Makten mellan lärare och förälder

: Föräldrakontaktens villkor i det senmoderna samhället

Abstract

Since the 1970’s, parental influence has played an increasingly important role in the school system and, as a result, contentious parents have become a growing work environment challenge in the teaching profession. In recent years both researchers and media professionals have highlighted this, and we are now at a stage where there is a reasonably good understanding of its prevalence. What is lacking, in our view, is an in-depth understanding of why the phenomenon exists at all. We have therefore conducted thematic interviews with secondary school teachers about their experiences of contact with carers. We analysed interview responses using critical theory, with a focus on power structures. The analysis revealed several links to social developments towards a late modern society. In our analysis, we argue that the conditions of the contact between teachers and guardians are mainly based on three instrumental factors. These factors give caregivers room for power claims, and at the same time give caregivers greater power over both the teacher and the school as an organization. Our analysis opens a discussion about whether parents should have space to influence school activities at all.

Date of Award	2022-Dec
Original language	Swedish
Supervisor	Peter Gustavsson (Supervisor) & Staffan Stranne (Assessor)