Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies in Out-of-School Time (Poster 10)

• In Event: University-Community Engagement as a Strategy for Dismantling Racial Injustice and Co-Constructing Educational Possibilities

Abstract

Out of school time programs (OST) have been shown to positively impact Latinx youth wellbeing (Guzman et al., 2017) but this population does not often participate in these programs (Darling, 2005). Despite these findings, Moncloa et al. (2021) reports a significant gap in the literature regarding the engagement of vulnerable youth in these programs, in particular Latinx youth. Erbstein and Fabionar (2019) suggest positive ethnic identity development and the relationship between the programming and the community are key factors in increasing engagement in OST.

Through a partnership with a Southern California non-profit that provides OST programming to Latinx youth and families, the authors examined how parental engagement can serve as a medium for culturally sustaining pedagogy. Data were collected at a family camp in summer 2023. Nine families attended camp (23 campers, 13 parents) and were part of data collection. The research team collected field notes, audio recordings, and images of artifacts in addition to conducting semi-structured interviews and focus groups with participants. Due to the prevalence of mixed/unknown immigration statuses within the community, minimal demographic information was collected. Interviews, focus groups, and audio recordings were transcribed,cleaned, and anonymized.

The data were then organized and coded based upon three key features of culturally sustaining pedagogy: language, literacy, and culture (Paris & Alim, 2017). The team first coded an interview together in order to establish inter-rater reliability, then coded the remaining data separately. Findings indicated that these characteristics were inextricably linked when examining how parents and other adult family members engaged with educational practices with youth.

Flower Making: Upon arrival at the family summer camp, one of the camp leaders requested that family members help set up the main room to celebrate Guelaguetzal, a Oaxacan holiday. During the set up, most families were tasked with constructing paper flowers. When the construction began, only a few adults knew how to construct the paper flowers. Those adults utilized their existing funds of knowledge, how to construct paper flowers, in addition to their linguistic resources to instruct the other adults in flower making. At one point, a child told his parent, "No puedo". The parent then began to demonstrate to the child how to open the paper and construct the flower, while describing the process in Spanish.

Guelaguetzal: In another instance, when the decoration for the holiday was complete, the camp leaders invited parents to share about the Oaxacan celebration Guelaguetzal. One parent volunteered to share his knowledge of the holiday. He utilized his linguistic and cultural resources to teach the group about the holiday. He described Guelaguetzal as a "celebracion" of people from different "religiones" and "culturas" to share "comida", "musica", and other cultural practices.

These are just two brief examples of how parents engaged in culturally sustaining pedagogies in OST. These findings indicate that parental engagement in OST provides a unique opportunity for children to not only engage with their parent's linguistic practices, but also to learn more about their own cultural backgrounds and the diversity within an often homogenized community.

Authors

• Amy Vatne Bintliff, University of California - San Diego

• Ashley Yung Batchelor, Arizona State University

• Rebecca S. Levine, University of California - San Diego

• Sayra Martinez, La Colonia De Eden Garden Inc