Leaning the Rules: Chinese Immigrant Parents' Involvement During Children's Kindergarten Transition

• In Event: Social and Cultural Contexts of Education and Mental Health: Chinese Migrant Families and Immigrant Families

Abstract

Transition to kindergarten lays a pivotal foundation for children’s development ((Hughes et al., 2018). While the transition is an opportune time to establish a collaborative family-school partnership, it presents challenges for immigrant parents, making their children particularly vulnerable (Antony-Newman, 2019). However, little is known about Chinese immigrant parents’ involvement during children’s kindergarten transition. Guided by cultural capital theory (Bourdieu, 1986), this study considers cultural capital as symbolic goods that are accessible only to those individuals that hold the code to decipher them. It examined the barriers Chinese immigrant parents in the US encountered and how they tackled these to support their children during kindergarten transition from an immigration perspective.
Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted in the study. There were two interviews. The first interview included questions about demographics, children’s academic experience, and parents’ perception of kindergarten transition. The second interview included questions to further examine parents’ involvement beliefs and practices during the transition. With a convenience sampling method, 10 Chinese immigrant parents with children who were going through or had gone through the kindergarten transition period (i.e., preschool, kindergarten, and first grade) were recruited. As shown in Table 1, all parents were born in China with an average length of 13 years residing in the US. Half of the parents did not attend school in the US. Among those who had American educational experience, none had personal experience with kindergarten transition.
Three main themes emerged in this study. First, limited English proficiency and inadequate knowledge of American culture are key barriers of being an immigrant. Although Chinese immigrant parents acknowledged the importance of family-school partnerships, they were unconfident to interact with teachers and local parents and felt isolated. The parents also expressed concerns that children’s limited English proficiency would impact their development. Additionally, the parents explained their high educational expectations in terms of unequal educational opportunities for ethnic minority children. Second, the parents endeavored to understand the American educational system and adjusted their beliefs and practices by comparing Chinese and American schools and volunteering in school. Third, the parents navigated ethnic resources by building a collaborative Chinese community, including providing Chinese learning materials for children, going to a weekend Chinese language school, and creating a parent support group on social media.
This study contributes to a holistic understanding of Chinese immigrant parents’ school=, home-, and community-based involvement during kindergarten transition. It reveals that to what degree Chinese immigrant parents understand family-school partnerships during kindergarten transition depends on a combination of their school experiences, linguistic competence, cultural values, knowledge of the American educational system, perceptions of children’s educational needs, and resources that are available to them.

Authors

• Peggy A. Kong, Drexel University
  Presenting Author

• Xinwei Zhang, Yale University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Anu Sachdev, Lehigh University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Xiaoran Yu, Citrus College
  Non-Presenting Author