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Exploring Fathers' Communicative Experiences with Teachers in Chinese Kindergartens

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Title: Exploring Fathers' Communicative Experiences with Teachers in Chinese Kindergartens
Language: English
Authors: Shiyao Wang (ORCID 0000-0001-8306-7902)
Source: Early Childhood Education Journal. 2026 54(1):243-262.
Availability: Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 20
Publication Date: 2026
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education
Preschool Education
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Fathers, Parent Teacher Cooperation, Parent Attitudes, Teacher Attitudes, Interpersonal Communication, Preschool Teachers, Gender Issues, Barriers, Cultural Influences
Geographic Terms: China
DOI: 10.1007/s10643-024-01812-8
ISSN: 1082-3301
1573-1707
Abstract: This qualitative case study addresses the need to strengthen the understanding of fathers' communicative experiences with teachers within Chinese kindergartens from the perspectives of directors, teachers, fathers and their partners. Using Bourdieusian theory, these data were explored to identify fathers' and teachers' beliefs and practices that may hinder their communication intended to assist children's development in the ECE field. Data were gathered through documents provided by kindergartens, fieldnotes (observation data), personal communication (interviews after observation) and semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that teachers' gendered perceptions act as a cultural barrier hindering communication between teachers and fathers. Structural barriers include "useless and formalistic information", "unsatisfactory feedback" and "lack of teacher training on communication", all of which increase tensions in establishing positive and effective communication between fathers and teachers and reveal the unequal position between fathers and teachers, fathers and mothers. Additionally, fathers felt embarrassed or uncomfortable when communicating with teachers and tended to interrupt teachers less and respect teachers' views. Further investigations are recommended to examine the impact of more open, timely, individual, and transactional communication targeting fathers.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2026
Accession Number: EJ1503810
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0191072487;5mx01jan.26;2026Jan27.05:19;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0191072487-1">Exploring Fathers' Communicative Experiences with Teachers in Chinese Kindergartens </title> <p>This qualitative case study addresses the need to strengthen the understanding of fathers' communicative experiences with teachers within Chinese kindergartens from the perspectives of directors, teachers, fathers and their partners. Using Bourdieusian theory, these data were explored to identify fathers' and teachers' beliefs and practices that may hinder their communication intended to assist children's development in the ECE field. Data were gathered through documents provided by kindergartens, fieldnotes (observation data), personal communication (interviews after observation) and semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that teachers' gendered perceptions act as a cultural barrier hindering communication between teachers and fathers. Structural barriers include "useless and formalistic information", "unsatisfactory feedback" and "lack of teacher training on communication", all of which increase tensions in establishing positive and effective communication between fathers and teachers and reveal the unequal position between fathers and teachers, fathers and mothers. Additionally, fathers felt embarrassed or uncomfortable when communicating with teachers and tended to interrupt teachers less and respect teachers' views. Further investigations are recommended to examine the impact of more open, timely, individual, and transactional communication targeting fathers.</p> <p>Keywords: Father-teacher communication; Home-school partnerships; Barriers; Early childhood education; Studies in Human Society Sociology</p> <p>Copyright comment Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-2">Introduction</hd> <p>The importance of father involvement in the early childhood education (ECE) context has been increasingly acknowledged in recent scholarship. A number of studies have shown that father involvement can benefit children's positive behaviors (Liu et al., [<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref1">44</reflink>]), reading skills (Xiao et al., [<reflink idref="bib72" id="ref2">72</reflink>]), and language and literacy development (Liu & Chung, [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref3">43</reflink>]). However, ECE research has demonstrated that the role of fathers in the children's preschool experience has been overlooked (Azuoma, [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref4">4</reflink>]; Gadson, [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref5">27</reflink>]). Numerous studies have historically focused on maternal involvement rather than father involvement (e.g., Cano et al., [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref6">17</reflink>]; Baker, [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref7">5</reflink>]; McBride & Mills, [<reflink idref="bib48" id="ref8">48</reflink>]). Baker ([<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref9">5</reflink>]) highlights that the mother-only basis for current knowledge about parent engagement has constrained the ability of practitioners to gain a comprehensive understanding of the roles that parents play in children's education.</p> <p>More recently, some studies have attempted to explore different aspects of father involvement in ECE contexts, including communication regarding activities with practitioners (e.g., daily interactions, parent-teacher conferences) (Dent et al., [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref10">22</reflink>]), volunteering (e.g., classroom, committees, and governing boards) (Baker, [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref11">5</reflink>]), supporting children's learning at home (e.g., reading, playing, and taking child places) (Campbell & Schindler, [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref12">16</reflink>]), attending activities (Saaka et al., [<reflink idref="bib62" id="ref13">62</reflink>]), and participating in parenting support services (e.g., home visiting, father–child activities, marriage and parenting classes, and father support groups) (e.g., Burcher et al., [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref14">14</reflink>]). Following the ideas of father involvement, this study recognizes that father involvement in the kindergarten-based activities includes attending parent–teacher conferences, communication with teachers, or volunteering to participate in the activities provided by the kindergartens (e.g., volunteer activities, father-child activities, outdoor activities). Amongst them, a vital element that this study focuses upon is communication regarding activities with practitioners in the school context (e.g., daily interactions, parent–teacher conferences, communication during activities). Previous studies have recognized effective communication as a key approach to forming home–kindergarten partnerships (e.g., Kambouri et al., [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref15">34</reflink>]). Specifically, kindergartens have opened up frequent and varied channels, both formal and informal, written and oral, to communicate about school practices and children's learning. This home–kindergarten communication has included a range of modes including newsletters, kindergarten notices, handbooks and students' portfolios to regular phone calls, sending messages via WhatsApp groups, and teacher–parent conferences (Lau & Ng, [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref16">38</reflink>]). Given that home-school communication is regarded as the most important aspect of the home–school partnership (Lau & Ng, [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref17">38</reflink>]), communication between teachers and fathers can be seen as a mirror of that partnership. Some studies have recommended that teachers should actively participate in regular direct communication with fathers (e.g., Ancell et al., [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref18">2</reflink>]). If fathers could engage in more ongoing and productive communication with schools, they would be more capable of engaging in their children's education and better supporting their children's learning at home (Okeke et al., [<reflink idref="bib55" id="ref19">55</reflink>]). However, Panter-Brick et al. ([<reflink idref="bib56" id="ref20">56</reflink>]) has pointed that teachers' engagement with fathers is consistently ignored as an element of parent–teacher collaboration. In reality, both preschool teachers and fathers expressed negative communicative experiences between both (e.g., Gadson, [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref21">27</reflink>]; Tadi et al., [<reflink idref="bib65" id="ref22">65</reflink>]). Such negative perceptions from both fathers and teachers are inextricably linked to some contributing factors, as indicated in the literature reviewed below.</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-3">Literature Review</hd> <p>Cultural, structural, and personal factors have been explored that may influence fathers to be involved in kindergartens. Here, cultural factors refer to the shared societal views and attitudes towards father involvement in childcare (Azuoma, [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref23">4</reflink>]). This is connected with the cultural norms that regulate the father as the breadwinner and the mother as the childcare provider (Clark, [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref24">18</reflink>]). Cultural orientations of ECE educators and teachers influence their interactions with parents (Merriweather, [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref25">49</reflink>]). As such, this may constitute teachers' beliefs regarding how they perceive fathers' roles in child(ren)'s educational activities; they may believe fathers are not capable of playing the educational role and thus, their attitudes may imped them from actively facilitating father involvement in the ECE context (Okeke, [<reflink idref="bib54" id="ref26">54</reflink>]). Teachers' attitudes towards father involvement (as a structural factor) in past studies could demonstrate either negativity or supporte, and their attitudes may have influenced their actual implementation of involving fathers in the ECE context (White et al., [<reflink idref="bib70" id="ref27">70</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-4">Cultural Influences</hd> <p>Cultural values have a significant effect on individual beliefs, behaviors, and reactions (Azuoma, [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref28">4</reflink>]). For example, teachers who follow traditional cultural norms may view mothers as the family education agents, thereby locking fathers out of communication (Merriweather, [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref29">49</reflink>]). In the western context, researchers have found that teachers' gender prejudices, such as having a "hegemonic negative controlling image" (Jørgensen, [<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref30">32</reflink>], p. 390) of fathers as patriarchal, oppresse, absent, and inattentive, may cause them to prefer to alienate these fathers. Tadi and Sadeghi ([<reflink idref="bib64" id="ref31">64</reflink>]) indicate that teachers preferred mothers' participation over fathers' participation in ECE contexts and some fathers stated that teachers pre-assumed only mothers wanted to participate, which resulted in fathers not being given opportunities to be involved in their children's programs (Baker, [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref32">5</reflink>]; Williams, [<reflink idref="bib71" id="ref33">71</reflink>]). Such barriers may link with teachers' unconscious biases or conscious cultural beliefs that impede the involvement of fathers in the educational activities of their children (Azuoma, [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref34">4</reflink>]). Accordingly, teachers and school staff may undervalue the involvement of fathers because they believe that fathers are not equally knowledgeable as mothers about child education (Kadar-Satat et al., [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref35">33</reflink>]).</p> <p>Concerning the Chinese context, Confucianism has largely influenced Chinese cultural norms for thousands of years. Confucianism's emphasis on family values promotes a hierarchical relationship between men and women, resulting in the assignment of separate roles and spaces for fathers and mothers. Within this context, men were granted authority over women (Li, [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref36">41</reflink>]). This cultural context of male authority required fathers to act as the head of the household, setting and enforcing rules and making decisions, while mothers were expected to be nurturing caregivers, as reflected in the proverbs "men are in charge of the outside, women are in charge of the inside" (Li & Lamb, [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref37">42</reflink>]). The above claims reflect a patriarchal belief system rooted in Confucianism and teachers may embody such cultural norms in their daily interactions with fathers. However, few studies have explored how these Chinese cultural norms may constitute teachers' beliefs of involving fathers in the ECE context and it is important to consider this in the local cultural context.</p> <p>Fathers who believe in traditional gender roles tend to show little interest in engaging in children's educational activities, whether at home or in school, as they would rather be primary providers for the family and relegate home and childcare tasks to the wife (Clark, [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref38">18</reflink>]). As such, fathers and teachers are influenced by the need to balance aspects of culture (such as values) and their beliefs with aspects of the constraints and resources in which they live (Aldoney & Cabrera, [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref39">1</reflink>]; Loza, [<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref40">46</reflink>]). Therefore, connecting with this study, to understand the mechanism behind father–teacher communication, there is a need to locate fathers' and teachers' communicative experiences in their broader sociocultural dynamics. Few past studies elaborate on the cultural factors that influence father–teacher communication in the Chinese context.</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-5">Structural Factors</hd> <p>Structural factors are crucial in constructing fathers' communicative experiences with teachers in the ECE context. The structural factors include ECE directors' and teachers' attitudes and their actual implementation of involving fathers in the ECE context (Azuoma, [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref41">4</reflink>]). First, different attitudes from teachers influence their behaviours of involving fathers in the ECE context. Teachers who held negative attitudes toward father involvement assumed that fathers were not interested in working with children and they were not actively involving fathers in the ECE classroom (Gadson, [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref42">27</reflink>]). Conversely, teachers with supportive attitudes towards father involvement were more likely to place greater emphasis on the important contributions fathers made in the lives of their children (White et al., [<reflink idref="bib70" id="ref43">70</reflink>]).</p> <p>Notably, there is also a distinction between staff attitudes and behaviors. Attitudes toward father involvement were significantly more positive than the actual implementation of father-supportive behaviors (Williams, [<reflink idref="bib71" id="ref44">71</reflink>]). For example, staff members may be supportive of father involvement, but the actual implementation, such as making activities more father-friendly, may still be lacking, both at the individual and organizational level (White et al., [<reflink idref="bib70" id="ref45">70</reflink>]). As such, Lau ([<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref46">37</reflink>]) stated there is a need for a study of teacher engagement with fathers from fathers' perspectives to explore the fathers' experiences of interactions provided by kindergarten teachers, and especially listening to fathers' views on the teachers' actual implementation of communication.</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-6">Individual Reasons</hd> <p>In addition to structural factors, fathers' personal factors are also essential in determining their levels of involvement in the ECE context. Research indicates that fathers' employment, work schedules, and environments influence father involvement, as do fathers' personal beliefs and self-perceptions of fathering (Gardner, [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref47">28</reflink>]). Specifically, fathers witht flexible schedules may be more available to engage with teachers and have time to participate in kindergartens (Moore, [<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref48">50</reflink>]). Baker ([<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref49">5</reflink>]) points out that when fathers attend and spend time in school, including attending parent–teacher meetings, it promotes communication between fathers and teachers. In addition to fathers' objective conditions, Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler ([<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref50">31</reflink>]) contended that fathers' willingness to become involved in children's education serves as a model for the child(ren). Moreover, they maintained that if the parent views education as "worthy of adult interest and time" (p. 320), then the parent will put effort in promoting children's development. A father who identifies with the father role will prove to be an involved parent (Moore, [<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref51">50</reflink>]). Nevertheless, most parents (including fathers) may still lack scientific literacy about educating children and they may also be unaware of young children's learning needs and of how they can scaffold children's learning (Papadakis et al., [<reflink idref="bib57" id="ref52">57</reflink>]), which may also hinder their willingness to communicate with teachers. While few studies to date have investigated fathers' perspectives on their communicative experiences with teachers in kindergartens in the Chinese context, this study focuses on this matter.</p> <p>Disregard for fathers in the parent engagement literature suggests an associated gap in practice surrounding teachers' engagement of fathers in children's education (e.g., Gadson, [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref53">27</reflink>]), especially in the ECE context. A comprehensive consideration of the engagement of communication from multiple perspectives—including those of teachers and fathers—is also still lacking. Moreover, there is a need for greater understanding of father–teacher communication connecting with their sociocultural backgrounds and few studies have investigated the father–teacher communication in Chinese backgrounds. The focus on these matters in this study was supported by Bourdieu's theory, since this theory offers support for the analysis of human actions (father–teacher communication) in both the ECE field and at the societal level (Bourdieu & Wacquant, [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref54">10</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-7">Theoretical Framework</hd> <p>Adopting Bourdieu's concepts of capital, habitus, field, doxa and symbolic violence, the study explored fathers' beliefs and experiences in communicating with teachers from the comprehensive perspectives of fathers, teachers, directors and mothers. Bourdieu's set of concepts was designed to understand the social practice of communication, which here can be understood as a particular social interaction between fathers and teachers. Bourdieu argued that "every linguistic interaction, however personal and insignificant it may seem bears the traces of the social structure that it both expresses and helps to reproduce" (Thompson, [<reflink idref="bib67" id="ref55">67</reflink>], p. 2). Communication has inherited a form of symbolic power between agents.</p> <p>Capital is considered by Bourdieu to be a thinking tool for exploring power relations, inequalities, and dominance (Clarkin-Phillips, [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref56">19</reflink>]). The form of participation, always conditional in a particular field, requires cultural capital, especially in an embodied form. The particular form of cultural capital in this context is called conversation (also named as linguistic) capital (Vuorisalo et al., [<reflink idref="bib69" id="ref57">69</reflink>]). Linguistic interaction involves much more than the actual words uttered. Conversation (linguistic) capital relates with the extent to which parents had access to authoritative or authorised discourse (Bourdieu, [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref58">8</reflink>]). Bourdieu describes the school as a linguistic market that is "most completely subjected to the dominant norms" (Bourdieu, [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref59">8</reflink>], p.98). Reay ([<reflink idref="bib60" id="ref60">60</reflink>]) highlights that linguistic capital in which men can achieve largely depends on their female partners and their children's teachers. In relation to this study, such capital represents a sense of efficacy about parents' ability to gain detailed, accurate information about their children's educational progress, especially a sense of entitlement to be heard or of certainty that what they said was right. In addition to capital exchange, practices are also shaped by individuals' habitus. According to Bourdieu, habitus is largely acquired through a prolonged process of internalisation of the social structure (Bourdieu, [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref61">7</reflink>]). Put simply, habitus is a collection of the sets of dispositions that allow individuals and groups of agents to engage with and make meaningful contributions to practice. Habitus helps explain how fathers and teachers engage in social practices at the implicit level. These engagements are often taken for granted and this level of invisible rule-sets is called doxa. Doxa is defined as a set of fundamental beliefs which do not need to be asserted explicitly, existing as self-conscious dogma (Deer, [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref62">21</reflink>]). Specifically, doxa describes how participants in a social space follow its rules as an implicit and shared social habit. Thus, doxa gives structural balance to social spaces, but at the same time, its essence as an invisible set of rules means that it embraces power since some ways of acting are more expected than others (Vuorisalo et al., [<reflink idref="bib69" id="ref63">69</reflink>]).</p> <p>Each field has its own logic of practice and players struggle for positions according to the accumulation of capital. A field has its specific doxa, invisibly producing unequal systems of power and dominance. Bourdieu's idea of symbolic violence contributes to a theory of socialisation whereby various ways of thinking and acting are internalised by groups and classes in a way that masks underlying power relations. Symbolic violence is a "subtle, euphemised, invisible mode of domination that prevents domination from being recognised as such and, therefore, as misrecognised domination, is socially recognised" (Krais, [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref64">35</reflink>], p. 172). Figure 1 shows how the chosen concepts interact with each other.</p> <p>Graph: Fig. 1 Bourdieu's conceptual framework</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-8">The Present Study</hd> <p>Previous studies have indicated that cultural, structural, and personal factors may influence father involvement in the ECE context. This study focuses on the dynamics of father-teacher communication which is a crucial aspect of father involvement within the broader sociocultural context, specifically in the Chinese context. In practice, this study first delves into the reality of father-teacher communication and then explores the influential factors (e.g., cultural dynamics) contributing to the reality and finally attempts to identify ways to facilitate a more proactive father-teacher communicative pattern. Notably, the present study is a pioneering investigation explicitly exploring Chinese fathers' communicative experiences with teachers in the ECE context from multiple perspectives, including fathers, mothers, directors and teachers. This study contributes to improving educational practices by helping to gain a deeper understanding of what mechanisms influence father-teacher communication. Documenting the communicative practices of fathers and teachers in the kindergartens, could help to better understand the relationships between them and then inform more efficient collaboration between both. Accordingly, three research questions are:</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> What is the reality that fathers encounter in their communicating experiences with teachers in kindergartens?</item> <p></p> <item> What are the influential factors behind father–teacher communicative practices from the perspectives of fathers, the kindergarten program directors and teachers?</item> <p></p> <item> How can teachers facilitate fathers' communicative experience in kindergartens?</item> </ulist> <hd id="AN0191072487-9">Method</hd> <p>The study adopted a qualitative case study approach since the design of case study could (<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref65">1</reflink>) provide a richness and depth to the description and analysis of the micro events and larger social structures that constitute social life; (<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref66">2</reflink>) permit the grounding of the observation and concepts about social action and social structures in natural settings; (<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref67">3</reflink>) provide information from a number of sources and over a period of time, thus permitting a more holistic study of complex social networks and of complexes of social action and social meanings; (<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref68">4</reflink>) furnish the dimensions of time and history to the study of social life, thereby enabling the researcher to examine continuity and change in lifeworld patterns (Feagin et al., [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref69">24</reflink>]). The chosen case study was also aligned with the Bourdieusian lens, since this methodology allowed the researcher to not merely explore fathers' experiences within the ECE field, but also consider how fathers and teachers internalized meanings through the objective structures of their experiences in the broader Chinese sociocultural dynamics behind their interactions. The university's Human Research Ethics Committee approved the design, data collection and analysis procedures of this project.</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-10">Description of the Participant Group</hd> <p>In this study, two kindergartens were chosen to showcase specific differences within the Chinese ECE field: one is co-owned by public and private sectors and the other one is a private kindergarten. As I entered the two kindergartens, I had three specific selection criteria for recruiting the fathers and their families: (<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref70">1</reflink>) families with both fathers and mothers had jobs (full-time jobs would be preferred); (<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref71">2</reflink>) families (especially fathers) would like to participate in at least two activities held by the kindergarten; (<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref72">3</reflink>) both fathers and mothers would be willing to take part in the research project. I also had two specific selection criteria for recruiting teachers: (<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref73">1</reflink>) teachers should be responsible in working with parents (including fathers) or at least share some duties in home-kindergarten partnerships (these duties include holding parent committees and kindergarten-based activities, engaging in parent-kindergarten communication and home visits and daily communication); (<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref74">2</reflink>) teachers would be willing to participate in the research project. As the criteria of selection was specific in this study, the participants were chosen by purposeful sampling, a non-probability form of sampling, which is widely used in sampling cases in a strategic way. I first sent emails to the potential kindergartens and gained the directors' consent that they were willing to participate in the projects. Next, I invited a number of potential teachers through the working group who might be interested in the research project. At the final stage, after the field observation in some parent activities, I sent invitations to the potential families who satisfied the specific criteria and seemed most likely to participate in the research project.</p> <p>The participant groups included (<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref75">1</reflink>) directors, (<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref76">2</reflink>) teachers and (<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref77">3</reflink>) families. Two directors were invited as participants since they were familiar with the ECE policies reinforcing dispositions from the field that affected practices. Eight teachers came from the two kindergartens: four senior teachers were experienced and cooperated with four associate teachers. The four experienced teachers were responsible for communicating with parents. The third level was families. Eight father–mother dyads were invited to participate in the research. Table 1 displays the demographic information of participant directors and teachers, and Table 2 illustrates the basic background of the families.</p> <p>Graph</p> <p>Graph</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-11">Data Collection</hd> <p>The data collection lasted for seven months and included gathering kindergarten documents, making fieldnotes (observation data), personal communication (interviews after observations) and semi-structured interviews. This study used observation of naturalistic practice, particularly noting how fathers were involved in the kindergarten-based activities, e.g., autumn camping (family trip), parents as teachers' assistants (PTA) activities, and festival activities. Event sampling was used to "narrow down the focus of the observation" (Mukherji & Albon, [<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref78">51</reflink>], p.111). To record the kindergarten-based activities, the researcher adopted the event-focused lens that captured the key scenarios at kindergartens. Observation notes were based on the designed observation protocol. To capture the potential observational events, the observational protocol was designed based on a number of relevant studies concerning Bourdieu's theory of practice in kindergartens and father-teacher interactions in the kindergartens (e.g., Nugent, [<reflink idref="bib53" id="ref79">53</reflink>]). The observation protocol was adopted for capturing key moments which were relevant to my research and conducting short conversations with fathers and teachers (See the sample of this observation protocol in Appendix A).</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-12">Instruments</hd> <p>Details of personal communication can be found in the observation protocol. Personal communication generally lasted around 30 min with fathers and teachers separately. Upon completion of the observations, the semi-structured interviews proceeded after the observation notes had been reviewed. The interviews were designed to ask some open-ended questions to identify the thoughts of different participants that gave further insight into practices, and which would help answer the research questions. Notably, personal communication was more informal given that such communication often occurred after kindergarten-based activities and so, according to what happened in the activities, the researcher asked participants some casual questions. For example, for fathers, some questions were like: "I saw you..., could you tell me what your thoughts were at that time?" Semi-structured interviews were formally conducted with each participant (<emph>n</emph> = 26) separately and generally lasted 1.5 h. Examples of the questions asked of each group of participants is shown in Appendix B.</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-13">Data Analysis</hd> <p>Thematic analysis was adopted since it is consistent with a constructionist paradigm (Braun & Clarke, [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref80">11</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref81">12</reflink>]) where meaning and experience are socially produced and reproduced, rather than inherent within individuals (Burr, [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref82">15</reflink>]). In relation to this study, thematic analysis had three advantages. First, it helped examine the father-teacher communicative practices and identify whether they were the effects of socially produced practices operating within the Chinese society. Second, thematic analysis was able to be applied to various data forms (Fugard & Potts, [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref83">26</reflink>]). In this study, observation notes, interviews based on observation and semi-structured interviews were analysed inductively using thematic analysis. Thirdly, thematic analysis connected well with Bourdieu's theory as applied by previous scholars. For example, Grenfell and Lebaron ([<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref84">30</reflink>]) supported the use of Bourdieu's theory of practice to underpin theoretically informed thematic analysis of interview transcripts.</p> <p>This study followed the scientific analytical procedures: (<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref85">1</reflink>) familiarizing yourself with the data, (<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref86">2</reflink>) generating initial codes, (<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref87">3</reflink>) searching for themes, (<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref88">4</reflink>) reviewing potential themes, (<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref89">5</reflink>) defining and naming themes, and (<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref90">6</reflink>) writing up (Braun & Clarke, [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref91">12</reflink>]). The qualitative data was coded and then constructed into themes through a process of revision and redefinition. Importantly, the themes in this study are closely linked with fathers' experience in communication and identify cultural, structural and individual barriers that hinder father–teacher communication.</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-14">Trustworthiness</hd> <p>This study adopted strategies to establish the trustworthiness of the data analysis including member checking, triangulation and researcher reflexivity (Berger, [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref92">6</reflink>]; Nowell et al., [<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref93">52</reflink>]). For member checking, I repeatedly reviewed the transcripts and sent research texts back to the research participants to check whether they remained true to the participants' accounts (Thomas, [<reflink idref="bib66" id="ref94">66</reflink>]). For triangulation, I collected data from different resources including kindergarten documents, fieldnotes (observation data), personal communication (interviews after observation) and semi-structured interviews, with each of the data resources coming from an individual party. Also, data source triangulation involved the collection of data from fathers, mothers, directors and teachers, to gain multiple perspectives and validation of data (Lemon & Hayes, [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref95">39</reflink>]). For reflexivity, I wrote the monthly reflective journal entries to reflect on the theoretical model, my positioning as a researcher, the research procedures, the findings emerging from the data (Sweet, [<reflink idref="bib63" id="ref96">63</reflink>]) and I attempted to avoid research bias.</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-15">Findings</hd> <p>First, it is important to identify the reality of father-teacher communication in the ECE field. Conversation capital by speech produced could identity the occupying positions of agents' (here, fathers and mothers) legitimacy and authority in the ECE field. Fathers' positions compared to mothers' positions can also build understanding of fathers' positions in the ECE field. Next, considering the doxa in the ECE field, we could understand how the cultural norms constitute teachers' habitus of communicating with fathers. Such habitus has generated teachers' logic of communicative practice with fathers and thus constituted structural barriers in the institutional level. Next, fathers reported their individual experiences, and their experiences could tell the symbolic violence they met in the ECE field. Reflecting on doxa, fathers felt they were positioned as passive but cooperative in the kindergartens. Notably, instead of being invisible in the field, some fathers had their intentions in attending kindergarten. In between, conversation capital exchange helps explain fathers' barriers when they constituted their practices in the ECE field. Finally, the researcher gained insights from what fathers expected to gain from their communication with teachers and their expectations will further advance the future father-teacher communication. Accordingly, five themes were identified and are summarised as: (<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref97">1</reflink>) The reality of father–teacher communication; (<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref98">2</reflink>) Cultural dynamics; (<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref99">3</reflink>) Structural barriers; (<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref100">4</reflink>) Fathers' individual experiences; (<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref101">5</reflink>) A space to advocate. These themes and codes are illustrated in detail in the findings.</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-16">The Reality of Father–Teacher Communication</hd> <p>As shown in Table 3, one communication channel between fathers and teachers was father involvement in the kindergarten-based activities. It can be seen that when teachers invited fathers to kindergarten A, mothers played the role of mediator in convincing the fathers to participate. Thus, teacher–father communication was not conducted directly but through an indirect route. Fathers acquired the 'legitimate access' to participate in the field through mothers.</p> <p>Graph</p> <p>In addition, all the participant teachers in the two kindergartens admitted they preferred to communicate with mothers when exchanging information concerning children. Here, the pattern presented an unequal distribution of symbolic capital between fathers and mothers. Linked with symbolic capital, mothers may be considered more legitimate than fathers when entering the ECE field. As illustrated in Table 3, T1, T5 and T7 (they are commonly senior teachers who are responsible communicating with parents) spoke to the reality that fathers lacked communication capital with teachers compared to mothers since teachers preferred to communicate with mothers concerning children's issues.</p> <p>Seven out of eight fathers also expressed that they had limited opportunities to communicate with teachers (see the sample statements from F1 and F3). Based on a document entitled "Home–School Contact Working Guideline" provided by Kindergarten A, parents were encouraged to have daily communication with teachers during after-school pick-up time. Kindergarten B also required teachers to have regular and monthly communication with each family. However, based on the fieldnotes recorded from both kindergartens, most fathers did not have opportunities for communication and most of the parent–teacher communication was conducted between teachers and mothers or grandmothers.</p> <p>Such communication capital was also referred to by Bourdieu as "institutional cultural capital", capital that functions as a kind of site-specific social incarnation of what is valued in the field (Grenfell, [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref102">29</reflink>], p. 22). Fathers were not able to acquire this form of cultural capital in the ECE field. Their interactions with teachers also indicated that fathers held a less respected position compared with mothers in terms of communication. Even as the teachers claimed that all parents were partners, communication practices demonstrate that they were treated differently. Organised exclusion resulted in invisibility and played a powerful role in maintaining prevailing power structures and discourses. These structures also inhibited fathers' agency, limiting the possibility of becoming more involved in the ECE field. Therefore, recognising fathers' position in the kindergartens, it is important to explore how the cultural dynamics impacted teachers' perceptions of their communication with fathers.</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-17">Cultural Dynamics</hd> <p>Exploring cultural dynamics provides opportunities for scholars to understand the "masculinized social history" (Dillabough, [<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref103">23</reflink>], p. 492) and the formation of class consciousness and identities (Bourdieu, [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref104">8</reflink>]). Cultural values and beliefs represent social identities for the roles of females and males (Ridgeway & Correll, [<reflink idref="bib61" id="ref105">61</reflink>]). In the Chinese context, traditional cultural values have represented mothers as the main caregivers for thousands of years. Most participant teachers reported that they communicated with mothers more frequently than with fathers and their reasons indicated that they had a gender stereotype towards fathers' role in children's education and thus tended to avoid communication with fathers. As illustrated in Table 4, those codes included "mothers as better communicators", "patterns of 'busy fathers'", "mothers having better understanding of children", "mothers as better disciplinarians", and "mothers as better problem solvers". However, some participant mothers reported a different situation where fathers were actually stricter disciplinarians in their individual families. For example, F1 was strict with his children's discipline at home, consistent rule-following was not maintained by M1 in day-to-day life (see M1's claims in Table 4), and M1 acted as a gatekeeper in the family, hindering the child's rule-following. In order to maintain family harmony, F1 usually stepped back to follow his partner. As a result, it was challenging for them to be consistent with following the rules set by the kindergarten teachers. Similarly, in F2's case, M2 reported that F2 was a bit stricter with their daughter, while she was inclined to the child more freedom since she was very young. Based on the mothers' claims, teachers may fail to understand the real status in families and thus maintain the gender stereotype towards fathers' roles.</p> <p>Graph</p> <p>The accounts listed in Table 4 provided by the teachers' group demonstrate how they seemingly built invisible but strong shackles when communicating with fathers. For the convenience of getting more emotional support, they preferred to increase communication with mothers instead of considering the overall benefits for children's development that could result from discussing this with both parents. The above accounts of teachers' perspectives on communication indicate a relatively conservative view of fatherhood practices in parenting, and in actual implementation it was also found that some structural barriers exaggerated the tensions between fathers and teachers.</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-18">Structural Barriers</hd> <p>Communication between teachers and fathers is usually considered a useful tool for fathers to learn more about their children's status and enhance their development. However, six out of eight fathers commonly reported they were bored with the perceived useless and formalistic information provided by the kindergartens (see the statements in Table 5). Their complaints indicated that the only perceived function of the WeChat group was to assign tasks to parents; it was not a useful platform for transmitting parenting knowledge. In addition to useless and formalistic information, fathers were also disappointed about their daily communication experiences with teachers. F7's claims reveal that F7 did not feel he had acquired useful information from T7's general and optimistic comments. He expected T7 could honestly grasp his child's behavioral or emotional problems and had found a solution to handling the child's issues but not as he expected. Communication with parents is not simply skills or strategies to respond to parents, but also a comprehensive mix combining an understanding of children's real issues and satisfying parents' needs. However, D2 only perceived such training as useful for learning basic communication skills and only needed for new teachers (see the accounts of D2 in Table 5). The director did not see that the training session could help the senior teachers deal with parenting problems or further cultivate their skills or knowledge of parenting. While in the daily observations, the majority of communication occurred between the senior teachers and parents.</p> <p>Graph</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-19">Fathers' Individual Experiences</hd> <p>In addition to the structural barriers, fathers themselves commonly reported their negative experiences of communication. Six out of eight fathers in the kindergartens said they felt awkward or embarrassed when communicating detailed information about their children's issues with teachers (See the quotes for the code "feeling awkward or embarrassed asking children's detailed issues" in Table 6). These quotes from fathers reflect that the fathers expected teachers to communicate with them, however, they felt "uncomfortable" and "embarrassed" about paying too much attention to the details of their children's issues with groups of mothers and grandmothers around. F3 acknowledged that M3 may be a bettercommunicator when interacting with teachers. He claimed several times that he expected his wife to communicate with teachers, and admitted he was a bit afraid to communicate more about details with teachers as the mother knew more (having more cultural capital). He felt that mother–teacher communication was a natural pattern since mothers could ask detailed information about children. Conversely, he believed that if fathers asked too much, this might cause distrust between them and the teachers. Similar attitudes were shared by other participant fathers; they expressed their preference to not interrupt or disturb teachers since they were very sensitive to their relationships with them (See the quotes for the code "being sensitive to building relationships with teachers" in Table 6).</p> <p>Graph</p> <p>In addition to sharing similar attitudes about fewer interruptions and not wanting to disturb teachers, one father even convinced his partner to hide their thoughts when communicating (See M6's quotes in Table 6). This was another particular example demonstrating the father's caution concerning communication with teachers. However, by choosing to hide their thoughts during the communicative process, for fear of causing distrust, they may lose opportunities to build their social capital with teachers and achieve more cultural capital (more information concerning children) from teachers. F3 additionally mentioned such 'uncomfortable' thoughts were also connected with his identity of being a man: "If asking too much, I am afraid that teachers would also think that I am like a woman". Such a comment also linked with the cultural gender stereotype teachers used to constitute a father's role in the ECE field, which has already been mentioned.</p> <p>The claims made by F7 further reflect the unequal power between fathers and teachers, in that teachers were supposed to be transmitters and fathers were supposed to be receivers. The transmission model in the group indicates that a one-directional interaction style existed in the kindergarten between fathers and teachers. Some fathers discussed the doxa in the kindergartens that teachers expected to receive instant feedback from families, for whom it may not be convenient and who may not have time to provide instant feedback (See the text excerpts for the code "difficulties to provide instant feedback" in Table 6).</p> <p>Such explanations were commonly found in fathers' descriptions. The shared doxa in the kindergartens made it appear obvious that parents should follow the requirements provided by the kindergartens. This further illustrates the unequal transmission structure that positions parents as receivers in the cooperative model. Although fathers felt the unequal power, their intentions of becoming involved in the kindergartens and communicating with teachers were based on their affection for children. As M7 described, when participant families' children first entered the kindergarten, there was limited initial contact between families and teachers, which led them to actively seek more communication. In this way, M7 explained the reasons for her husband expecting to get in touch with teachers (see M7's quotes in Table 6). Hence, F7 was taking the initiative to learn more about their children's kindergarten experience and getting more face-to-face time with teachers through participation in activities. It was evident that F7 focused on a problem-solving approach to find out his son's status and then got in touch with teachers via the kindergarten-based activities. This shows that some fathers were willing to get in touch with teachers. The next section elaborates on fathers' expectations regarding their preferred communication patterns.</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-20">A Space to Advocate</hd> <p>Six fathers spoke of their expectations concerning communication with teachers to address the barriers discussed above. Their desired communication model has been coded as "open", "timely", "individual", and "transactional" (See Table 7).</p> <p>Graph</p> <p>In particular, fathers clearly expressed their expectation that communication with teachers be based on a transactional model. They also preferred direct and open communication and wished for more attention to be paid to their child(ren). Their statements also indicated that fathers desired to engage not in casual talk. Rather, the wanted practical discussions with teachers in addressing their children's specific problems or in promoting their children's development. Conversely, mothers expressed a preference for casual, detailed, and individual communication–an example is M3's statements in Table 7. This kind of casual communication was a common expectation of mothers and differed greatly from the communication expectations expressed by fathers. However, as most teachers and directors in the kindergartens were female, they generally became familiar with the communication patterns established by mothers. This may have further increased negative experiences in communicating with fathers. While the findings demonstrate that fathers were concerned about their children's education, they preferred a mode of communication that was more practical and transactional.</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-21">Summary</hd> <p>To summarize, the five themes served to inform responses to the three research questions. The findings pertinent to the first question showed that the reality of father-teacher communication (Theme One) included indirect invitations to the kindergarten-based activities through mothers, teachers preferring to communicate with mothers, and fathers being provided limited opportunities for communication. Concerning the second question about the influential factors behind father–teacher communicative practices, Theme Two showed that cultural norms have constituted teachers' communicative practices with fathers and teachers held relatively conservative and gendered stereotypes towards interacting with fathers. The next two themes about the structural barriers and fathers' personal experiences served to the second question about barriers that fathers experienced when communicating with teachers in the ECE context. Structural tensions included fathers' perceptions that the parenting information provided by the kindergartens was formalistic and useless, and that communication practices of teachers allowed only unsatisfactory, inadequate feedback regarding their children for fathers. It was also clear that the director's assumptions about communication skills of experienced teachers resulted in administrative decisions not to provide ongoing teacher training in communication. Personally, fathers described feeling embarrassed or uncomfortable when communicating with teachers and they chose to communicate with teachers less in order to avoid disturbing them. The fifth theme answered the third question, indicating the difference between fathers' and mothers' preferred communication patterns and pointed out that fathers expected more open, timely, individual, and transactional communication with teachers.</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-22">Discussion</hd> <p>Linking with the findings, Bourdieu's theory acknowledges the significance of how culture is embodied and experienced by individuals (Lynam et al., [<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref106">47</reflink>]). Since this research was based on the Chinese context, it is important to first discuss how the cultural values deeply influenced Chinese teachers' and fathers' beliefs about how they should communicate with each other. Next, the reality of fathers' communicative experiences demonstrated the fathers' position in the ECE field, wherein fathers may experience symbolic violence in accepting the position of receivers in the one-directional transmissional communication model. Teachers' communicative habitus further increased the tensions connected to acquiring conversation capital.</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-23">Cultural Concepts Influencing Teachers' and Fathers' Social Interaction</hd> <p>This study provides some unique contributions on understanding how different cultural values in the Chinese context were embodied in both teachers' and fathers' actions of father-teacher communication. As the findings indicate, female teachers generally reported feeling uncomfortable speaking with fathers and they repeatedly mentioned the differences between males and females and preferred to communicate with mothers. These beliefs could be explained by the influence of traditional beliefs about gender roles. The finding that teachers' gendered beliefs influenced their choice of mothers as key communicators aligns with several previous studies (e.g., Merriweather, [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref107">49</reflink>]). Western scholars commonly connect fathers' roles with men's machismo attitudes (e.g., Gardner, [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref108">28</reflink>]) and teachers connected fathers' roles with a "hegemonic negative controlling image" (Jørgensen, [<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref109">32</reflink>], p. 390) of fathers of children as patriarchal, oppressive, absent and inattentive, resulting in teachers' preference to alienate the fathers. However, in this study, teachers' gendered beliefs could be explained by the influence of traditional Chinese culture, which has assigned segregated spaces for and distance between men and women (Li, [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref110">40</reflink>]). For example, 'It is improper for man and woman to hold each other's hands, pass objects from hand to hand' (nan nv shou shou bu qin, 男女授受不亲) and 'Men and women are not seated together' (nan nv bu tong xi, 男女不同席). Holding traditional cultural attitudes, female teachers in this study preferred to communicate with mothers and they commonly felt uncomfortable communicating with fathers.</p> <p>The findings also linked with the fact that the participant fathers, influenced by collectivist values, automatically moderated their involvement with the kindergartens. This behavior can be linked to Confucianism, which has a strong influence on people's perceptions of themselves and their relationships with others in society. The concept of the self is normally defined in relation to others and in the hierarchy of relationships, such as the Confucian value of "showing respect to teachers" (zun shi zhong dao, 尊师重道). Such respect is similar to the idea of "respeto" which Latino fathers use as a guide for respecting authority figures (Loza, [<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref111">46</reflink>], p. 26). This value naturally forms an unequal relationship during communication. A requirement that fathers show respect to teachers places teachers in a higher position within the hierarchy. This also enhances the already existing doxa in kindergartens that generally positions fathers as followers or receivers in the ECE field. Teachers are considered to be authority figures from fathers' perspectives. Considering fathers' perceptions of teachers as holding authority, teachers should actively initiate more open, timely, and individualised communication with fathers.</p> <p>Moreover, the individual self only exists in relation to and on behalf of social groups, such as family, community and the nation (Fei et al., [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref112">25</reflink>]). In this sense, Chinese cultural values group or collective interests over individual interests and endorses interpersonal harmony for the sake of the collective good, expecting individuals to confine themselves within social norms to secure and maximise group interests (Xu, [<reflink idref="bib73" id="ref113">73</reflink>]). In general, people are encouraged to sacrifice their own interests for the success of the group or collective interests so that harmony and order can be maintained (Brewer & Chen, [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref114">13</reflink>]). The belief that Chinese fathers are expected to maintain harmony in home–kindergarten relationships and show respect for teachers, was clearly shown in their behaviors and expressed desire to not interrupt or disturb teachers. They seldom sought support from teachers and seldom attempted to ascertain their expected cultural capital from teachers, which may have created a vicious cycle of suboptimal communication between fathers and teachers. These cultural attitudes may also discourage fathers' willingness to become involved in the ECE field. Additionally, cultural values direct Chinese males to behave in closer conformity to the personhood idea than their female counterparts, as well as to demonstrate higher levels of self-mastery and emotional reserve (Louie, [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref115">45</reflink>]). This could also explain the logic of their intention to not disturb teachers and hide their thoughts on their children's issues. To change this, it is recommended that if fathers' acquisition of their essential capital is acceptable, teachers could encourage fathers to ask about their children's status or related parenting matters. "Showing respect to teachers" and "interpersonal harmony" also partly explain why fathers accepted the unequal position when they were involved in the ECE field, which will be discussed next.</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-24">Fathers' Position and Symbolic Violence</hd> <p>Theoretically, this study innovatively adopts Bourdieu's theory to reveal the nature of power relations between fathers and teachers, and fathers and mothers and how these unequal positions cause the structural barriers in the ECE context. Such exploration is different from the previous studies which focused on structural factors (e.g., directors' and teachers' attitudes towards their communication) behind father–teacher communication (e.g., Azuoma, [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref116">4</reflink>], Baker, [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref117">5</reflink>]). This study indicates that the ECE field produces practices within which daily communication takes place, and communicative practices tend to generate symbolic violence on and between parents. Adopting the concept of symbolic violence, Bourdieu made visible a form of everyday violence that generally goes unnoticed. Bourdieu described symbolic violence as the violence which is practiced upon a social agent with his or her complicity (Bourdieu, [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref118">9</reflink>]). Linked to the concept of symbolic power, symbolic violence points to a stratified social order that is not recognized. Significant in symbolic violence is its mainly unconscious nature. For example, fathers accepted mothers as better communicators and mother–teacher communication as a natural pattern. Symbolic violence is instead seen as normal or inevitable, and even legitimate, social action and for that reason, dominated groups accept it without seeing or resisting its true nature as social inequality (Colaguori, [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref119">20</reflink>]). In an ECE context, the concept of symbolic violence indicates inequalities produced in and by the kindergartens' everyday practices. For example, the findings of this study demonstrate that conversation opportunities between fathers and mothers are distributed differentially, according to their position in the ECE field. For example, mothers could directly communicate with teachers and teachers preferred to communicate with mothers. It is clear that fathers lacked such a form of conversation capital. They were not able to negotiate how the field was constructed or to gain advantageous positions within it. Mothers were positioned as the more legitimate partners for communication with teachers. Additionally, the communication patterns overall reflected a one-sided, linear communication process which emphasised requiring fathers, positioned as receivers, to adapt to the values, learning strategies and knowledge defined by the kindergartens. This kind of single-direction conversation capital structure in kindergartens may further enhance inequities in home–school relationships. Constraining the definition of what it means to be an involved or engaged father may have the unintended consequence of failing to consider the needs, perspectives and offerings of fathers' perspectives. To address this, relevant teacher training should not be a general enhancement of communication skills for teachers, but rather should place a greater emphasis on positioning fathers as equal partners as mothers.</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-25">Teachers' Habitus of Communicating with Mothers</hd> <p>Notably, fathers accepted their position as receivers in teacher–parent communication and even attempted to communicate less with teachers, which further limited the ability of teachers to formulate positive attitudes about communicating with fathers. If fathers connect with kindergartens using the times, places, purposes and interactional styles that the field (i.e., school staff) expects, such connections will be accepted and reinforced. If these early experiences lead to less communication with teachers, then fathers may not have access to critical information about their children's performance and progress, how to reinforce learning at home and about school services and resources that other parents may gain (Lareau, [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref120">36</reflink>]). Mothers with increased communicative experiences and greater access to resources may already possess forms of cultural capital that are likely to be recognized and valued by school staff (Auerbach, [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref121">3</reflink>]; Trainor, [<reflink idref="bib68" id="ref122">68</reflink>]). The findings of this study showed that teachers perceived mothers as more suitable communicators for discussing children's issues, which means mothers held more communication capital than fathers when talking with teachers. Since such embodied capital is often displayed without the conscious effort of the individual and is also responded to without effort, the dynamic suggests a habitus of teachers' preference to communicate with mothers further through the process. As Azuoma ([<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref123">4</reflink>]) noticed, such a structural barrier may take the form of unconscious biases or conscious beliefs that impede the involvement of fathers in the educational activities of their children. To change this, teachers should also emphasise the importance of considering fathers' communication preferences. Specifically, teachers should adopt a transactional communication approach instead of solely focusing on providing emotional support to mothers. This study provides empirical insights about the difference between fathers' and mothers' preferred ways of communication and highlights the fathers' expected patterns of communication. Future training should target fathers' perspectives and needs, facilitating open, timely, and personalised communication, and ultimately providing fathers' desired cultural capital from their perspective.</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-26">Implications for Practice</hd> <p>This study focuses on providing insights on a qualitative exploration of father–teacher communication in the ECE context. This study has several implications for ECE practitioners and teachers.</p> <p>First, it is important to be aware of teachers' attitudes towards communicating with fathers. Various strategies are needed to emphasise the importance of reflecting on daily communication practice with fathers, especially given that many teachers' attitudes demonstrated gendered presumptions, such as a belief that fathers are busy and uninterested or that fathers are rule breakers. When teachers understand the 'lived experience' of families, they may better appreciate the differences in fathering that reflect fathers' needs to be involved in the kindergartens, and then directly talk with fathers about their goals and practices as parents.</p> <p>Second, it is evident that not only teachers but also ECE institutions lacked the awareness to develop relevant training for communicating with different parent groups, including fathers. The findings suggest that more teacher training should be provided to focus on skills that enable educators to better communicate and work with parents from diverse backgrounds. Future teacher training should focus on providing more efficient and specific information and communicating with fathers to address specific problems. For example, considering fathers' preferences in communication, it is important for teachers to develop transactional communication instead of following an emotional support model. There is a clear need for consideration of fathers' perspectives and needs in forming more open, timely and individualised communication with teachers.</p> <p>Finally, to encourage fathers' active communication with teachers, the findings also reinforce broad recommendations on family–school partnerships (Ancell et al., [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref124">2</reflink>]; Rao et al., [<reflink idref="bib59" id="ref125">59</reflink>]), suggesting that it is important for directors and teachers to treat fathers as equal partners with mothers, by listening to fathers' queries and decisions and providing information to fathers that addresses any concerns or gaps in parenting knowledge. Emphasis should be placed on reciprocity, empowerment, empathy, change and opportunities for both parents and schools. Pushor ([<reflink idref="bib58" id="ref126">58</reflink>], p. 469) has suggested engagement as a process where teachers enter a community to create with parents a shared school landscape—a landscape in which parent knowledge (Pushor, [<reflink idref="bib58" id="ref127">58</reflink>]) and teacher knowledge inform decision-making, the determination of agendas and the intended outcomes of fathers' efforts for children, families, the community and the school. As such, kindergartens need to formally encourage and invite fathers to take an active, agentive role in decision-making and activities' implementation.</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-27">Limitations and Future Research</hd> <p>This research has gathered different perspectives to depict the challenges fathers and teachers experienced which hindered their communication. Considering the specific cultural values impacting Chinese fathers' communication, future research may locate the father–teacher communication practices in the different cultural contexts. Another limitation concerned the sampling procedure for family recruitment. To comprehend father involvement in the kindergartens, I recruited the fathers who participated in the kindergartens' activities twice a term. However, a number of full-time employed fathers could not fulfil such requirements as their working commitments conflicted with the time that the kindergartens provided the activities. The participating fathers came from middle class and generally had the willingness and flexibility to be involved in the kindergartens. Future research could place emphasis on broader groups of fathers, including considering their sociocultural status, time commitments and willingness to be involved since fathers are not a homogeneous group.</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-28">Conclusion</hd> <p>Little qualitative research has investigated father–teacher communication in the ECE context. To conclude, three main points were identified in this research. First, teachers reported their feelings of inconvenience when communicating with fathers and this is linked with the cultural barrier prompted by commonly held gender stereotype towards fathers. This provided some unique contributions on understanding how different cultural values in the Chinese context embodied in both teachers' and fathers' actions in father–teacher communication. It was also found that some structural barriers (e.g., "useless and formalistic information", "unsatisfactory feedback") hindered father–teacher communication in the kindergartens. By innovatively adopting Bourdieu's concept of symbolic violence, this study reveals the unequal power relations between fathers and teachers, as well as between fathers and mothers, and thus, the increased tensions in establishing positive communication between both. Finally, fathers themselves chose to disclose their feelings of embarrassment or discomfort when communicating about detailed issues concerning their children; they tended to respect teachers' voices and be less willing to interrupt them. Notably, fathers' actions were connected with teachers' habitus of preferring communication with mothers. Such habitus may take an unconscious form to reproduce the unequal communicative pattern. Additionally, this study provides empirical insights about the fathers' expected patterns with teachers—a more open, timely, individual, and transactional communication.</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-29">Appendix A. Observation Protocol of Fathers in the Kindergarten-Based Activities</hd> <p>Graph</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-30">Appendix B. Sample of Interview Questions</hd> <p>Graph</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-31">Acknowledgements</hd> <p>Many thanks for Dr lisahunter's invitation for Bourdieu's workshops and the annual meeting, which have enlightened the idea of this work.</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-32">Declarations</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0191072487-33">Competing interests</hd> <p>I declare that there are no competing interests for this work.</p> <hd id="AN0191072487-34">Publisher's Note</hd> <p>Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.</p> <ref id="AN0191072487-35"> <title> References </title> <blist> <bibl id="bib1" idref="ref39" type="bt">1</bibl> <bibtext> Aldoney D, Cabrera NJ. Raising American citizens: Socialization goals of low-income immigrant latino mothers and fathers of young children. 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  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: This qualitative case study addresses the need to strengthen the understanding of fathers' communicative experiences with teachers within Chinese kindergartens from the perspectives of directors, teachers, fathers and their partners. Using Bourdieusian theory, these data were explored to identify fathers' and teachers' beliefs and practices that may hinder their communication intended to assist children's development in the ECE field. Data were gathered through documents provided by kindergartens, fieldnotes (observation data), personal communication (interviews after observation) and semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that teachers' gendered perceptions act as a cultural barrier hindering communication between teachers and fathers. Structural barriers include "useless and formalistic information", "unsatisfactory feedback" and "lack of teacher training on communication", all of which increase tensions in establishing positive and effective communication between fathers and teachers and reveal the unequal position between fathers and teachers, fathers and mothers. Additionally, fathers felt embarrassed or uncomfortable when communicating with teachers and tended to interrupt teachers less and respect teachers' views. Further investigations are recommended to examine the impact of more open, timely, individual, and transactional communication targeting fathers.
– Name: AbstractInfo
  Label: Abstractor
  Group: Ab
  Data: As Provided
– Name: DateEntry
  Label: Entry Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2026
– Name: AN
  Label: Accession Number
  Group: ID
  Data: EJ1503810
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=eric&AN=EJ1503810
RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Identifiers:
      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1007/s10643-024-01812-8
    Languages:
      – Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 20
        StartPage: 243
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Foreign Countries
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Fathers
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Parent Teacher Cooperation
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Parent Attitudes
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Teacher Attitudes
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Interpersonal Communication
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Preschool Teachers
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Gender Issues
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Barriers
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Cultural Influences
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: China
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Exploring Fathers' Communicative Experiences with Teachers in Chinese Kindergartens
        Type: main
  BibRelationships:
    HasContributorRelationships:
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Shiyao Wang
    IsPartOfRelationships:
      – BibEntity:
          Dates:
            – D: 01
              M: 01
              Type: published
              Y: 2026
          Identifiers:
            – Type: issn-print
              Value: 1082-3301
            – Type: issn-electronic
              Value: 1573-1707
          Numbering:
            – Type: volume
              Value: 54
            – Type: issue
              Value: 1
          Titles:
            – TitleFull: Early Childhood Education Journal
              Type: main
ResultId 1