Kristina Göransson
Deputy Head of Department | Director of Doctoral Studies | Senior Lecturer | PhD in Social Anthropology | Associate Professor
Navigating conflicting desires: parenting practices and the meaning of educational work in urban East Asia
Author
Summary, in English
Today parents are faced with increasing expectations to attend to their young children’s learning and cognitive development. South Korea and Singapore are well-known for their competitive education systems and for consistently topping international student assessment tests. They also share an inflated private tuition industry, fuelled by the assumption that parents are compelled to invest substantial resources and time to support their children's development and education. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Seoul and Singapore, the article explores how middle-class parents of pre- and primary school children negotiate seemingly conflicting aspirations of academic achievement versus emotional well-being and resilience. The findings unveil how parents strive to cultivate positive attitudes towards learning through management of time and space in everyday life. In particular, it draws attention to the moral imperative to raise children who enjoy learning, as a way to reconcile parents’ twofold aspiration to upskill their children and cultivate their emotional well-being.
Department/s
- Child, Youth and Family
- School of Social Work
Publishing year
2022-03-01
Language
English
Pages
160-178
Publication/Series
Ethnography & Education
Volume
17
Issue
2
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Routledge
Topic
- Educational Sciences
- Social Work
Status
Published
Project
- Parenting strategies around children's education in urban China, South Korea and Singapore: A comparative ethnographic study
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1745-7823