Parental involvement of Eastern European immigrant parents of elementary school students in Ontario

Abstract

This study focuses on the parental involvement among Eastern European immigrant parents of elementary school students in Ontario. Immigrant parents are shaped by their own educational experiences in home countries and face particular challenges to be involved in the education of their children who attend schools in the immigrant-receiving nations due to language barriers and low familiarity with the new school system. I collected my data through interviews with parents and the analysis of parental involvement documents in Ontario. The analysis was informed by the concepts of social and cultural capital developed by Pierre Bourdieu. I found that Eastern European immigrant parents see their role supporting children mainly in the home by emphasizing academic achievement and extracurricular activities. Interviewed parents grew up in countries with strict boundaries between school and family, as a result they often do not see volunteering and taking part in decision making in Ontario schools as meaningful for them. Although most parents possess high levels of cultural capital there was a variation in the amount of social capital available to immigrant parents. Those who managed to recreate rich social networks in the new country communicated with teachers more successfully and were satisfied with school. The critical analysis of policy documents showed that despite the shift towards acknowledging different types of involvement more value is still given to school-based activities, which makes the immigrant parental involvement less visible. The results of the study will enable educators and policy makers to pay more nuanced attention to the involvement among immigrant parents for better achievement and well-being of all children in Ontario classrooms.