Schooling Welfare & Parental

Issues of child protection, child abuse and delinquency have generated public and academic concerns over the ability adults have to underwrite the physical, moral and social welfare of children.

At the same time, recent educational reform has provoked debate around the shifting balance of power between those most involved with child development - parents and teachers.

This book brings these two agenda together within a coherent theoretical framework and offers an empirical analysis grounded in the perspectives of both parents and teachers.The book draws on recent British, European and North American research in providing the reader with an up-to-date account of the current state of affairs between parents and teachers.

Within a context of recent educational and social policy reform, and drawing on interview material from parents and teachers, the author examines common understandings of the concept of parental responsibility.

Debates on sex education, the "interventionist" welfare state, and the current state of parental anxiety are explored by the author through the accounts provided by the parents and teachers.With its emphasis on linking theory and research to current public issues relating to child support, this book is intended to be of interest to undergraduates, teachers and practitioners within the fields of education, social work and social science.