearings transcripts present testimony regarding parents' and schools' roles in teaching values to school age children, the federal funds involved in values education, and the remedies available to parents who may object to or be offended by some of the topics taught and the vehicles used to teach these topics. Witnesses included: (1) representatives from Delaware, California, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio; (2) William Bennett, former Secretary of Education; and (3) several parents, teachers, and school administrators. Testimony presented noted that parental involvement is the most important factor in helping children succeed in school. Parents want their children to be taught the basics, but trust in schools is broken when parents are shut out of the process. Schools need to reflect the values of the community. School choice improves schools and reinvolves parents. How people in school treat one another is more important than values programs. Children are moral agents who recognize right from wrong as defined by moral influences, whether from parents, teachers, friends, or television. Additional testimony conveyed parents' disagreement with the content of information conveyed in school programs for sex education and AIDS education, parents' concerns about treatment of homosexual students, and possible misuse of government funds for AIDS education. (KDFB)

This handbook is currently in development, with individual articles publishing online in advance of print publication. At this time, we cannot add information about unpublished articles in this handbook, however the table of contents will contunue to grow as additional articles pass through the review process and are added to the site. Please note that the online publication date for this handbook is the date that the first article in the title was published online.

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Originally published in 1988, this book was an up to the minute account of the way in which recent government initiatives, including the 1986 Act, would affect accountability and the quest for greater partnership between schools and parents. It pinpoints the central issues of the current debates at the time in a lucid and highly readable way, asking how public commitment to education can be created and sustained, how minimum standards can be reconciled with local variety and freedom, how choice for parents can be reconciled with equal opportunity for children, how less confident and articulate parents can become involved and how a sense of common purpose can be fostered among the confident minority. The book provided an up-to-date assessment of progress in parental involvement; an account of the recent movement here and overseas; and a detailed working guide to the development of school government under the 1986 Act and beyond. While providing an important critique of the consumerist approach to education, the author argues the case, illustrated with practical examples, for a new approach emphasising partnership, mutual accountability, better communication, more open habits be LEAs and more democratic practices within schools, involving staff, governors and parents.