Purpose
The study explores what kindergarten teachers in Norway and Denmark expect regarding immigrant parents’ involvement and how they respond when these expectations are not met. The study investigates how social classes, culture and migration affect these expectations. The research questions are: 1) What kind of involvement do kindergarten teachers expect from immigrant parents? 2) How do kindergarten teachers react when immigrant parents do not meet these expectations?
Result
The study identifies three key tensions in kindergarten teachers’ expectations and experiences of collaboration with immigrant parents: (1) conflicting perceptions of responsibility for children’s language development (2) conflicting perceptions of children’s roles and how to communicate with children and (3) conflicting perceptions of what kindergarten is and what constitutes valuable knowledge. The study concludes that these tensions create barriers to effective collaboration between kindergarten teachers and immigrant parents. They also highlight how different cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds can influence parental involvement in children’s education.
Design
The data collection was conducted through semi-structured interviews with 22 kindergarten teachers from Copenhagen and Oslo. Interviews included both individual and group interviews. The data material was analysed inductively and then encoded and categorised to identify key tensions in kindergarten teachers’ descriptions of collaboration with immigrant parents.
References
Jahreie, J. (2022). Towards a renewed understanding of barriers to immigrant parents' involvement in education. Acta Sociologica, 66(3), 307–321.
Online year: 2022
Issue year: 2023
Review year: 2022