ERIC Number: EJ1291357
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0954-0253
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Available Date: N/A
Good Mother, Bad Mother?: Maternal Identities and Cyber-Agency in the Primary School Homework Debate
Gender and Education, v33 n3 p285-305 2021
Primary homework in England is widespread and contentious, yet research largely ignores its gendered impact on families. This netnographic study locates mother perspectives online to explore whether participation in mother-focused forums affords maternal cyber-agency in the homework debate. Findings suggest that many women, positioning themselves as 'good' mothers, perform their maternal identity online by upholding an ideology of good mothering which expects maternal support for homework. Alternative homework practices are critiqued as 'bad' mothering. Although other perspectives emerge, individual mothers' abilities to create new homework narratives in anonymous online spaces are restricted by the forums' alignment towards dominant mothering ideologies and their normative practices. These findings question assumptions of maternal empowerment, support and cyber-agency, in online spaces which operate as communities of collective, hegemonic knowledge. Teachers also infiltrate the forums, directing maternal homework behaviours using good mothering. Good mothering's impact on maternal cyber-agency and forum homework discussion is therefore highlighted.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Homework, Mothers, Identification (Psychology), Elementary Education, Parenting Styles, Ideology, Parent Role, Values, Parent Attitudes, Internet, Social Influences, Cultural Influences, Social Networks, Computer Mediated Communication, Feminism, Teacher Influence, Beliefs, Power Structure, Parent Teacher Cooperation
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom (England)
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Author Affiliations: N/A