Teaching parenting in a pandemic: social and pedagogical discourses

Abstract

In many countries the COVID-19 pandemic has been managed through lockdowns including school closures which require parents/guardians to take responsibility for overseeing children’s education. Lockdowns also left parents supervising more of their children’s informal time. Parenting has always been the subject of adult education, both formal and institutional and informal via networks, books and media advice. This article undertakes a critical discourse analysis of a small selection of media texts offering advice and guidance on parenting in the pandemic. The analyses suggest that the pandemic context generated a discourse of crisis and urgency which intensified pressure on parents to conform to a specific model of the ‘good parent’. ‘Good parents’ follow the guidance of experts and closely discipline and regulate themselves and their children through the careful management of time, space, emotions and relationships. During the temporary suspension of societal institutions, most notably schools and workplaces, which normally perform these disciplinary functions, parents and families are in the spotlight and their performance is therefore subject to more intense informal education and management.