Debbie Pushor Announces Guest Editorial Role & Call For Submissions
Dr. Debbie Pushor is honoured to serve as the Guest Editor for a Special Issue of Education Sciences, an international open-access journal by MDPI. This Special Issue, titled "A Familycentric Approach to Schooling: What It Is, What It Takes, What It Looks Like," invites contributions from scholars, educators, and practitioners who are exploring and advancing the engagement of parents in education in meaningful and authentic ways.
In this Special Issue, Dr. Pushor foregrounds the significant work being done across the educational sector to shift from a “schoolcentric” approach—where parents have traditionally been marginalized—to a “familycentric” model. This model emphasizes the importance of “parent knowledge” (Pushor, 2015) and seeks to integrate parents' voices and perspectives into the development of policies, programs, and practices that affect their children and families. Dr. Pushor’s vision is to reimagine schools as spaces that equitably honour and reflect both parent and teacher knowledge, creating a more inclusive and collaborative environment.
"We are seeking papers that demonstrate 'familycentric' policies and practices currently being conceptualized, developed, lived in practice, and/or researched," Dr. Pushor explains. "Our intent with this Special Issue is to provide the field with ideas that will move us into new possibilities and help us re-imagine schools in ways that give place and voice to all parents and families."
This Special Issue aims to spotlight research and practices that authentically engage parents in education, valuing their “parent knowledge” and giving them a voice in the development of policies, programs, and practices that impact their children. We would love to invite you to submit your voice to this transformative collection.
We are looking for papers that:
Reflect diverse experiences and contexts,
Extend theoretical understandings,
Propose new directions for policy, practice, and research,
Translate policy into actionable practices, and
Represent all levels of schooling, from early years through post-secondary.
Manuscript Submission Information
Articles should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to the website. Once registered, you can submit your article by clicking here. Articles can be submitted until the deadline of March 31, 2025. All submissions that pass pre-check will undergo a peer-review process. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal as soon as they are accepted and will be listed together on the Special Issue website.
Research articles, review articles, as well as short communications, are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on the Special Issue website.
Submissions should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All submissions are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Education Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open-access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open-access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well-formatted and written in good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
As Dr. Daniel Muijs, Editor-in-Chief of Education Sciences, notes, "From its first issue in 2011, Education Sciences has grown as a scholarly international open-access journal with the aim of publishing high-quality research that substantively addresses current issues in education." The journal, published by MDPI, upholds a rigorous double-blind peer-review process and adheres to strict ethical policies to ensure the highest standards in scholarly publication.
This Special Issue presents a unique opportunity for scholars and practitioners to contribute to a growing body of work that is reshaping the educational landscape. Dr. Pushor and the editorial team eagerly anticipate submissions that will inspire new thinking and practices in familycentric schooling.
For more information on submission guidelines and to submit your manuscript, please visit the Education Sciences journal website.
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