A response to Bae (2021): An agenda in search of an opportunity?

Stanley, P., & Stanley, L. (2022). A response to Bae (2021): An agenda in search of an opportunity?  Tauranga, New Zealand: Stanley.

Abstract

In 2021, Bae presented a critical analysis in Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood [22(3)] of the Incredible Years parenting programme which has been repeatedly validated, and is currently in use in Aotearoa New Zealand and other countries.  Bae contends that Incredible Years Parent is a tool of colonisation and oppression and that it is representative of Foucault’s concept of governmentality and discursive normalisation.  However, the author’s Foucauldian interpretation fails to acknowledge either the significant childhood problems that the parenting programme addresses or the social contexts within which these problems arise.  Bae’s analysis also does not respond to many of the programmatic details of Incredible Years Parent that create respectful collaborations with parents and which actively promote cultural responsiveness.  The original author’s intention is to ‘disrupt’ Incredible Years and this would likely contribute to the return of irredeemable parenting problems and widespread suffering.

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