Breaking Britain? The effects of politics on education and child-rearing

The next seminar in the University of Kent-organised Changing Parenting Culture series will examine the unprecedented politicisation of parent-child relations that has taken place over the past decade.

The seminar, to be held at the British Library on 16 February, will consider new research from the fields of sociology, anthropology, law, social policy, psychology and education. The programme will include a discussion between sociologist Professor Frank Furedi (University of Kent), children's author Anthony Horowitz and Sunday Times and Guardian journalist Jenni Russell on a new agenda for parents and schools. Professor Furedi will also set out a five-point-plan for policy on education.

The seminar will also feature the launch of an important new collection of essays, Teenage Parenting: What's The Problem?, a book that offers a critical account of the recent politics of early childbearing.

Other sessions include: 'What's wrong with our parenting culture? Observations on the politicisation of parenting'; 'The rise of "parenting science"'; 'Anti-social behaviour and the new parenting culture'; 'Childcare, trust and intensive parenting'; and 'Changing parenting culture: rescuing adult authority in the 21st century.'

Dr Ellie Lee, Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Kent and the series organiser, said: 'Over the last decade, policymakers have relentlessly made parent-child relations their business. Recent policy statements from both the New Labour and Conservative parties show in no uncertain terms that how parents 'parent' is set to be further politicised. In the light of the forthcoming general election, this seminar will provide an opportunity to hear some genuinely new ideas and thinking about the effects of this development for parents and wider society.'

Professor Furedi commented: 'Parents, teachers and members of the public are deeply concerned with the many problems afflicting our schools. But we discuss only rarely issues such as the role of adult authority, by which I mean that of parents and teachers. We also take too little time to assess the proper role of policymakers and what education should mean.

'If schools are to prosper, we need to alter the relationship between policymaking and education, teacher and parent, and adults and children. In my view, we need to take the politics out of education and out of child-rearing. We need to establish both the special role of the family in raising children and the special place of education as a project with its own purpose and independent life.'

Full details on the seminar are available here.

The Changing Parenting Culture series is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

Contact: mediaoffice@kent.ac.uk

Story published at 2:00pm 8 February 2010