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Placing Immigrant and Minority Family and Community Members at the School's Centre: the role of community participation |
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| Authors: | Javier Díez Suzanne Gatt Sandra Racionero | |
| Institution: | 1. Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain
Javier Díez, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Edifici G5 Administració i Despatxos, Campus de la UAB, 08193 Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Spain, Javier.Diez@uab.cat, http://www.uab.cat/servlet/Satellite/departament/javier-diez-1275458321305.html Suzanne Gatt, Faculty of Education, University of Malta, MSD 2080 Malta, suzanne.gatt@um.edu.mt, http://www.hsci.info/hsci_mt/ Sandra Racionero, University of Wisconsin-Madison, CREA, University of Barcelona, Campus Mundet, Passeig de la Vall d'Hebron, 171, 08035, Barcelona, Spain, racioneropla@wisc.edu;2. Faculty of Education, University of Malta Javier Díez, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Edifici G5 Administració i Despatxos, Campus de la UAB, 08193 Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Spain, Javier.Diez@uab.cat, http://www.uab.cat/servlet/Satellite/departament/javier-diez-1275458321305.html Suzanne Gatt, Faculty of Education, University of Malta, MSD 2080 Malta, suzanne.gatt@um.edu.mt, http://www.hsci.info/hsci_mt/ Sandra Racionero, University of Wisconsin-Madison, CREA, University of Barcelona, Campus Mundet, Passeig de la Vall d'Hebron, 171, 08035, Barcelona, Spain, racioneropla@wisc.edu;3. University of Wisconsin-Madison, CREA, University of Barcelona, Spain Javier Díez, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Edifici G5 Administració i Despatxos, Campus de la UAB, 08193 Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Spain, Javier.Diez@uab.cat, http://www.uab.cat/servlet/Satellite/departament/javier-diez-1275458321305.html Suzanne Gatt, Faculty of Education, University of Malta, MSD 2080 Malta, suzanne.gatt@um.edu.mt, http://www.hsci.info/hsci_mt/ Sandra Racionero, University of Wisconsin-Madison, CREA, University of Barcelona, Campus Mundet, Passeig de la Vall d'Hebron, 171, 08035, Barcelona, Spain, racioneropla@wisc.edu |
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| Abstract: | Schools alone cannot reverse the high rates of school failure in the poorest communities in Europe; they need the contributions of the entire community. Coordination between families, the larger community, and the school has proven crucial to enhance student learning and achievement, especially for minority and disadvantaged families. However, families from such backgrounds often participate in their schools only peripherally because the schools take a ‘tourist’ approach, call parents to inform them about school projects and teachers' programmes, or consult them about decisions to be made by professionals, rather than engaging them in their children's education. In contrast, the INCLUD-ED project studied schools across Europe whose students are culturally diverse and from low SES backgrounds; here, the communities are deeply involved in the schools and the students do well academically. This article focuses on three strategies used by these successful schools to engage immigrant and minority community members in more active, decisive, and intellectual ways and thus have greater impact on the school and the students' learning. It also describes some specific practices of involvement grounded in those strategies and the improvements they generate. Though the schools studied use different practices, the three strategies have been found to contribute to a transformative result in all schools: moving minority and disadvantaged families from the periphery of school participation to the centre. | |
| Keywords: | family and community participation parental involvement minority and immigrant families inclusion | |