Professor Rachel Brooks gave this Lightning Talk on Paradoxical Parenting Practices at the last Parents and Carers Working Group meeting.

Rachel provided insights from her research into intensive parenting practices of students in higher education. The talk was followed by discussion with Rachel about the implications of this research for practitioners involved in supporting equitable practices in HE.

While there is now a large literature on ‘intensive parenting’ practices, to date the majority of studies have focussed on young children, rather than those in their early adulthood. This talk drew on interviews with parents to explore parenting practices as they pertain to higher education. Rachel argues that although parents tended to stress the importance of children achieving independence during their degree programmes, in other ways, their parenting practices were notably ‘intensive’ in nature. The research is significant in documenting both the extension of intensive parenting beyond the years of childhood and the associated dependencies that appear to continue to characterise family relationships in early adulthood. The research suggests that, politically, it may be harder to demonstrate the degree that responsibilities (particularly those that are financial in nature) have shifted from the state to families if parental contributions are masked by the discourse of ‘independence’.

This event took place online from 14.00pm - 15.30pm.