For my research simulation, I chose to explore the topic of family involvement in early childhood education based on socioeconomic status. I chose to write about this topic because it is something that I do not have a lot of experience with. I have always worked in middle to upper-class locations where family involvement occurs in a wide range. I like to believe that all parents want to be involved in their child's education, but I fear that that is not always the case. It hits close to home for me because my own parents were extremely involved in my education. Because of my current marital status, my children's father has not always been as involved as he should have been. He trusted me to make the "correct" decisions and now because of our situation, he has begun second-guessing all my choices. He never cared before and now he does. I realize that this is something that is not always based on socioeconomic status, but it does. White, blue-collar men, dads, often times leave the decisions about childcare and education to the mother.
In Philadelphia, there are plenty of families that send their children to school hungry and tired and only because they have to. If their child presents issues in the classroom based on their behavior or attention to detail, the parents are not always around to assist teachers in helping their children. One reason could be because they do not care. Another reason could be because they are too busy working to keep the lights on in their home. They could be the only parent in the household and are just "too busy" to help their child.
Ultimately, I want to explore the situational circumstances of a child's home and their parent involvement. I am looking forward to exploring this topic further with the help of my colleagues. If you have any suggestions for resources for this topic, I would greatly appreciate you sharing them with me.
Leanne,
ReplyDeleteWorking in a school with the struggles that you have mentioned above we have had to become creative in ways we invite families in. Often, they do not want to participate because teachers inundate them with how poorly they are performing academically or behaving. With Covid we started zooming trainings for parents in morning and evening and we have invited them to record themselves reading books so that we can share in class as a guest reader. We provided them with questions that they can ask the students. We are excited with the increase in family support, but increase means we may have 20 parents compared to the 10-last year, so we are not there yet. Surveying the parents and what they wanted and how we could include them is what we are using to increase involvement. If I come across some good articles I will send them your way.
Hello Leanne
ReplyDeleteParental involvement has many different perspectives. As you pointed out, economic barriers can certainly play a part in the amount of time families have for academic involvement. On a differing perspective, is parental involvement a form of social interaction? I will keep an eye out for materials to share. I look forward to seeing how we do.
Leanne, I can relate to your topic. I have had the same experiences with some of my families, however I love to encourage my parents to participate often. I might have some resources for you. Here's my personal email ooxx@ec.rr.com.
ReplyDeleteLeanne,
ReplyDeleteYour topic is very interesting. From my experience when I was young. Most of people that I know had been facing the socioeconomic status issue as well. Some of my friends did not have opportunities to get new school outfits and have to wear same old shoes for years. It was hard to see that.
If you want some resource about poverty in other country especially in Thailand. I would give you some interesting websites.
Thank you.
Hi Leanne, thank you so much for sharing and opening up about your research topic. It is very brave of you to share this with us and this sounds like a great topic to dive into and explore. I am also very inerested in how parents decide to communicate and how much each one is involved in their child's academic lives. I think another good topic to research or look up on is cultural norms in various cultures to see what roles males and females play within decision making in their child's lives. I have seen and heard very different points of views of this. I know of some members in the black and hispanic cultures who are single moms or are now with a new spouce and they believe it is their own decision and priority to decie what goes on in thier child's academic, medical, and social lives. This is a very intriguing topic to discuss because their are so many views on this topic.
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