De uhørte stemmer

En undersøgelse af skolehjemsamarbejdet mellem forældre af somalisk afstamning og lærere i den danske folkeskole

Abstract

Voices of the Unheard: A presentation and discussion of the study of home-school collaboration between Somali diaspora parents and teachers in the Danish public school.

This is a revised version of the Ph.D. defense of the thesis: “Voices of the Unheard. Home- school collaboration between Somali diaspora parents and teachers in Danish public schools.” (Matthiesen, 2014). The thesis investigates the home-school collaboration between teachers in the Danish public schools and Somali diaspora parents. The study is an explorative qualita- tive study of four families that were followed for 11⁄2 years. It is argued that an understand- ing of this practice requires an investigation of the constituted conditions through which the practice unfolds, as well as the constitu- tive participation that (re)produces the prac- tice. Through an analytic lens that oscillates between the constituted and the constitutive participation, it is argued that there are certain dynamics through which Somali diaspora par- ents in a Danish parent-teacher communication context are silenced. It is argued that teach- ers are positioned at a political and structural level as experts who know how to ensure the academic success of students. Parents, on the other hand, are positioned as assistants who are responsible for supporting the work of the teachers. However, the Somali diaspora par- ents are considered inadequate as parents in general but also specifically inadequate with regards to supporting their children academi- cally. Furthermore, there are particular struc- tural, material and interactional dynamics in the parent-teacher conferences that make it difficult for them to maintain their points of view, which consequently silences them. Additionally, it is shown that the mothers in the project were very active in striving for an eq- uitable partnership but their fear of conflicts led them to shy away from confrontation. This consequently resulted in silencing their voices.