Parental agency and related emotions in the educational partnership

Abstract

This study investigated the understudied issue of parental agency and related emotions in the educational partnership in the context of Finnish early childhood education and care. We asked (i) what types of parental agency can be identified in the educational partnership and (ii) in what ways emotions are related to these types of agency. The narrative method was used to analyse the interview data of parents of children with difficulties in self-regulation. The findings indicate that parental agency in the educational partnership varied from proactive and confrontational to hindered. Typically, pleasant emotions were related to proactive and unpleasant emotions to confrontational parental agency. Ambivalent and neutral emotions, in turn, were related to hindered parental agency. This study enhances understanding of the educational partnership from the viewpoint of parents of a child with difficulties in self-regulation. The study also contributes to the theoretical debate on the emotions related to agency.