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Abstract
This study explores how immigrant parents construct and mobilize their knowledge through informal learning to support their children's education. The study reveals that many participating immigrant parents learned the meaning of parental involvement primarily through trial and error. They learned Canadian curricula by using the Internet, passed on their first-language knowledge, instilled the best values of both Canadian and country-of-origin cultures, and learned how to advocate on behalf of their children, who were often marginalized at school. The results of this study illustrate the significance of informal learning about parental involvement by immigrant parents and the need for teachers and school administrators to recognize and make use of parent knowledge.
Résumé
Cette étude examine comment les parents immigrés construisent et mobilisent leurs connaissances par l'apprentissage informel en vue de soutenir l'éducation de leurs enfants. L'étude révèle que de nombreux participants ont appris leur rôle parental grâce à des pratiques d'essai et d'erreur. Ils ont appris les programmes canathens en utilisant l'Internet, ont transmis leurs connaissances de leur langue maternelle, ont inculqué les meilleures valeurs des deux cultures, canathennes et de leur pays d'origine, et ont appris à défendre les intérêts de leurs enfants, qui sont souvent marginalisés à l'école. Les résultats de cette étude illustrent l'importance de l'apprentissage informel sur la participation parentale par les parents immigrants et de la nécessité pour les enseignants et les administrateurs scolaires à reconnaître et à utiliser les connaissances des parents.
Introduction
Parents' active involvement in schools is a desired norm in North America. However, parental involvement is mainly a North American concept. It is neither expected nor practised in many immigrants' countries of origin (Ogbu, 1995). Immigrant parents who attended a focus group discussion conducted by the British Columbia Teachers' Federation believed that parental involvement was a Western idea, leading the study author to conclude that immigrant parents "need more outreach to involve them" (Nay lor, 1993, as cited in Guo, Y, 2006, p. 83). In fact, for immigrant parents, involvement may have negative associations (Wan, 1994); Wan explains that in Hong Kong, Chinese parents seldom attend school functions because a school's request to see parents means their children have gotten into trouble. Thus, negative social stigma associated with school communication may prevent some Chinese...