Parents reaching beyond home : dispositions of immigrant parents towards their young adolescent's academic experiences

• Main Author: Elizabeth Lay 1976-
• Other Authors: Háskóli Íslands
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 1563
• Subjects: Alþjólegt nám í menntunarfræði; Meistaraprófsritgerðir; Innflytjendur; Foreldrar; Námsárangur; Unglingastig grunnskóla; Parents; Education; Expectation (Psychology); Immigrant youth; Iceland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1946/26001

This study explores the perspectives of immigrant parents towards their children’s educational experiences. The number of students with a foreign background in Iceland is steadily increasing. Furthermore, expectations of home and school cooperation in Icelandic society are becoming more established. Both of these factors underline the importance for immigrant parents to continue to play a role in their child’s academic attainment into adolescence. The study focuses on parents of young adolescents who are in the 8th-10th grades. In this last phase of compulsory school, parents are still responsible for their child’s educational wellbeing and can be instrumental to their advancement to upper secondary school. This is a mixed methods study using both quantitative and qualitative inquiries to collect and interpret data. Forty-three respondents completed a closed-ended survey with questions regarding family structure, parent relationships with the child, teacher, and other parents and friends. Six participants who had taken the survey agreed to participate in open-ended interviews. The parents in this study were generally satisfied with their child’s academic development in Iceland. Their children were well integrated in school, social activities, and Icelandic society, even though parents’ integration experiences vary. Parents were less concerned about academic achievement than they were about the social health and emotional security of their child. Despite language and cultural obstacles, immigrant parents have a great capacity to help their children. They take initiatives to provide concrete actions, communication strategies, and emotional support. More emphasis is needed on building social networks at the school level and recognition that immigrants are an equally valuable resource to the community. By understanding their integration process in Icelandic society combined with the expectations of a home-school relationship, this study can guide schools and teachers to develop opportunities with immigrant parents ...