Privacy, power, and relationship: ethics and the home-school partnership

Research on the ethics of the home-school partnerships in secondary education is scarce. This paper uses data from three case studies to argue: students have a right to privacy which home-school partnerships can circumvent, parents can be used as a resource to leverage compliance from students which undermines young people’s privacy, and developing trusting relationships between parents and teachers is complex when considering the power differentials within that relationship. This article concludes that specific areas around privacy that require greater consideration include: the use of parents to leverage behavioural change in students, the sharing of information students may legitimately believe is intimate without consent, and seeking a change in values within the home. We also consider the areas of resistance students have displayed towards an encroachment on their private spheres.