What is it about?
Immigrant parents, who grew up and went to school in their home country, often see their role in children's schooling one way. Host country teachers and non-immigrant parents might have another set of expectations. This article looks at international research to see what are the key features of immigrant parental involvement and what are the typical challenges immigrant parents face in their involvement.
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Why is it important?
I found that immigrant parents often face such barriers as the insufficient proficiency in the host country's dominant language and might be unfamiliar with the school system in the new country. What is more, immigrant parents and host country teachers often understand the role of parents differently, which adds to misunderstanding between them.
Perspectives
I think we need to know more about immigrant parents and their involvement in children's education. The number of immigrant parents is increasing, but teachers get almost no training and support in working with this diverse group of parents. Hope this article draws more attention to the experiences of immigrant parents, who were educated in one country themselves, but send their children to school in another. Parental involvement is a very specific activity bound to a particular time and place. We need to be aware of it and help parents, students, and schools work together.
Max Antony-Newman
University of Toronto
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Parental involvement of immigrant parents: a meta-synthesis, Educational Review, January 2018, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/00131911.2017.1423278.
You can read the full text:
Resources
School demands for parents to do more hits low-income and minority students hardest
"It is clear then that parental involvement tends to favour white middle-class parents, because their economic, social, and cultural experiences provide more knowledge about the “rules of the game”. And it is easier for them to adopt the type of involvement that is expected and rewarded by the school system. This means that minority and low-income parents are often seen as less involved by teachers, because of systemic inequality. And these group’s preferences for home-based activities or different patterns of communication with teachers can make them less visible. So to harness the positive benefits of parental involvement, we need to adopt a more holistic definition of this idea. Activities in school, alongside those in the family and community, should be recognised and rewarded. Cultural differences between parents based on race, class, and immigration also have to be taken into account, to allow teachers to see that parental involvement doesn’t always look the same."
Are immigrant parents really 'hard to reach'?
Our classrooms are more diverse than ever and it's crucial we work together to ensure that immigrant parents are part of the school community
Contributors
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