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Roxana was born in el Salvador and as an immigrant woman and working mother, completing her post-graduate studies has been a dream. One of her goals is to share with Latin American parents ideas and strategies to support their children’s educational goals. In 2006 Roxana became the Early Years Supervisor at Jane/Finch Community and Family Centre. Roxana has promoted the integration of Latin American families to the different educational and recreational programs. This year, Roxana took a new position at JFCFC, as manager of the Financial Literacy Program-FAPS-Toronto.The goal of this program is “to have lower-income individuals and families experience greater well-being because of adequate and more equitable income and assets."
If you would like to learn more about Roxana's study or have access to her complete research, you can contact her at
the following email address [email protected]
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to describe the attitudes and support practices of Salvadorian parents toward their children entering Post Secondary Education (PSE) in the city of Toronto. This study also investigated the barriers these parents experienced in sustaining their children’s educational progress. Using a grounded theory approach, the study developed a framework to improve the understanding of Salvadorian parents’attitudes and practices in preparation for their children’s higher education studies.
The conclusions were generated by the findings from the systemic gathering of data and responses from interviews with 10 parents with adolescent children (16–20 years old). Emerging themes imply that Salvadorian parents, regardless of English language skills or economic barriers, hold aspirations for their children to access and complete PSE. According to the study’s findings, cultural practices such as speaking Spanish at home, religious practices and savings plans for the future education of their children are having positive results. However, specific experiences such as settlement conditions, employment opportunities and safety in the schools play an important role whether parents are able to support their children’s educational process.
Conclusions
I embarked upon this investigation after reading the Brown Report (2005), where it was stated that the high school drop-out rate in Latin American youth was close to forty percent. Stimulated by great concern, I wanted to investigate what was happening with Salvadorian parents and their children’s educational process. As a member of the Salvadorian community, I wanted to educate myself about this serious situation and pass along the knowledge gained through my findings and share them with my own community, as well as with educational analysts and policy makers. Due to the limited research conducted thus far in the Salvadorian community in Toronto, the present study was done in comparison with those from other populations of immigrants, parent experiences in general, the Latin American community and the emerging research of the Salvadorian community in Canada.
Salvadorian parents experience similar barriers to other Latin American parents. They as well as others in the larger community continue to work to preserve their language and cultural practices as the primary vehicle to protect their traditions and ensure healthy family relations. Sharing with their children stories of the reality of the living conditions in El Salvador, for example, helps to strengthen the family’s emotional connection. These practices lead to positive outcomes at various levels: parents engage in their children’s learning process, and children build their skills in navigating in and out of different cultures while integrating those world-view practices as their own (Falicov, 2005). Perhaps this has been one of the key elements for the participants in the present study to successfully transmit their points of view towards PSE to their children.
The findings of the present study suggest that the perception of PSE as a method to overcome poverty and improve socio-economic status holds strong in both El Salvador and Toronto. Similarly, Carranza’s (2009) study of Salvadorian mothers found that these mothers view higher education as a way for their daughters to obtain economic independence and better employment opportunities. However, since my study encompasses a small number of participants, a larger purposeful sample or a mixed method transformation analysis of Salvadorian parents, more broadly focused across Ontario and within Canada, could be helpful to corroborate my findings.
Ninety percent of the children whose parents participated in the study are successfully attending high school, moving toward enrolling in PSE or are already attending PSE institutions. Only one student is struggling. Seven children attend schools within Toronto’s Catholic board and three within the public board. One youth has failed many credits and is behind one year in his studies. This student is also at risk of dropping out of school due to negative peer influences, disengagement with his education and low motivation. It would be helpful to conduct a larger study to see if the findings hold in the Salvadorian community at large. The Brown Report (2009) specifies that Latin American students in the public board are among the students at risk of dropping out as compared to students from European background, this is due to low academic performance in grade nine testing. This is a strong report, but only 30% of Latin American students are enrolled in the Toronto Public School Board (The Brown Report, 2009). The majority of students from these communities attend schools within the Catholic board. There is a serious deficit of information from the Catholic board, which has not produced this kind of analysis for the public.
The findings of the present study can be viewed as positive and hopeful for Salvadorian parents, who can continue to use their cultural practices at home and their savings methods to support their children’s future PSE plans with confidence that these are good strategies to ensure a better future for their children. Use of these methods could facilitate the adaption of future generations of Salvadorians to Canadian society. However, one must recognize that there is a wide range of variables that affect students from the Salvadorian community in their educational process when it comes to access and achievement in PSE. Therefore, it is fair to state that there is not one simple solution that will address the barriers experienced by this emerging community, which has little economic and political representation in Toronto. Like any other marginalized group, with little access to socio-economic benefits and no large representation in institutions of power, their integration and learning process is affected by many issues. From their limited economic capacities, low levels of English language skills, to the lack of understanding of cultural differences by educators, the stereotype and biased perceptions of students, to the barriers Salvadorian parents face in supporting their children’s schooling, the problem is a tangled one and individual solutions are hard to point out. In multilingual and multiracial settings, the integration of ethnic groups such as the Salvadorian community becomes very complex and it is in this context that incorporating and utilizing family cultural practices might be a good approach to improving the relation of parents and teachers along with improving students’ academic performance and success. The findings in this study support this position.
Considering as key information some of the participant statements from this study could help to inform the school system. Many participants described the school system as being rigid and at times hard to access. Also, those living in poor neighbourhoods mentioned that there are fewer resources allocated to their schools, and that there are students
with serious behaviour problems who do not have proper placement, affecting the safety of students as well as their motivation. Two participants mentioned that when violent incidents occurred in the school, school staff were not always aware of the situations or they did not address them appropriately. The statements of these participants should not be viewed as malicious, but as a reflection of parents’ desire for their children to be in schools that are in the best condition to teach students so that they can attain a good education with decreased levels of stress.
These views can be placed in the context of Giroux’s (1997) position that schools must reflect the community’s needs and students’active participation in their learning. By keeping parents and students engaged in the educational progress, one also negotiates behaviours of responsibilities where the parent and the student view themselves as active members of the educational process. For those parents who have long hours of employment, other alternate means of communication can be created to encourage their engagement in their child’s education. Rodriguez (1990) also reminds us that providing equity in education means schools assigning a role not just for the students in the classroom, but also allocating an active role for the parents in the community. It is only through this process that families living in difficult neighbourhoods, as is the case for some of the participants in this study, can be assured that students’performance can improve and that the risk of dropping out from school for those students struggling with their
academic work can be reduced. It is important that teachers and school administrators acknowledge that students who come from different educational system practices or whose English is a second language might need extra time
or support to perform well in their school work.
From a social justice perspective, in order to increase positive outcomes, all members involved in the educational process must play an equal part, parents must be respected and feel included, the curriculum must be adapted to the realities of its community members, and teachers must hold a philosophy of teacher and learner at the same time, which means that teachers are open to incorporating the students’knowledge as part of their learning process. Administrators must advocate for resources in the schools with fewer funds and, most importantly, students must be viewed as active members of their learning, not just the learner who must accept the lesson from the curriculum, but someone who can contribute to the educational plan. Suspending prejudice and judgment and preconceived ideas is crucial in order to be successful with Salvadorian students in the classroom.
Significance of this Study
Since most studies point out the importance of parental support to their children’s educational process (Melbi et al., 2008; Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1997), this study incorporated an extensive literature of parents’engagement in their children’s education, specifically in the Latin American community, the general population and the emergent research of parents’ engagement experiences in the Salvadorian Community. The present study has included important information based on the participants’narratives. One of the interesting findings that merits further investigation is that, of the three men who participated in the study, two hold university degrees (including one PhD), and of the seven women who participated in the study, only two hold university degrees — these came to Toronto as skilled workers and their education took place back in El Salvador. The remainder of female participants did not have an opportunity to educate themselves in Canada. These findings were corroborated by Garcia (2010), who states that Salvadorian women from the first generation have a lower level of university education compared to Salvadorian men. These conditions changed in their children as four participants had daughters, three of whom are in university and one of whom is succeeding in the art program in an Etobicoke high school with plans to apply to university. This reinforces Carranza’s (2009) finding: the mothers in her study expressed their interest in supporting their daughter’s PSE process as a way to achieve economic independence. This was openly articulated by the participants in the present study as well. They supported their children’s PSE process regardless of gender. This finding also reinforces the position that Salvadorian parents who perceive PSE as a means to social mobility have taken advantage of the opportunities for their children to obtain PSE in Toronto, even in an educational system that presents barriers for those immigrants who have limited English skills and are not sure how to relate with teachers and school administrators.
Participants shared through their narratives some of the strategies they used to overcome barriers and encourage their
children to focus on their education process. This is important to consider as it could also be applicable to other communities who experience issues of access and barriers in supporting their children’s education. Most participants taught their children to speak, read and write in Spanish as a way to improve their literacy skill and maintain family values and practices. Many used community services such as libraries and Girl Guide programs to incorporate their children into the English-speaking culture. Some provided technological equipment to their children at home, such as computers and the internet, to support their children’s learning. Many participants stated that they spoke to their children about the importance of a good education from a young age, and sixty percent of participants opened up savings programs for their children before the age of four. The parents who had a bigger family were not able to open savings accounts for their children; however, these parents spoke with their children and discussed alternative methods to access and complete PSE. For those parents who had issues of access to communicate with teachers due to English language barriers, they struggled more, but found alternative ways to establish a relationship with the teacher in order to support their children’s education process.
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