"Do You Teach About Real Knowledge?" Parents' and Teachers' Ideas About Schools and Education

• In Event: 35.065 - Engaging the Multiple Assets of Students and Families

Abstract

This qualitative research aims at understanding how parents of immigrant and refugee children and their teachers construct their ideas on the roles of schools and education. It presents data from an ongoing project on immigrant and refugee education in Iceland. Data was gathered by group interviews with 38 teachers, ten in-depth interviews were conducted with parents of immigrant students who have a European background and two Syrian parents (a couple) were also interviewed. The research draws on theories and literature on home-school collaboration, structuralism and post-structuralism and Hofstede's cultural dimensions’ theory. The findings indicate that parents and teachers hold different ideas about teaching and education and how their cultural background shapes their beliefs.

Author

• Hermina Gunnþórsdóttir, University of Akureyri