'You're looking at this different language and it freezes you out straight away': identifying challenges to parental involvement among immersion parents

There is now consensus among researchers and educators that parental involvement in education is related to children's academic and social success at school. However, less is known about the reasons why some parents choose to become involved and others do not. In recent years, there has been a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Language and education 2013-09, Vol.27 (5), p.432-450
Main Authors: Kavanagh, Lauren, Hickey, Tina M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Achievement
Elementary School Students
Elementary School Teachers
English
Foreign Countries
heritage immersion
home-school relations
immersion education
Immersion Programs
Instructional Materials
Ireland
Irish
Language of Instruction
Language Proficiency
Learning Motivation
Mixed Methods Research
Parent Attitudes
Parent Child Relationship
Parent Participation
Parent Role
Parent Surveys
parental involvement
qualitative
Reading Materials
Second Language Instruction
Second Language Learning
Semi Structured Interviews
Student Attitudes
Teacher Attitudes
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Summary:There is now consensus among researchers and educators that parental involvement in education is related to children's academic and social success at school. However, less is known about the reasons why some parents choose to become involved and others do not. In recent years, there has been a move towards developing theoretical models which can be used to explore parents' motivations for involvement. However, little research has focused on how such models might apply in alternative educational models, such as immersion education. Immersion parents have been given little opportunity to share their unique and valuable insights into what parental involvement means in a context where the language of the school and the language of the home differ. The present study utilised qualitative methods to explore the experiences of involvement of parents with children in Irish immersion schools. Here, findings are presented relating to parents' perceptions of challenges to their becoming successfully involved. These findings were derived from two datasets: a series of semi-structured interviews with 10 immersion parents and from responses (n = 84) to open-ended questions on a large-scale parental involvement survey. Implications of the findings for future research, and suggestions for policy and practice in immersion schools, are considered.
ISSN:0950-0782
1747-7581
DOI:10.1080/09500782.2012.714388