Denmark and Sweden have witnessed a historically significant amplification of parental influence in compulsory schools during the past two decades. The emphasis on parental involvement in these two countries reflects international trends of neoliberal governing of educational processes. We know very little about the interplay between beginning…

How parents spend time with their children, what they teach their children and how they raise them in the early years have again become topics of policymaking and public debate. There is an intensive discussion about parental involvement in early childhood education and care (ECEC). The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's…

This article takes a closer look at the issue of access by describing the author's process of access during an ethnographic study on the home--school collaboration between Somali diaspora mothers and teachers in Danish public schools. The article is structured around metaphors of the field and unfolds as a progressive narrative of these metaphors;…

Parental collaboration is both promoted for enhancing children's performance and criticized for reproducing educational inequality. The issue of parental collaboration, thus, presents an opportunity to discuss theoretical differences in current debates about education, notably the educational consequences of social background and governmentality.…

Parental participation is a fundamental principle of the Danish "folkeskole" (for children aged 6-16), yet this article explores how too much parental cooperation influences the relationship of teachers to their professional responsibility. The majority of research on parent-teacher cooperation has focused on parents' opportunities to…

The aim of this article is to discuss and demonstrate how ethnographic-oriented research might contribute to broadening the research interest in extended education. Extended education might be seen as a societal investment in education. This perspective calls for different kinds of school effectiveness research that generates useful and relevant…

In child care centers, parental involvement as well as staff sensitivity toward children and parents are essential for managing cultural diversity in a way that is beneficial for both migrant and indigenous families. Defining and improving the quality of center education from a multicultural perspective require discussions between staff and…