Abstract

The subjective experience that underlies the ways in which families underprivileged participate in school life tends to be invisiblized within the broad range of studies on parents' school involvement practices and educational equity. This article presents the results of a semantic structural analysis of 19 semistructured interviews with mothers of students living in socially underprivileged environments. The interviews were aimed at answering the following research question: "how do teacher communicative styles, as perceived by underprivileged parents, influence their way of participating at school?" Results suggest the preeminence of a critical and undervaluing teacher communicative style that prevents mothers' parental competences from being recognized. This perception inhibits parental participation while also encouraging parents to be more vigilant of teacher work in the classroom (e.g. volunteering to work in the classroom or engaging in actions aimed at defending their right to be acknowledged by appealing to actors with more power within the school). The results obtained should encourage policymakers and school professionals, along with parents, to generate a school culture that is free from discriminatory treatment and more appreciative of parents' abilities, needs, and potential for taking part in the school-based development and learning of children.