Pedagogy of family everyday life: The unexpected educational relevance of ordinary parent-child interactions

Abstract

Contributing to an underexplored line of inquiry in pedagogical research on family life, the present study investigates the mundane and apparently banal conversations that involve parents and children in ordinary family routines. Adopting a phenomenological perspective to the study of educational events and relying on the theoretical-methodological instrument of conversation analysis, the study reveals the “implicit educational density” of ordinary family interactions. Observing family interac- tions as occasions for learning allows to shed light on the educational work carried out by parents in the unfolding of family everyday life, thus opening new areas of pedagogical intervention and promoting parental reflexivity and empowerment.