Introduction
The education of immigrant children has become a growing concern for many educators and policymakers in recent years, leading to a growing interest from scholars and researchers. There has been a considerable amount of research on the impact of parental involvement on the academic success of children. This literature review explores the existing findings on how immigrant parents affect their children in school and the quality of the relationship between immigrant parents’ involvement in their children’s education and their academic performance. Parental involvement, existing challenges, recommended environments, cultural issues, academic resilience, and the impossibility of avoiding certain barriers are the main topics within the chosen problem of parents’ impact on children’s schooling.
Family and Community Involvement
There is a close connection between parental involvement and the academic achievements of students from immigrant families. This type of cooperation affects not only the quality of education but multiple behavioral and organizational issues. Thus, parental engagement among immigrant populations is an area that would significantly change the outcomes of immigrant education. Antony-Newman (2018) discusses how family involvement affects student success by conducting a meta-synthesis of 40 qualitative and quantitative studies published between 2000 and 2016. This period allows the researcher to identify different experiences of immigrant families that have various cultural and educational backgrounds (Antony-Newman, 2018). In another study, the same researcher suggests that a mismatch in curriculum perspectives between immigrant parents and host country instructors creates further hurdles to parental participation and profoundly impacts such involvement (Antony-Newman, 2019). Instead of using the already offered research findings, Antony-Newman (2019) communicates (semi-structured interviews) with 19 immigrant parents to clarify their understanding of the offered curriculums and their appropriateness for students. It is important to identify cultural differences in academic environments and clarify what challenges must be addressed to resolve the parental involvement problem.
In addition to the role of parents in immigrant students’ education, community involvement is critical. Several researchers underline the necessity to create specific policies and school programs to support immigrant families (Antony-Newman, 2018; Ismail, 2018; Souto-Manning, 2021; Volante et al., 2021). Communities might represent the needs of most immigrant parents who cannot approach the school individually (Antony-Newman, 2018). Parents should have a chance “to manage their fundamental needs while also struggling to integrate into a new community and host society” (Volante et al., 2021, p. 37). The comparison of three cultures, including Canada, New Zealand, and England, helps researchers answer the questions about the possibility of improving immigrant students’ outcomes in their education (Volante et al., 2021). In addition, community partnerships strengthen the operations of a school and help administrators learn about existing challenges among parents. Ismail (2018) introduces the capacity method to explain how immigrant children may benefit from the offered integration policies and analyzes qualitative data gathered between 2012 and 2016. The role of the community cannot be ignored because it defines employment possibilities for parents and their further involvement in educational achievements.
Parental involvement may be defined by communities in different ways because people mostly depend on what others think of them. Souto-Manning (2021) develops critical race and Latina feminist perspectives to define the quality of relationships between belonging and immigrant children’s experiences in communities where justice and prejudice are pursued. The conceptual racialization of belonging is applied to prove that anti-Black ideologies exist in American society and affect immigrant schooling and cooperation within communities (Souto-Manning, 2021). All these qualitative and quantitative studies based on personal communication and reviews explain the worth of parent involvement and community support in immigrant children’s education.
Challenges Faced by Immigrant Parents
Parental involvement is a critical factor in the learners’ success, but there are many challenges that have to be discussed in the chosen context. According to Kim et al. (2020), family orientations have a positive relationship with student achievement for both native and immigrant students. The researchers aim to understand how family orientations influence the mastery goals of both immigrant and native learners by conducting a qualitative survey with 331 participants (Kim et al., 2020). The findings underline the importance of parental support on student success and the identification of cultural and familial backgrounds (Kim et al., 2020). Family orientations predict the student’s desire to succeed in academic performance, but the challenge of cultural differences is hard to avoid.
Language barriers, cultural differences, and limited access to information continue to interfere with their school involvement. Antony-Newman (2018) established that although immigrant parents want to be involved in their children’s school activities, language barriers can limit their access to information. Cultural differences also make some immigrant parents feel unwelcome in school activities and choose to keep them off (Kim et al., 2020). When there is an inclusive curriculum that considers all cultural backgrounds, immigrant parents register high involvement in their children’s learning Antony-Newman (2019). Souto-Manning (2021) also recognizing the impact of these challenges suggested that schools must utilize the perspectives and experiences of immigrant learners to create school practices that make education equitable and just. Therefore, parental involvement is achievable only with changes in the inclusivity of the school programs and educational approaches that challenge cooperation.
Inclusive and Welcoming Environments
Increasing parental involvement is one of the ways to improve the academic outcomes of immigrant learners, but the quality of the environment depends on various external factors. Volante et al. (2021) find that although Canada, New Zealand, and England enacted appropriate policies to improve the academic outcomes of immigrant students, educational inclusivity remained a key challenge in all these countries. Most programs focused on funding, offering multicultural education, and language support, missing out on the importance of inclusivity. Systemic barriers in education require equitable and inclusive policies that welcome immigrant parents. In addition, Souto-Manning (2021) noted that a just and equitable education requires a change from treating immigrants’ linguistic and cultural backgrounds as property to incorporating their perspectives into the school practices. Kim et al. (2020) emphasize the need for students’ family support to improve the impact of family orientation on goals. Most immigrant parents have limited knowledge and information about the education system, and there are no programs to onboard them. Such a lack of information is unwelcoming and non-inclusive for immigrant parents.
Cultural Relevance
There is also an interesting fact about the attitudes of native citizens and immigrants toward their education. Gabrielli et al. (2021) state that immigrant students have higher academic resilience than non-immigrants, but it does not reflect academic achievement where non-immigrant children always lead ahead of the immigrants. The researchers reviewed several international programs and conducted surveys in 2015 and 2018 to identify how social and economic disadvantages determine cultural uniqueness and academic performance. The lack of cultural relevance explains the resilience of students and their ability to perform well in education if there are no challenges and difficulties on their path. An analysis of underlying factors revealed that immigrants’ resilience arises from teacher support, parental involvement, peer relationships, and language proficiency (Gabrielli et al., 2021). Cultural relevance will involve the inclusion of the backgrounds of immigrant learners in educational policies and programs.
If students are made to learn the native culture over their own, individual identities are lost. Antony-Newman (2018) found that immigrant parents are highly involved in their children’s education, but their involvement is often limited to activities such as helping with homework and attending parent-teacher conferences. Schools need to recognize and accommodate the cultural differences of immigrant parents in order to effectively engage them in their children’s education in more constructive ways.
Academic Resilience
Academic resilience differs between immigrant and non-immigrant children due to the already gained qualities and knowledge and current expectations established by local academic facilities. Gabrielli et al. (2021) emphasize that immigrant learners are capable of overcoming challenges to achieve academic success but must be provided with adequate support and resources. The high resilience of immigrant children is an indication of a great potential for academic success, which can only be unleashed if parents are involved in the education of their children beyond homework and conferences. The study’s focus on the experiences of immigrant-origin students and the elements that contribute to their academic achievement makes it a valuable resource for understanding the obstacles that these students encounter in European education systems (Gabrielli et al., 2021). Furthermore, the authors’ proposals for particular ways to increase migrants’ participation in Southern European nations might impact policies and practices in other countries confronted with comparable issues.
Systemic Barriers
Systemic barriers are the most difficult to deal with because they are part of the educational system. Institutionalized discrimination and racism are some problems that influence the education system. To address systematic barriers, Goulet et al. (2023) designed and validated the SR-PSIQ that could help educators assess their programs and policies for ease of access by immigrant parents. SR-PSIQ contributes to the assessment of educational policies and programs by helping implementers to know how much the programs increase parental involvement in immigrant families. Low socioeconomic status is a common (systematic) barrier to education and the development of family relationships. According to Goulet et al. (2023), parents from poor families do not have enough time and resources to support their children. They have to choose between what they should do to maintain financial stability within their families or what they can do to support their children. Teacher-parent communication and home-based practices are highly recommended for low-income families (Goulet et al., 2023). However, most teachers admit that parental involvement cannot be ignored as it defines children’s abilities to follow instructions and complete tasks by the deadline.
Finally, systemic barriers should be addressed from within the institution rather than superficially. Ismail (2018) found that immigrant children face various structural and institutional barriers, limiting their access to education and hindering their academic performance. Policymakers should consider the unique needs and challenges of immigrant children and develop policies and programs to promote their capabilities. Institutionalized racism and discrimination contribute to poor educational achievement among immigrant children. He suggested educational policies to give immigrant learners a life they would want to value (Ismail, 2018). If immigrant learners developed a reason to value their lives, they would greatly improve their educational outcomes.
Conclusion
In general, there is an expanding corpus of research investigating the importance of parental participation in their child’s education. The research differs in scope and techniques to explain how parental participation might improve academic attainment and student engagement. The review of reliable and credible studies emphasizes the need to consider the many elements of parental participation and how they may range across different sociodemographic categories. Further study is needed to understand better the factors that impact student outcomes and promote effective and equitable parental participation across varied populations. It is critical to continue creating and verifying measures of parental participation that are appropriate for diverse age groups and cultural contexts. The chosen sources create an appropriate focus for the current study about the impact of immigrant parents on children’s schooling when complicated and diverse challenges define the quality of parental participation and student performance. These findings will define the possibility of successful policies and strategies for boosting parental participation and enhancing educational results for all kids.
References
Antony-Newman, M. (2018). Parental involvement of immigrant parents: A meta-synthesis. Educational Review, 71(3), 362–381. Web.
Antony-Newman, M. (2019). Curriculum orientations and their role in parental involvement among immigrant parents. The Curriculum Journal. Web.
Gabrielli, G., Longobardi, S., & Strozza, S. (2021). The academic resilience of native and immigrant-origin students in selected European countries. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 48(10), 2347-2368. Web.
Goulet, J., Archambault, I., Morizot, J., Olivier, E., & Tardif-Grenier, K. (2023). Validation of the student-rated parental school involvement questionnaire: Factorial validity and invariance across time and sociodemographic characteristics. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment. Web.
Ismail, A. A. (2018). Immigrant children, educational performance and public policy: A capability approach. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 20(3), 717–734. Web.
Kim, J.-I., De Long, S. P. A., Gorelik, W., Penwell, K., Donovan, C., & Chung, H. (2020). Family orientation and achievement goal orientations among the children of immigrant and non-immigrant families. International Journal of Educational Psychology, 9(2), 132-160. Web.
Souto-Manning, M. (2021). On the abolition of belonging as property: Toward justice for immigrant children of color. Urban Education. Web.
Volante, L., Klinger, D. A., & Siegel, M. (2021). Confronting the challenge of immigrant student underachievement: A comparative analysis of education policies and programs in Canada, New Zealand, and England. Comparative and International Education, 49(2). Web.