Family-Professional Partnerships Between Refugee Families and Their Children's Teachers: Examining Facilitating and Impeding Factors

• In Event: 34.075 - Engagement With Immigrant, ELL, and Refugee Families

Abstract

Family-professional partnerships are important for refugee families who are new to the U.S. school system and are accustomed to different expectations of involvement and relationships with teachers. The purpose of this study was to explore factors that facilitated and impeded the formation of strong family-professional partnerships for refugee families. Adopting an ecological perspective, we sought to understand the factors that refugee families, their children, and their children’s teachers identified as facilitating and impeding FPPs through 177 interviews. Facilitating factors identified were teacher commitment and passion, the use of multilingual liaisons, responsive education systems, and educational events to bring families to school. Barriers included technology, limited time with multilingual liaisons, and role perception. Implications for practice and research will be discussed.

Authors

• Shana J Haines, The University of Vermont

• Cynthia C. Reyes, The University of Vermont

• Hemant Tamang Ghising, University of Vermont

• Ashraf Alamatouri, The University of Vermont