Paper short abstract:

Bringing together contemporary ethnographic material with an historically informed analysis of the value accorded to education in the attainment of mobility, the rise of charter schools, afterschool programs, summer camps and other enrichment activities and the “high stakes” educational landscape in multicultural California, this paper examines how parents negotiate complex and dynamic learning ecologies.

Paper long abstract:

From conceptualizations of learning lives (Erstad, et al. 2009) to participation trajectories (Dreier 2003; Ito, et al 2010), it is now widely accepted that young people's learning ecologies are constituted within and across a range of contexts. The notion of a learning ecology (Barron 2006) acknowledges the social and contextual factors that shape learning and young people's development. In middle class families, parents typically broker relationships with institutions and individuals associated with learning in their efforts to cultivate relationships and provide access to social, economic and cultural capital, what Lareau (2003) has termed "concerted cultivation". We also see the increasing influence of peer culture and young people's own social networks and experiences offering alternative opportunities and pathways for learning. These diverse and, at times, distinctive opportunities for learning often produce anxiety and tension between young people and their parents. This paper examines how parents negotiate the learning ecologies of their children in learning and education in their children's lives based upon research with youth and families in California, USA. Bringing together contemporary ethnographic material with an historically informed analysis of the value accorded to education and educational capital in the attainment of mobility, the rise of charter schools, afterschool programs, summer camps and other enrichment activities and the "high stakes" educational landscape in multicultural California, this paper will explore the panel's emphasis on risk, management and expertise as it emerges in parents everyday navigation of this education and learning ecology.