Conflict, communication, and the ‘good’ parent construct: separated parents’ experiences with Australian schools

Conflict, communication, and the ‘good’ parent construct: separated parents’ experiences with Australian schools

Education research and policy has paid significant attention to parent – school relationships; however, this work almost completely lacks any consideration of diverse family structures. This research confronts an important gap in the educational literature: the extent to which diverse families, in particular separated parents, are both acknowledged and accommodated within the Australian school system. In this study, data were gathered from semi-structured interviews with separated parents residing in Australia. The data revealed that parents’ interactions and communications with their children’s schools were shaped by their perception of their visibility or invisibility in the eyes of the school. Thus, the findings demonstrate that high-quality communication between separated parents and schools through policies and processes that recognise and accommodate diverse family structures can allow separated parents to better manage their relationships with their children’s schools. Without further interrogation of normative expectations of parenting, and without deeper consideration of how school communication needs to change to accommodate family diversity, separated parents, particularly those in high-conflict co-parenting relationships, will continue to express dissatisfaction with their children’s schools.

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