Empowering "new families" to cross the home-school divide: A case study of the integrative function of home-school collaboration in a school improvement project

Po Wah CHAN, Wai Yee Margaret KWONG-LEE, Wai Man KWONG, Lai Ha Freda YUEN

Research output: Contribution to conferencePapers

Abstract

In a two-year school improvement project strategically located in communities with a large number of “new families”—ethnic minorities, new-arrivals, father- or mother-absent families—a team of early childhood teacher educators and a social work teacher joined four preschools to initiate home-school collaboration for school improvement. Ethnographic case studies in the four preschools revealed a central theme—the process for parents to cross the home-school divide entailed a re-culturing of the school community to provide parents meaningful, co-equal participation in school improvement. The re-alignment of power relationship between home and school gave parents from “new-arrival families” an empowering experience, as they worked alongside “the locals”, school people, and “experts” to find ways to enhance children’s educational experience.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 2006
Event2006 Annual Meeting of American Educational Research Association: Education Research in the Public Interest - San Francisco, United States
Duration: 07 Apr 200611 Apr 2006

Conference

Conference2006 Annual Meeting of American Educational Research Association: Education Research in the Public Interest
Abbreviated titleAERA2006
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySan Francisco
Period07/04/0611/04/06

Citation

Chan, P. W., Lee, W.-Y. M., Kwong, W.-M., & Yuen, L. H. (2006, April). Empowering "new families" to cross the home-school divide: A case study of the integrative function of home-school collaboration in a school improvement project. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of American Educational Research Association: Education Research in the Public Interest, San Francisco, CA.

Keywords

  • Early Childhood Education
  • Teacher Education and Professional Development

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