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Renee Desmarchelier, Associate Professor, Critical Pedagogies, University of Southern Queensland

Schools still assume students have a mum and dad who are together. This can leave separated parents ‘completely out of it’

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In 1987, UK researchers lamented how schools were organised “around the assumption that the nuclear family is the norm”. Families who did not fit this model were “either ignored (tactfully) or categorised as abnormal”.

Several generations have passed through schools since then. And as we know, it remains very common for parents to be separated or divorced. In Australia, about 28% of children under 14 have parents who are separated.

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