Tales from the Battlefield: the challenges of parent-professional partnership
Nick Hodge, Sheffield Hallam University
Co-author(s): Dr Katherine Runswick-Cole
Abstract
The value of, and need for, parent-professional partnership is an unchallenged mantra within education policy relating to 'special educational needs'. In spite of this, partnership continues to be experienced as problematic by both parents and professionals. This paper brings together the different perspectives of two disability researchers: one is a parent of a disabled child while the other was a teacher for twenty years of children with the label of autism. The paper deconstructs the concept of partnership and then, drawing on the expertise of parents, suggests how enabling and empowering parent-professional relationships might be achieved.