Lena's case study

Stage Three: How have I changed?

Lena’s journey in the RESPECT project shifted her images of teachers and of parents. She recognised that her expectations of what knowledge parents should contribute to the service and to the program acted to control parent engagement. In particular, she questioned her use of Background Information sheets. Through Background Information sheets, staff make it clear that parents should disclose personal information because it can influence their children’s educational outcomes and future success. Lena recognised that staff ask parents for information about their private lives and backgrounds that some may not want to divulge - and that the staff themselves would find difficult to disclose. (In RESPECT’s introductory workshop, five of the twelve participants said that they never divulge personal information to parents!).

Ultimately, the parents choose whether or not to complete the Background Information sheet and some choose not to answer some of the questions or fail to return the form. However, staff don’t emphasise such parental choice - they just hand a parent a Background Information sheet and ask her/him to complete and return it:

• What I thought I was doing was telling parents that I value their knowledge and insight; but actually what I was doing was telling them what I think is important for me to know and in doing so benefiting myself because it makes my job easier.