In opposition to the discourse of silent compliance and the neo-liberal colonisation of voice, this article shares research with parents in an English primary school. Drawing on the work of Jacques Rancière and John Macmurray, the author argues that there is a need for a more relational but dissensual approach to parent engagement and voice, instead of parents being positioned by schools as support acts. Parent engagement, increasingly commodified over recent years within English school policy, has been relegated to responding to questionnaires, dutiful attendance of parents’ evenings, ensuring homework completion and choosing the correct school. Meanwhile, the social mobility agenda demands that parents inculcate aspirations in their children unquestioningly. Policies and pronouncements seek to ‘close the gap’ in attainment between the poorest children and their peers in England, Australia, the USA and other neo-liberalised countries. Hence a context is created in which parent engagement is now an exercise in creating ‘good’ pupils and successful economic beings. This article considers how parents have been rendered objects rather than agentic subjects within neo-liberal education systems and have lost their democratic voice. It concludes that there needs to be a reanimation of Dewey’s vision of education politics.

中文翻译：

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民主父母的参与：关系和异议

与沉默的服从和新自由主义的声音殖民化相反，本文与英国一所小学的父母分享了研究成果。作者借鉴了雅克·兰契尔（JacquesRancière）和约翰·麦克默里（John Macmurray）的著作，认为有必要在父母的参与和发声方面采取一种更具关系性但又不同意的方法，而不是将父母作为学校的支持者。近年来，在英语学校政策范围内，家长参与度越来越高，如今已沦为回应问卷调查，忠实参加家长晚会，确保完成家庭作业并选择正确学校的方式。同时，社会流动议程要求父母毫无疑问地向孩子灌输愿望。政策和声明力求“弥合”最贫困儿童与英格兰，澳大利亚，美国和其他新自由化国家的同龄人之间的鸿沟。因此，创造了一种环境，在这种情况下，父母的参与现在是创造“好”学生和成功的经济存在者的一种练习。本文考虑在新自由主义教育体系中，如何使父母成为对象而不是代理科目，并使其失去民主的声音。结论是，需要对杜威的教育政治观进行复活。本文考虑在新自由主义教育体系中，如何使父母成为对象而不是代理科目，并使其失去民主的声音。结论是，需要对杜威的教育政治观进行复活。本文考虑在新自由主义教育体系中，如何使父母成为对象而不是代理科目，并使其失去民主的声音。结论是，需要对杜威的教育政治观进行复活。