Engaging parents in multi academy trusts (MATs) as local civic knowledge experts

Parental engagement in multi-academy trusts’ (MATs) governance structures and activities is contemporarily constructed in policy as mattering less than engagement by professionalised governors and trustees, and in much of the literature as deficient for operationalising MAT accountability in a public education system. This article problematises the role of local parental engagement in MATs in a depoliticised context to explore an alternative conceptualisation responding to this democratic deficit. A single case study combined with narrative inquiry sought experience beyond the meta-narrative and Gunter and Ribben's conceptual frame of ‘knowledge, knowers and knowing’ provided a lens for interpreting data. Analysis identified that parental engagement was seen as a commodity in the justification of professional's decisions and an opportunity to normalise parent thinking and practices when engaging with the academy trust. Analysis of parents’ stories provided an alternative conceptualisation of parental engagement recognising their agency and contribution to knowledge production through their civic expertise.