14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research
Poster
P2T Community: Erasmus+ Project To Close The Gap Between Migrant Parents And Schools
Jana Verguchten, Miranda Poeze
University of Applied Sciences VIVES, Belgium
Presenting Author: Verguchten, Jana;
Poeze, Miranda
Literature shows that parent involvement is associated with the cognitive development, academic achievements and well-being of children (Turney & Kao, 200; Okeke, 2014). When parents are involved in school, a partnership can develop between teachers and parents, allowing the child to be monitored by both parties (Crosnoe, 2010; El-Hilali & Al-Rashidi, 2015; Turney & Kao, 2009).
However, the engagement of parents is frequently assessed through a predominantly one-dimensional lens, which centres on the school’s perspective (De Mets et al., 2018). In other words, schools prescribe what parents should and can do in order to be considered as 'involved parents', including expectations about presence during formal school meetings, checking the child's agenda, etc. Parents who do not meet these expectations are often considered as 'not involved enough' or as 'difficult to reach parents'.
Yet, research consistently demonstrates that parents want to be involved in their child’s education, but not all parents have the tools to do so or there may experience barriers. This is particularly the case for newcomers who have limited or no knowledge of the education system in the host country. They may encounter financial, practical, cultural and social barriers that prevent them to fully engage in their children’s education (Schneider & Arnot, 2018). Common barriers include difficult working hours, the care of siblings, difficulties to support their child’s schoolwork, insufficient resources and knowledge and language barriers in overall communication.
To address the barriers that prevent migrant parents from being involved in school, this Erasmus+ project aims at bridging the gap between newcomer parents and elementary schools. This European consortium consists of seven partners from Belgium, Italy, Greece, Austria and Slovenia. The question underlying this project reads as follows: Can co-creative and interactive workshops in primary education, targeting newcomer parents bridge the gap between elementary schools and parents?
The project aims to provide non-formal education to migrant parents who are most often unfamiliar with the education systems of their new host countries. It strives to empower migrant parents by identifying, creating and applying tailored methods that help improve these parents’ host country language, digital skills and knowledge of the educational system, thereby enabling them to better
support their children’s learning, to effectively collaborate with school and to integrate in the local community.
The project also seeks to improve the professional knowledge of school staff concerning the challenges
of those parents and enhancing their culturally sensitive competencies in order to better support them. It does so by organizing dialogue with migrant parents, and by providing them with tools and training on
how to engage with and communicate with this target group. In this way the project makes a cross fertilization between elementary education
education and adult education. Moreover, via mobilities and international events, teachers get the chance to exchange with
and learn from colleagues in other countries.
Children are a secondary target group via cross-generational impact,
meaning that the improved knowledge and skills of parents will have an indirect impact on the children’s learning.
The customized workshops for parents departs from a non-traditional perspective on parental involvement, meaning that we move beyond deficit thinking and aim at mutual understanding between school and migrant families whereby existing knowledge and skills of the parents are recognized and valued. This creates opportunities for parents to explore similarities and differences between their new and origin countries and to build bridges between the two experiences. Methodologically, it adopts a co-creation approach to engage migrant parents in both the understanding of their real needs and the development of new models for the participatory empowerment of the migrant family unit.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedIn the first phase of the study, a literature study was carried out for each country, which included the latest figures and literature on the topic of parental involvement. Desk research was also conducted to collect best practices. At the same time, semi-structured interviews were conducted with migrant parents (n=75) to capture their needs in relation to their children’s education and their own involvement. In addition, elementary education teachers completed a survey about their experience with parent involvement of non-native or migrant parents at school (n=75). The results were compiled in a transnational report and served as the basis for developing the interactive workshops.
As this project also wants to focus on sharpening teachers' cultural sensitivity, a training event was organized. In this training, teachers were trained how to communicate and set up interactive workshops with parents based on the principles of a learning community where all participants are equal.
After the training program, a series of eight workshops were organized with migrant parents in five elementary schools (n=75). In the workshops, the joint methodology was used to increase empowerment of migrant parents and improve their language and digital skills, and knowledge of the educational system.Thereby enabling parents to better support their children’s learning.
The interactive workshops were evaluated by implementing a short survey after each workshop both for parents and teachers. Facilitators were asked to keep an evaluation log where they could fill in the results of this survey, but also write down their own findings. Besides the logs, there was a midterm evaluation meeting and end-evaluation meeting organized.
Based on the analysis of the logs, the mid-term evaluation and the end evaluation an evaluation report was made up. This report evaluated how the workshops have contributed to knowledge increase, language improvement and sense of wellbeing among migrant parents. To disseminate the lessons learnt, these will be captured in a handbook that will be widely distributed amongst a broader group of parents, teaching and social professionals.
To enhance the impact and foster the sustainability, an online cross-border Community of Practice (CoP) was developed for elementary education professionals and facilitators of the workshops about engaging with migrant parents. This CoP helps improve the professional knowledge of school staff concerning the challenges of migrant families, enhances their culturally sensitive competencies, and strengthens the interactive pilots in the CoP, participants will exchange good practices, are able to post questions and share ideas.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsWithin this project, we reached more than 75 unique parents, across five different elementary school, by conducting the workshops. The workshops given addressed the following themes: Rapport building - teachers and parents; School system & School life; Communication with teachers & schools; Learning material for home & digital skills; Grants; Subsidies & digital skills; Parents' rights and obligations and Other. This project expects to empower migrant parents by offering the workshops grafted on the parents' needs. In addition, this project expects to see an improvement in digital skills, language skills and knowledge about the educational system in the migrant parents.
Moreover, this project also indirectly hopes to benefit the children of parents with a migrant background by supporting their parents in guiding their learning process.
We also expect to strengthen the culturally sensitive skills of the educators and other school staff.
By disseminating all our lessons learned and materials on the CoP, the project seeks to inspire teachers to implement these techniques at their schools. We have created an online community within the CoP in which teachers, but also social workers and others interested can share experiences, consult best practices, comment on each other’s practices, etc. 40 teaching and social organizations participated in the CoP with more than 100 participants for the five partner countries.
ReferencesCrosnoe, R., Ansari, A., Purtell, K. M., & Wu, N. (2016). Latin American Immigration, Maternal Education, and Approaches to Managing Children’s Schooling in the United States. Journal of Marriage and Family, 78(1), 60–74. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12250
De Mets, J., Peleman, B., Seghers, M., Vervaet, V. & Van Laere, K. (2018) Warm, welkom en wederkerig. Naar een goede ouder-schoolsamenwerking. Inspiratieboek voor kleuteronderwijs. Gent: VBJK / SDL / UGent.
Schneider, C., & Arnot, M. (2018). Transactional school-home-school communication: Addressing the mismatches between migrant parents’ and teachers’ views of parental knowledge, engagement and the barriers to engagement. Teaching and Teacher Education, 75, 10–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2018.05.005
Turney, K., & Kao, G. (2009). Barriers to School Involvement: Are Immigrant Parents Disadvantaged? The Journal of Educational Research (Washington, D.C.), 102(4), 257–271. https://doi.org/10.3200/JOER.102.4.257-271
14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research
Poster
Newcomer Parents' Perspectives in Family-school Partnerships
Ria Goedhart1, Eddie Denessen2, Maaike Hajer1, Cok Bakker1
1Utrecht University of Applied Sciences/Utrecht University, The Netherlands; 2Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Presenting Author: Goedhart, Ria
For children’s academic and socio-emotional development, cooperation between teachers and parents is supportive (Bakker et al., 2013; Epstein, 2020). Governments therefore encourage teachers to invest in Family-School Partnerships (Thompson et al., 2018). Family-School Partnerships (FSP) are defined as "child-focused approaches, wherein families and professionals cooperate, coordinate, and collaborate to enhance opportunities and success for children and adolescents across social, emotional, behavioral, and academic domains" (Sheridan & Kim, 2015, p.5).
Building Family-School Partnerships requires specific teacher competencies (Bakker et al., 2013; Epstein, 2020; Willemse et al., 2017), especially in the education of newcomers. When working together with newcomer parents, teachers experience specific challenges, such as different language practices, cultural identities, and expectations regarding mutual responsibilities (Antony-Newman, 2017; Bakker et al., 2013; McWayne et al., 2019). These experiences stress the need for further professional development.
Research on the difficulties teachers experience in establishing FSP in multilingual contexts reveal that they attribute the difficulties to linguistic, cultural, attitudinal, practical, socio-economic and political factors (Antony-Newman, 2019; Bakker et al., 2013; Goedhart et al., 2024). Researchers call for more research into successful practices to move beyond deficit discourses (Gouwens & Hendrikson, 2021) and to support teachers and teacher professionalization (Epstein, 2020; Antony-Newman, 2019).
For building FSP it is considered necessary to know the cultural and family sources (Moll et al., 2005), otherwise there is a risk of missing "powerful information about home-based practices and routines, families' funds of knowledge and other aspects of children's out-of-school lives that can form a basis of engaging" (McWayne, 2021, 16:54). It is important to evaluate the perspectives of members of ethnocultural communities as "a matter of scholarly rigor and responsibility" (Hall et al., 2016, p. 41), particularly in research and practice in ethnocultural communities, which are underrepresented in conceptual frameworks and research studies (Antony-Newman, 2019; Hall et al., 2016; Wayne et al., 2019).
The challenges teachers experience in building FSP in a multilingual context require responsiveness of teacher attitudes and communication (Bakker et al., 2013). In a previous study, we have asked experienced primary teachers in newcomer education to share successful experiences in establishing FSP and to elaborate on what these experiences meant to their attitude and communication (Goedhart et al., 2024). Participating teachers considered learning processes resulting in trust, understanding and agreement particularly as positive experiences in building FSP. They used different approaches depending on the needs of parents and their own motives, role perception and available time. Their attitude was characterized by being inviting, understanding, diligent, willing to learn, responsible and cooperative and in their communication, they made choices about which languages to use, the purpose, the channel, the setting, the conversation techniques, and their non-verbal communication.
This input from teachers is valuable to design a relevant teacher professionalization program, but it lacks parents’ perspective and their experiences with FSP. Knowledge about parents' perspectives may provide additional insights for teacher education.
Parents can give us valuable information from their experiences about the role of teachers in building FSP in a multilingual context, more specifically regarding teachers’ attitude and communication. This information can be used to prepare teachers to build partnerships with parents and address the specific challenges they experience in building FSP in a multilingual context. In this study we focused on newcomer parents’ experiences in their interactions with teachers, in search of answers to the following research questions:
- How do newcomer parents experience their interaction with primary school teachers for building FSP in a multilingual context?
- What do parents share as relevant in their interactions with teachers, particularly regarding teachers’ attitudes and communication?
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedIn 2023/2024, an interpretive study was conducted with narrative interviews with twelve parents from five different primary schools for newcomer education. All schools had FSP as a focus. They paid extra attention to professionalization, facilities and activities aimed at FSP.
The parents came from Syria, Eritrea, and Ukraine, which represent the largest newcomer groups in the Netherlands (Bisschop et al., 2020). The parents had about one year of experience with Dutch education. Parents were invited to participate in this study by a letter in their home language and personal contact with teachers and interpreters of the schools.
The narrative interviews consisted of three parts. First, parents were asked which schools their children attended in their home country and in the Netherlands, whether they had contact with the teachers at these schools, what language they used during these contacts and what the contacts were about. During the second part, four photos of contacts between teachers and parents were shown, each photo representing a different type of FSP, for example an information meeting with all parents about the school’s working methods or a conversation between parents and the teacher about the child’s progress. The parents were asked which type of FSP they recognized and were invited to share their experiences. During the third part, two photos of children are shown, one needs support with reading development, the other with well-being. The parents were asked what they would expect from the teacher in those situations and how they could work together.
The narrative interviews were conducted at school in the presence of an interpreter. The Syrian, Eritrean and Ukrainian interpreter each interpreted four interviews. All three were experienced in interpreting during parent conversations.
Data analysis was conducted in two phases. First, fragments were linked to the concepts ‘experiences’, ‘expectations, ‘attitude’ and ‘communication’. Summaries have been made of experiences and expectations and discussed with the parents for a member check (Creswell, 2009). Second, all fragments linked to the concepts of ‘attitude’ and ‘communication’ have been coded and thematized (Verhoeven, 2020) and compared with the results of previous research with teachers (Goedhart et al., 2024).
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe parents mainly shared experiences considering conversations with teachers about their children’s progress at school. The need of a good translation was mentioned in every narrative. In most cases, school invitations were translated by the children or a translation app. Conversations with teachers were sometimes conducted in English, but all parents preferred the presence of an interpreter who speaks their language.
Most parents experienced the conversations very positive. They appreciated the frequency and detailed information about their child’s development. Parents stressed their need for teachers to be available and to solve problems. Most parents expect advice of the teachers because of their professional knowledge. All parents expressed their willingness to cooperate with the teacher for their children’s support, although some parents were not used to cooperate with school. Some doubted the teacher’s advice and were afraid, because of a language barrier, their children were underestimated.
From the interviews, five themes regarding teachers 'attitude were found to be important for parents. A teacher should be:
• available
• inviting
• understanding
• decisive
• consulting
Also, five themes were identified with respect to the communication of teachers that parents considered important. Teachers should use:
• responsive language
• accessible communication channels
• a personal approach
• positive expressions
• detailed information
Parents and teachers (see Goedhart, et al., 2024) agree on the importance of responsive language and accessible communication channels, as well as being inviting and understanding. Differences between parents’ perceptions of cooperative teachers and teachers’ own perceptions of their role, might be explained by culture differences (especially power distance) between newcomer-parents and teachers.
This study revealed parents' needs and preferences regarding teachers' attitudes and communication practices. These needs can be considered important ingredients for the development of a professionalization program for teachers regarding their collaboration with newcomer parents.
ReferencesAntony-Newman, M. (2019). Parental involvement of immigrant parents: a meta-synthesis. Educational Review, 71(3), 362-381.
Bakker, J., Denessen, E., Dennissen, M. & Oolbekking-Marchand, H. (2013). Leraren en ouderbetrokkenheid. Een reviewstudie naar de effectiviteit van ouderbetrokkenheid en de rol die leraren daarbij kunnen vervullen. Nijmegen: Radboud Universiteit.
Bisschop, P., Van der Ven, K., Doeve, T., Petit, R., Elshof, D., Krijnen, E., Van Stigt, A. (2022). Nieuwkomers in het primair en voortgezet onderwijs. Doelgroepenonderzoek. Amsterdam: SEO Economisch Onderzoek/Kohnstamm Instituut.
Creswell, J.W. (2009). Research Design. Los Angeles: Sage.
Epstein., J.B. [EERA, edu]. (2020, August 21). Imperative Connections: Using Research to Develop Programs of School, Familiy and Community Partnerships for Student Success in School [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved January 30 2024, from https://youtu.be/Z050jwYrVXQ.
Goedhart, R., Denessen, E., Hajer, M., & Bakker, C. (2024). Primary Teachers Learning from Experiences Building Family-School Partnerships in a Multilingual Context. Article in preparation.
Gouwens, J. A., & Henderson, R. (2021). Rethinking deficit discourses in education through rural education research and the concept of querencia. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, 31(3), 1–14.
Hall, G. C. N., Yip, T., & Zárate, M. A. (2016). On becoming multicultural in a monocultural research world: A conceptual approach to studying ethnocultural diversity. American Psychologist, 71(1), 40–51.
McWayne, C.M. [Center for CHILD & FAMILY Policy]. (2021, April 30). Connecting Parents and Teachers through Cultural Inclusion [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved January 30 2024, from https://youtu.be/J5FVXTxnRns?si=PjbiYevkhCIDGCdP.
McWayne, C.M., Doucet, F., & Sheridan, S.M. (Eds.). (2019). Ethnocultural Diversity and the Home-to-School Link. Switzerland: Springer.
Moll, L. C., Amanti, C., Neff, D., & González, N. (2005). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. In: N. Gozáles, L. C. Moll, & C. Amanti (Eds.), Funds of knowledge: Theorizing practices in households, communities, and classrooms (pp. 71-87). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
Sheridan, S.M. and Kim, E.M. (Eds.). (2015). Foundational Aspects of Family-School Partnership research. Switzerland: Springer.
Thompson, I., Willemse, T.M., Mutton,T.,Burn, K., and De Bruïne, E. (2018). Teacher Education and Family–school Partnerships in Different Contexts: A Cross Country Analysis of National Teacher Education Frameworks Across a Range of European Countries. Journal of Education for Teaching 44 (3): 258-277.
Willemse, T. M., De Bruïne,E.J., Griswold, P., D´Haem, J., Vloeberghs, L., & Van Eynde, S. (2017). Teacher Candidates' Opinions and Experiences as Input for Teacher Education Curriculum Development. Journal of Curriculum Studies 49 (6): 782-801.
Verhoeven, N. (2020). Thematische analyse. Amsterdam: Boom.
14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research
Poster
Potentialities of the Funds of Knowledge Approach: the Perspective of Associations and Schools
Gabriela Míguez, Anaïs Quiroga-Carrillo, Alexandra Rodríguez Gil
Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Presenting Author: Míguez, Gabriela
Much has been written about the need to work towards the development of relationships of mutual trust between family, school, and community (Bolívar Botía, 2006; Bryan et al., 2020). In this regard, it is well known that the Funds of Knowledge (FoK) approach has been established as an effective tool for developing dialogue between these three actors (Santos Rego et al., 2022).
Such effectiveness lies in understanding that families, especially working-class ones, can be characterized by the practices they have developed and the knowledge they have produced and acquired during their lives (Gonzalez et al., 2005). The social and economic history of households are particularly relevant because they reveal experiences that generate much of the knowledge that household members may possess, display, elaborate or share with others (Moll, 2019). It also can be said that household livelihoods may involve establishing and participating in social networks, through which such knowledge can be exchanged to address some of the necessities of life.
Therefore, research, especially when conducted in close collaboration with teachers and other members of the community, can provide an opportunity to document the lived experiences and knowledge of families that can be useful in defining households as resources or sample assets, which can also be valuable for teaching. Additionally, it can help to set up discussion sessions with teachers to prepare them theoretically and methodologically to conduct the research and assess the usefulness of the results for classroom practice (Moll, 2014; Santos Rego et al., 2022).
In our context, in collaboration with the Fundación Secretariado Gitano (https://www.gitanos.org/) of Pontevedra (Galicia, Spain), we designed, developed, and assessed the socio-educational program "Funds-Knowledge-Families" with Roma mothers and their children (Santos Rego et al., 2021).
The program consisted of two phases: the first took place during the first quarter of the school year in three primary schools in the city of Pontevedra, where the children participating in the program studied; and the second phase took place during the second quarter at the main site of the Fundación Secretariado Gitano (Santos Rego et al., 2021).
For the development of the second phase, we counted on the advice and direct collaboration of two technicians from the Fundación, who acted as intermediaries between our working group within the Esculca Research Group (https://www.usc.es/esculca/) of the Faculty of Education of the University of Santiago de Compostela, the schools where we developed the first phase, and the participating families.
Parallel work was carried out with the mothers and their children. With the former, we addressed issues related to culture and the functioning of the educational system, highlighting the role of the school and the importance of family involvement in the school environment. With the students, we focused on study methods, the organisation of time for homework, as well as issues related to their own cultural practices at home and in the community (Santos Rego et al., 2021).
The aim of this proposal is, on the one hand, to illustrate the perspectives of these two specialists in the field of education regarding the FoK approach and its potential for working with families at risk of exclusion, specifically Roma families (Abajo Alcalde, 2021). And on the other hand, to collect the points of view on the development of the first phase of the Funds-Knowledge-Families program from 3 teachers, representatives of each of the participating schools. Finally, we present a didactic guide resulting from the results of the program and the contributions of both groups of educational agents. It is our intention that this guide will serve as a model for the introduction of the Funds of Knowledge approach in schools.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedIn this proposal we focus on analyzing the views of the two Fundación Secretariado Gitano professionals who worked with our team and three teachers from the schools involved in the first phase of the program. We used semi-structured interviews to assess the development of the program, its strengths and weaknesses, the level of participation and involvement achieved, and the potential of the FoK approach as an alternative strategy for both institutions to work with.
In terms of the profile of the participants, one is the Fundación educational counsellor, who is responsible for coordinating activities with schools, families, and students to achieve educational inclusion objectives, and the other is a teacher from the Fundación educational programs, whose experience and close relationship with families and children made her a very important figure in the development of the program.
Regarding the teaching staff, there were three teachers from different levels of primary education, with diverse profiles, both in terms of age and experience of working with Roma students.
The interviews were conducted at the end of the second phase of the program and lasted approximately 45 minutes. In order to facilitate the organization and development of the interviews, a script was drawn up that allowed them to be structured in detail by presenting the elements that define our instrument. Thus, the interviews consisted of a total of 10 questions, all related to the object of study, and varying in content depending on whether they were addressed to the Fundación technical staff or to the participating teachers.
During the interviews, the researcher's role was limited to facilitation and guidance, without judgement or evaluation. The information generated has allowed us to broaden the data collected, offering new perspectives on the experiences of those responsible for its development.
Data analysis was carried out using discourse analysis (Khan & MacEachen, 2021), and the qualitative software NVivo was used to construct a set of key categories to analyze their views on their participation and the potential for further development of the program in the future.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsDuring the interviews, the Fundación technicians expressed their satisfaction based on the mothers’ attendance and commitment to the program:
“It was an activity in which they felt comfortable, and the children demanded to continue…” (T1)
“I think the assessment is very positive. It was worthwhile going there as a meeting where they could reflect…” (T2)
As for the teachers, they were positive about the development of the program and considered it a useful activity. We also highlighted their interest in improving the situation of Roma students at school, recognizing the lack of references for educational success:
“I think that one thing we have to do is to get someone who has achieved something important to have an interview or contact with them, I think that would be a huge breakthrough” (Teacher 1)
In short, from the perspective of these professionals, the program had many strong elements, such as the high level of involvement of the participants, and others that could be improved, such as the lack of time to carry out all the activities in a coordinated way in the schools.
The results of these interviews, together with the products of the Funds-Knowledge-Families program, served as the basis for the preparation of a didactic guide "Stories of Family and Community Life". (https://www.usc.gal/libros/index.php?id_product=1201&controller=product).
This resource is twofold: on the one hand, to work on learning, in all contexts, and to focus on that which emerges from family cultural practices, but also from the environment itself. On the other hand, following the inclusive perspective of the FoK approach, we seek the curricular inclusion of the accumulated ways of life and knowledge of the learners' families and communities as assets in their learning processes. The target groups of this proposal are pupils in primary education, from 8 to 10 years old.
ReferencesAbajo Alcalde, J. (2021). Situación escolar de la infancia gitana: nuestra mirada (re) crea la realidad. Etnografías Contemporáneas, 7(12), 232-256.
Bolívar Botía, A. (2006). Familia y escuela: dos mundos llamados a trabajar en común. Revista de Educación, 339, 119-146.
Bryan, J., Williams, J. M., & Griffin, D. (2020). Fostering educational resilience and opportunities in urban schools through equity-focused school–family–community partnerships. Professional School Counseling, 23(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1177/2156759X19899179
González, N., Moll, L., & Amanti, C. (2005). (eds). Funds of Knowledge: Theorizing Practices in Households, Communities, and Classrooms. Routledge.
Khan, T., & MacEachen, E. (2021). Foucauldian discourse analysis: Moving beyond a social constructionist analytic. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 20, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069211018009
Moll, L. C. (2014). Vygotsky and education. Routledge.
Moll, L. C. (2019). Elaborating funds of knowledge: Community-oriented practices in international contexts. Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice, 68(1), 130-138. https://doi.org/10.1177/2381336919870805
Santos Rego, M. A., Lorenzo, M., & Míguez Salina, G. (2022). Fondos de Conocimiento familiar e intervención educativa. Narcea.
Santos Rego, M. A., Lorenzo, M., & Míguez Salina, G. (2021). Repensando las Prácticas Culturales de la Infancia Gitana a través de la Exploración de sus Fondos de Conocimiento e Identidad. Revista Internacional de Educación para la Justicia Social, 10(1), 69–82. https://doi.org/10.15366/riejs2021.10.1.005
14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research
Poster
Home Literacy Environment: a gender and educational level comparison in Spanish preschoolers
Helena González-Pulido, Beatriz Rodriguez-Ruiz
Universidad de Oviedo, Spain
Presenting Author: Rodriguez-Ruiz, Beatriz
The home literacy environment plays a crucial role in the language and literacy development of children during early childhood (Gutiérrez-Fresneda, 2019; Inoue et al., 2020; Torppa et al., 2022). Through interaction and meaningful experiences at home and in the community (Zuilkowsli et al. 2019), children acquire the foundational skills necessary for literacy (Neuman, 2014). Therefore, a literate family environment fosters pre-literacy skills in children, which are correlated with later reading success and attitudes developed in childhood, where family environment seems to be essential (Mora-Figueroa et al., 2016).
The emergent literacy skills acquired by children in the home environment differ according to the typology of activities undertaken, with formal practices associated with written skills and informal practices with oral skills (Sénéchal and LeFevre, 2014). In this sense, age seems to be an aspect that influences in the skills promoted by parents at home (Jáñez et al., 2023). Inoue et al. (2018) found that parental teaching and shared book reading contribute to the reading fluency and accuracy in early childhood, with a literate home environment positively affecting reading comprehension in later ages.
Moreover, there is evidence that Family Literacy is influenced by family and socio-economic factors (Friedlander, 2020; Zhang et al. 2023). Moreno et al. (2018) demonstrated that literacy practices among children from high socio-economic households align more closely with institutional practices, while those from low socio-economic households lean towards traditional practices. McGinnity et al. (2022) investigated differences in reading ability based on gender and social background, noting that both factors influenced reading scores between ages from three to nine. Despite social class, girls tended to have higher reading scores than boys, but boys benefited more from parental involvement at home (Jeong and Hofferth, 2016).
According to these ideas, the present study explores current inequalities in emergent literacy and home literacy within a sample of Spanish families with 4–6-year-old children. The objective is to identify differences in parents’ literacy involvement, parents’ literacy habits, and children’s literacy. The research questions are: What are the family practices of emergent literacy? And are there differences in family literate environments according to the gender and school grade of the children?
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedExploratory research was carried out with a sample of 306 families, comprising 167 mothers (54.6%) and 139 fathers (45.4%) with children between 4 to 6 years old, primarily from the same family units, residing in Asturias (North coast of the Spanish peninsula). Parents’ literacy standards were categorized into compulsory, high school and higher education levels. The distribution of these categories among parents are: 60.6% with higher education, 32.1% with high school and 7.7% with compulsory education. Regarding employment status, the majority were employed (82.2%) with only 2% receiving social benefits. Among the children sampled, 155 were males (50.7%) and 151 females (49.3%). 51.3% of the children were enrolled in 2nd grade and 48.7% in 3rd grade in preschool. All children were typically developing and spoke Spanish as their primary language at home, as indicated by a parent questionnaire. Children with developmental problems (vision, speech, or hearing) were excluded.
To collect data, the Home Literacy Environment Questionnaire (HLE) (Farver et al., 2006) with an ad hoc Spanish version developed through a double translation procedure). The questionnaire including 13 items presented on a 12-point Likert Scale (1-2-3, Never; 4-5-6, Sometimes; 7-8-9, Quite often; 10-11-12, Always) aimed to assess from the perspective of families the literacy environment in the family home based on the conceptualizations validated by Burgess et al. (2002). The HLE provides three subscales: Parents’ literacy involvement, Parents’ literacy habits and Childrens’ literacy.
Skewness and kurtosis [−1; +1] were calculated to check for normality (DeCarlo, 1997), while descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) were used for continuous variables. Socio-demographic variables, including children's gender and educational level were considered to identify potential statistical differences in the three factors of the scale. Significant differences were assessed using Students' t (p<.05). All the analyses were performed using SPSS 27.0.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe present study explored emergent literacy and home literacy differences according to gender and education level in Spanish preschoolers. Results indicated a medium-high level of parents’ literacy involvement and children´s literacy while parents’ perceptions about literacy habits were low. No significant differences were observed in factor scores based on children’s educational level. However, significant differences were noted in parents’ literacy involvement and children´s literacy based on gender, with boys exhibiting higher levels in both cases.
Considering these results, it is imperative to foster family literacy and identify effective strategies for promoting family-school partnerships. Such efforts can help parents feel more assertive in their role and more engaged in their children’s education, particularly in promoting Home Literacy Environment to enhance emergent literacy skills in children.
ReferencesFriedlander, E. (2020). The home literacy ecology in rural Rwanda and its relationships to early grade reading. Scientific Studies of Reading, 24(2), 123-140. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2019.1642894
Gutiérrez-Fresneda, R. (2019). Efecto de los grupos interactivos en el aprendizaje de la lectura mediante la colaboración familiar. Revista de Psicodidáctica, 24(2), 138-144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psicod.2019.02.001
Inoue, T., Manolitsis, G., de Jong, P. F., Landerl, K., Parrila, R., & Georgiou, G. K. (2020). Home literacy environment and early literacy development across languages varying in orthographic consistency. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1923. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01923.
Jáñez, A., Rosales, J., De Sixte, AR., & Ramos, M. (2013). Is the home literacy environment different depending on the media? Paper vs. tablet-based practices. Reading and Writing. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-023-10467-7
Jeong, U. y Hofferth, S. (2016). Parental involvement, child effort, and the development of immigrant boys ‘and girls ‘reading and mathematics skills: A latent difference score growth model. Learning and Individual Differences, 47, 136-144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2016.01.001
McGinnity, F., McMullin, P., Murray, A., Russell, H., & Smyth, E. (2022). Understanding differences in children´s reading ability by social origin and gender: The role of parental reading and pre-and primary school exposure in Ireland. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 81, 100729. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rssm.2022.100729
Mora-Figueroa, J., Galán, A., & López-Jurado, M. (2016). Eficacia de un programa de implicación familiar en la lectura de alumnado de 1º de Educación Primaria. Revista de Psicodidáctica, 21(2), 375-391. http://dx.doi.org/10.1387/RevPsicodidact.14889
Neuman, S. (2014). Explaining and Understanding Early Literacy. Investigaciones sobre Lectura, 2, 7-14. http://dx.doi.org/10.37132/isl.v0i2.1
Sénéchal, M. & LeFevre, J.A. (2014). Continuitu and Change in the Home Literacy Environment as Predictors of Growth in Vocabulary and Reading. Child Development, 85(4), 1552-1568. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12222
Torppa, M., Vasalmpi, K., Eklund, K., & Niemi, P. (2022). Long-term effects of the home literacy environment on reading development: Familial risk for dyslexi as a moderator. Journal of Ecperimental Child Psychology, 215, 105314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105314
Zhang, S., Inoue, T., & Georgiou, G. (2023). Examining the relations between mothers’ reading skills, home literacy environment, and Chinese children’s word reading across contexts. Reading and Writing. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-023-10475-7
Zuilkowski, S., McCoy, D., Jonason, C., & Dowd, A. (2019). Relationships among home literacy behaviors, materials, socioeconomic status, and early literacy outcomes across 14 low-and middle-income countries. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 50(4), 539-555. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022119837363
14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research
Poster
How to design the evaluation of a social programme to have evidence. The Family Preservation Spaces Programme in Galicia
Mar Lorenzo Moledo1, Tania Ramos Garcia1, Ana Ferreiro Rodríguez2
1University of Santiago de Comp, Spain; 2Family Preservation Spaces Programme, Spain
Presenting Author: Lorenzo Moledo, Mar
In this proposal, we present the design of the evaluation of the Family Preservation Spaces Programme that the Meniños Foundation (https://meninos.org/) and the ARELA Association (https://arela.org/), with funding from the Department of Social Policy of the Galician Regional Government, have been implementing on an experimental basis since 2022 in two of the Galician counties with a significant number of open cases in the child protection system. Our aim is to present the evaluation design that will allow us to establish this initiative as an evidence-based programme.
This programme offers a comprehensive service of psychological, social, and educational support to children and adolescents in a situation of low risk and their families, from a systemic approach to intervention that allows the strengthening of the family unit. The aim is to prevent children and young people from entering the child protection system and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the family preservation model through evaluation.
Family education programmes in Spain, based on the positive parenting approach, have increased significantly in recent decades (Álvarez et al., 2016). As a result, there are multiple programmes aimed at preventing maltreatment and promoting good treatment to ensure the well-being of families (Orte et al., 2022).
However, only some of these initiatives can be considered evidence-based programmes because they meet certain quality standards, including "a scientific theory base, a rigorous research design, a high quality of programme implementation, and control of factors related to the intervention that can contribute to the replication of results" (Máiquez et al., 2015, p. 79).
Although evidence-based programmes were initially applied in the field of health sciences, their presence has been increasing, particularly in the social sciences. This is precisely due to initiatives such as the European Family Support Framework (EurofamNet), which identifies those programmes that meet high quality criteria and can be replicated with maximum guarantee of success (Rodrigo et al., 2023).
Specifically, this approach argues that professional practice with families should be based on evidence, and therefore it is essential to have empirically validated programmes to improve the quality of the interventions carried out and thus obtain better results (Álvarez et al., 2016). It is necessary to introduce a culture of scientific evaluation of the social programmes they develop in social organisations and to be able to rely on evidence that supports their effectiveness. Evaluation remains one of the unresolved issues in social interventions.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedIn designing the evaluation, we aim to answer the following questions: What is the impact of the programme on families and their children? Which families benefit most from the programme? What elements define the effectiveness of an intervention programme with families at low or moderate risk? Can we rely on valid and reliable assessment tools for families and children at social risk? Is it possible to reduce the number of children entering the protection system?
The purpose of evaluation is not the production of knowledge, but the use of knowledge for action, change and improvement. We start from a participatory evaluation model based on two assumptions. Firstly, the involvement of decision-makers and stakeholders in the evaluation process, and secondly, the use of evaluation results to change, modify or close the programme. This involvement will contribute to the acceptance of the results and improve decision-making, leading to greater support for the programme and its extension to other populations as good practice in family intervention.
Specifically, in line with Alvira-Martín (2002), the evaluation has several levels in which we have had different qualitative and quantitative instruments:
1. Evaluation of the design. Our aim is to check that the programme is evaluable, i.e. that its design meets the required quality standards, and to verify its feasibility before implementation.
2. Initial assessment. Focuses on analysing the needs of families and their expectations of the programme.
3. Evaluation of implementation. The conditions under which a programme is implemented are a key element in its effectiveness and development.
4. Coverage assessment. The aim is to analyse the extent to which the programme reaches the target population. It analyses the coverage rate of the programme and whether there is a coverage bias.
5. Evaluation of the results. For this evaluation we opted for a quasi-experimental design of two non-equivalent groups with pre-test and post-test.
6. Follow-up evaluation. After the end of the programme, the families will be monitored according to the defined social indicators.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe evaluation of the programme is estimated to take two years, but we can already point to some evidence of its effectiveness: the low dropout rate of families from the intervention; the loyalty of families to the programme, as evidenced by the high attendance (father, mother and children) at the scheduled sessions; the request by social services professionals to refer families to the programme or even from other community services (educational or health centres); and the change of address in the referral request.
Although at the start of the programme (spring 2022) the referral of families to the programme was very slow, there are currently families on the waiting list to start the intervention process, which indicates the need for a community programme of this nature.
In short, we must continue to make progress in the evaluation of this programme, a complex research process that must be adapted to the pace of intervention with families, involving different agents, with different profiles, using different techniques and tools, and seeking evidence of its effectiveness.
ReferencesÁlvarez, M., Rodrigo, M. J., & Byrne, S. (2016). What implementation components predict positive outcomes in a parenting program? Research on Social Work Practice, 28(2), 173–187. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049731516640903
Alvira-Martín, F. (2002). Metodología de la evaluación de programas (3rd ed., Colección Cuadernos Metodológicos, no. 2). Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas.
Máiquez, M. L., Rodrigo, M. J., & Byrne, S. (2015). El proceso de apoyo en la promoción de la parentalidad positiva. In M. J. Rodrigo (Coord.), Manual práctico de parentalidad positiva (pp. 67-86). Editorial Síntesis.
Orte, C., Amer, J., & Quesada, V. (2022). La importancia de los programas familiares basados en la evidencia. In C. Orte, J. Amer & V. Quesada (Coords.), Avances y desafíos en la educación familiar. Programas basados en la evidencia científica (pp. 11-18). Tirant Humanidades.
Rodrigo, M. J., Hidalgo, V., Byrne, S., Bernedo, I. M., Byrne, S., Orte, C., & Jiménez, L. (2023). Programas de apoyo familiar basados en evidencias desde el enfoque de la Parentalidad Positiva en España. In C. Orte, J. Amer & V. Quesada (Coords.), Avances y desafíos en la educación familiar. Programas basados en la evidencia científica (pp. 73-89). Tirant Humanidades.
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