Dynamics of parent involvement at a multicultural school

Abstract

Abstract This paper describes a research project that uses Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of habitus and cultural and social capital to penetrate how middle‐class parents exercise influence and form positive relationships at the neighbourhood public school that serves various ethno‐cultural groups of students. One group of white, economically privileged students have populated the school since its founding; the others are new, immigrant, and diverse in ethnicity, race, and immigrant status. The parents of the former group of children enjoy active involvement in the school and trusting relationships with teachers that involves their differentiation from and exclusion of the new immigrant group. While the paper affirms the importance of social class differences in parent involvement, it integrates additional dimensions of immigration status and ethnicity. Keywords: parent involvementelementary schoolmothersBourdieuintersectionalityimmigrantsJewsexclusion Acknowledgements This project was funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) standard research grant. The author acknowledges the assistance of Georgina Blanchard, Lauren Perry, Jessica Ringrose, Jeff Moon, and Bonnie Stewart. Notes 1. For purposes of confidentiality, this reference is withheld. 2. These data are based on Statistics Canada data using PCensus for MapPoint to isolate small geographic areas. I acknowledge Lauren Perry and Jeff Moon for their assistance in obtaining and assembling this material. Lauren's work was funded by Queen's University Advisory Research Committee Grant No. 381–503. Due to the small size of these samples, Statistics Canada suppresses some data on ethnicities and religion. 3. All participants' names are pseudonyms. 4. I acknowledge the research assistance of Jessica Ringrose, who conducted most of the interviews. 5. If we assume consistency in the settlement of Baywoods, the immigrant 'narratives' of these Jewish families would derive from the period prior to 1914. Space does not permit elaboration of their pluralistic circumstances described by authors such as Gerald Tulchinsky, Stephen Speisman, and Irving Abella.