1st Edition
Primary Homework, Mothering and Maternal Agency Portraits of Relationality, Agency and Care in Educational Support
Contents
List of figures
List of tables
Acknowledgements
Preface
Introduction
1 Homework as a core educational and parental practice: disempowering discourses
2 A feminist portrait of mothering and mothers’ educational care work
Part A – Portraits of integration
3 Homework as a mothering tool: reinventing a mother’s place
A portrait of Anna and Izzy
A portrait of Nell and Lucy
4 Homework as a family–school partnership: playing the educational game
A portrait of Helen and Corey
A portrait of Leah and Jack
5 The temporal, practical and emotional burden of integrating homework support
A portrait of Fiona and Sam
Part B – Portraits of resistance
6 Resisting and reproducing intergenerational homework practices
A portrait of Ruth and Lois
A portrait of Sian and Emma
7 Navigating homework from outside the dominant educational culture
A portrait of Ting and Ryan
A portrait of Priti, Kuja and Marut
8 Disrupting the gendered responsibility of homework
A portrait of Jenny and Claire
Conclusion
9 The motherisation of homework: centring relationality, agency and care
10 Reconceptualising homework as an act of mothering
Biography
Rachel Lehner-Mear is ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow, School of Education, University of Nottingham, UK.
'In "Primary Homework, Mothering and Maternal Agency", Lehner-Mear brings together scholarly insights and the stories of individual mothers in relation to homework. The book shines the light of various theories – neoliberalism, feminism, intersectionality among them – on the day-to-day experiences of mothers negotiating home-based, but school-directed, learning. This book will be of value to anyone interested in mothers’ work, parent (which usually means mother, after all) engagement, or out of school learning.'
- Janet Goodall, Professor of Education, Swansea University, UK
'Drawing on valuable data from family experiences, Primary Homework, Mothering and Maternal Agency illustrates the emotional entanglement of mothering and homework. It recognizes the important work of mothers in reconceptualising homework as a social and relational activity, demonstrating the nuanced experiences of varied families. An insightful read for all educators.'
- Carolyn Clarke, Assistant Professor, St. Francis Xavier University, Canada
