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ABSTRACT
Ethnic minority parents often appear to be less involved in school functions and activities than their culturally dominant counterparts. Their invisibility is usually assumed due to a lack of either interest or parental capacity to oversee their children’s education. However, the simplistic equation between parental involvement in children’s education and their participation in school is largely informed by middle-class cultural norms that ignore diversity. Data drawn from home visits and in-depth, semi-structured interviews amongst Pakistani parents and children in Hong Kong reveals that the involvement of these parents only seems less visible because it is largely based at home rather than in schools. The parental involvement of this ethnic minority is influenced by socio-economic and cultural factors that separate school from home, divide parental responsibilities by gender, and set expectations for children with primary reference to the parents’ own experiences. These research findings on how such characteristics shape the outcomes of parental involvement can inform school practices to build more effective home-school collaboration and enhance children’s academic achievement.
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Notes on contributors
Wai-Chi Chee
Wai-chi Chee is Assistant Professor at the Department of Education Studies at the Hong Kong Baptist University. She received her PhD in Anthropology from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include migration, education, youth, globalization, religion, and culture and identity. She has published in Mobilities, Social Indicators Research, Asian Anthropology, Taiwan Journal of Anthropology, Ethnography and Education, Multicultural Education Review, The Asian Review of Histories, Adaptive Human Behaviour and Physiology, and Human Nature. She has also contributed chapters to Refugees, Immigrants, and Education in Global South (2013 Routledge; Winner of 2014 Jackie Kirk Outstanding Book Award), Religious Pluralism, State and Society in Asia (2014 Routledge), Detaining the Immigrant Other: Global and Transnational Issues (2016 Oxford University Press), and Hong Kong Culture and Society in the New Millennium (2017 Springer).
Rizwan Ullah
Rizwan Ullah obtained his PhD in Education from the University of Hong Kong. He is a frontline language teacher teaching ethnic minorities (EM) in local secondary schools in Hong Kong. His research interest surrounds EM students and parents which include educational opportunities, language policy and parenting. He runs Pakistani Students Association Hong Kong to advocate for their rights and runs a Youtube channel “Top Tips with Dr. Riz” to offer advice and suggestions on how EM students can make the best choice.