Journal Article

Hard to reach parents or hard to reach schools? A discussion of home-school relations, with particular reference to Bangladeshi and Pakistani parents

Davies, Jane, Crozier, Gill

2007

Overview

In the authors' research with Pakistani and Bangladeshi heritage parents, some teachers, head teachers and other educational professionals referred to the South Asian parents as 'hard to reach'. Whilst it was clear from the parents that they were not very, and in some cases not at all, involved in their children's schools and knew little about the education system or what their children were doing in school, it was also very apparent that the parents were not 'difficult', 'obstructive', or 'indifferent'—the kind of behaviour 'hard to reach' implies. The article therefore considers that rather than parents being 'hard to reach', it is frequently the schools themselves that inhibit accessibility for certain parents. The authors challenge the cultural interference model, arguing that it is incorrect and pathologises parents. The article arises out of a two-year, Economic and Social Research Council funded, qualitative study of Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage families and schools, in the north-east of England.

• Publisher: Blackwell Publishing Ltd,Routledge
• Subject: Access / Access to Information / Asians / Attitudes / Children / Communities / Cultural differences / Cultural heritage / Cultural Relevance / Economic research / Education / Educational systems / England / Ethnic Groups / Expectation / Family Characteristics / Family Involvement / Foreign Countries / Hard to reach / Head teachers / Home school relationship / Home schooling / Learning transfer / Minority group students / Mothers / Non Western Civilization / Outreach Programs / Parent Attitudes / Parent Background / Parent Participation / Parent Responsibility / Parent School Relationship / Parent-teacher relations / Parents / Parents & parenting / Perception / Qualitative Research / School age children / Schools / Secondary schools / Social Discrimination / Social relations / Social research / Teacher Attitudes / Teacher Responsibility / Teachers / United Kingdom