ABSTRACT
Chapter 1, “Public Noise around School-Age Motherhood,” seeks to situate the common images of school-age parenting within larger dominant discourses. This chapters discusses fictional portrayals in film, reality television shows, and memoirs of both school-age mothers and teachers, with particular focus on the portrayal of school in these narratives. The analysis of films, reality television programs, memoirs, and the public noise surrounding them, along with the films about school-age mothers, reveal that the dominant narratives have shifted significantly in the past decade. The chapter’s findings are synthesized through a literature review of theory, policy, and research on school-age motherhood related to education.
