The parent-teacher interview in kindergarten : what organizational dynamics, what knowledge mobilized?
At the crossroad between research on the teacher’s profession and the family-school relationship, this article proposes to study a blind spot of research: parent-teacher interviews, which we understand as a significant part of the teacher’s work. In a culturally diverse neighborhood in Fribourg, Switzerland, parent-teacher interviews were observed and recorded at the local kindergarten. By contrasting the prescriptions, objectives and contents of parent-teacher interviews–as formulated by the teachers–with their actual performance, we describe the organizational dynamics as well as the knowledge that has been used by the teachers during the family interview. An a posteriori hypothesis emerges out of the ethnographical approach and the qualitative analyses: the teachers’ knowledge is composite, claimed and put into perspective while in action. It appears as a system made of centralized knowledge (less negotiable, more deeply rooted), peripheral knowledge (more negotiable, less deeply rooted) and transversal knowledge (shared by teachers and parents). The interaction between these pieces of knowledge would allow, in our view, for these categories to be updated, transformed and circulated.