School Time and Lone Mother Families: Unveiling an Invisibilized Experience

Abstract

This article delves into how single-parent families, families led by woman, integrate the educational process and support of their daughters and sons into their daily routine. To this end, the interviews of 34 women from Zaragoza, mothers of single-parent families with children in the infant, primary and secondary stages, have been analyzed, in which questions were asked about the type of day, services used, homework and school reinforcements, tutoring, as well as for their involvement and participation in the educational community. Although it is confirmed that single-parent families manage to make work and family life compatible with school time, this is not achieved without sacrifices or losses and they face a strong economic poverty-time poverty dichotomy. On the other hand, the time spent by their daughters and sons at the educational center is notably long, since in many cases, dining time, extracurricular activities and, to a lesser extent, early risers are added to teaching hours. Likewise, it is clear that communication from the educational system does not take into account the reality of single-parent families. Although the academic success of the minors in charge of these families is conditioned both from a socioeconomic and from school-family communication point of views, single-parent mothers resiliently compensate for these disadvantages. It is urgent that the educational system and school times be organized taking into account single-parent families.