Talking to teachers is an important part of home-school relationships, and yet research into parental involvement rarely includes an analysis of home-school interaction. Drawing on a UK study of mothers' involvement in their children's primary schooling, this paper uses Bourdieu's concepts of linguistic and cultural capitals to explore the differences in both how mothers approach teaching staff and how they perceive the contact they have with their children's teachers. The paper examines some of the ways in which maternal involvement is mediated by power relations between mothers and teachers, and draws on empirical data, which suggest that social class positioning has a powerful influence on mothers' ability to get what they want for their children. Cultural capital, including linguistic capital, personal histories and mothers' own educational experiences all contribute to mothers' sense of efficacy in relation to home-school interaction.
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