Affective governmentality and gendered labour in education policy: Sites of non-traditional coproduction

In recent years shifts in education policy in Australia have generated new governance arrangements which have increased the material and affective labour of parents associated with school education. However, affective labour undertaken by parents is often understood as a private concern and an issue of personal choice. This article challenges this view by examining the labour of parents in connection with the aims of public policy in school education. By employing the concept of affective governmentality to connect governing strategies with citizen experience, the article explores the connection between the emotional labour of parents' and policy aims in school education policy. Based on interviews and qualitative questionnaires with parents of school-aged children in Australia, the study uses an interpretive lens to unpack the role of emotional labour. The study reveals the dual role of parents, mostly mothers who serve both as recipients and active agents in public policy. The research shows that emotional responses and gendered labour are interconnected - depicting them as dynamic forces that both motivate and mobilise support for policy objectives. This research contributes to our understanding of the interplay between emotions, policy dynamics and gendered labour and has implications for our understanding of what constitutes a 'policy actor'.