Othered voices: asylum-seeking mothers and early years education

Strengthening the home–school partnership is a strategy to raise achievement levels and to engage ‘hard-to-reach’ parents with education in the UK, however this political ideal has been critiqued as exclusive and based on a white, middle class model. This article explores how six asylum-seeking mothers manage their children's early years education, with a specific focus on the concept of parent-partnership. Asylum-seekers in the UK are stigmatised in the media and one of the most marginalised groups in society. The mothers participated in a three-hour group interview with questions, ranking cards and discussion interpreted into the home languages. Findings highlight tensions in language learning, a lack of appropriate cultural resources, perceptions of teachers as experts, and differing values as desired attributes for their children. The implications of these findings extend our knowledge of an under-researched group of mothers and young children and, if replicated, may inform future early years practice.