Autonomous and responsible? Parental rationalities for their involvement in ECEC in the Czech Republic

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Authors

KAMPICHLER Martina

Year of publication 2023
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source EARLY YEARS
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Education

Citation
Web https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09575146.2021.1959523
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09575146.2021.1959523
Keywords Parental involvement; ECEC; responsible autonomous family; postsocialism; neoliberalism
Description This article examines different rationalities for parental involvement in their children's early childhood education and care (ECEC). Starting from Foucault's governmentality and the context of the transforming and diversifying Czech preschool system, it analyzes parents' rationalities for their involvement in ECEC and discusses how they relate to the neoliberal ideal of the responsible autonomous family. Analyzing data from interviews with parents in six ECEC facilities with different characteristics, it identifies five rationalities for parental involvement and shows how the neoliberal processes of responsibilization and autonomization play a central role in the (de)legitimization of these parental rationalities. Reflecting on how the rationalities of parental involvement gain or lose legitimacy in relation to dominant norms and ideals helps ECEC students and practitioners to understand how social inequalities are potentially exacerbated through the promotion/expectation of certain forms of parental involvement in parent - ECEC facility relationships.
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