Fathers and Sons : In and about Education

The role of fathers in education has escaped scrutiny. They are viewed as marginal, unlike women whose participation in the educational development of children and young people is widely acknowledged and researched. Indeed, an absence of male involvement in the wider processes of schooling has increasingly been blamed for the under-performance of boys. It is claimed that too few models exist of fathers' positive engagement with formal education. "Fathers and Sons" explores a range of themes arising from fathers' engagement with--or alienation from--their children's schooling. It examines their participation in a variety of school situations, based on their own words. Their accounts offer insights into a hidden world and reveal a complex variety of expectations, alienation, guilt, confusion, and soul-searching. These fathers provide telling information and views that will help schools to construct their "partnership" with parents so that men are empowered to support their own sons. The chapters feature rich narratives accentuating the real lives of fathers who have experienced various levels of engagement with their sons' schooling. Fathers discuss their involvement in nursery provision, their sometimes tentative relationships with primary schools, their struggles to deal with sons who experience learning difficulties, and their responses to the education system when they are encountering stress in their own lives. Each chapter suggests ways for schools to help support evolving parent-partnership approaches and provides professional development opportunities for teachers. This book is for school administrators, policymakers, teachers, and teacher trainers. It will also be of interest for gender studies courses.

Peter Clough is Professor of Education at Queen's University, Belfast.