How Does Simultaneous Education of an Immigrant Parent Shape the Academic Experiences for the Secondary School Child?
Open AccessStudies have established worldwide consensus that the level of parental education greatly influences student achievement. Other research suggests that parental level of education even plays a larger role than a family's socioeconomic status. Yet, few studies on Adult Education programs have focused on the impact to the family's economic status, increasing self-efficacy, and the overall condition of the family. Even fewer examine the influence of simultaneous education of parents on their children's academic development. Those that do exist largely fall into the field of family literacy, most of which focus attention on younger children of preschool and early elementary age. Very little has been published about influence of parents attending school simultaneously with their secondary school child. This study seeks to address this gap through qualitative analysis of 10 parents who were attending ESL classes at a community college and had children attending secondary school. This study posed four research questions: (a) How do parents describe the benefits (if any) of participating in adult education program for their children? (b) What specific activities do parents identify that contribute to educational achievement of their children? (c) What changes have the parents noted (or not) in their children as a result of their participation in adult education program? (d) What challenges did the parents overcome as they participated in adult education? These factors combined help address one overarching question: What is the perceived benefit of simultaneous education of both parent and child on the child's academic development? Responses were analyzed via the transcendental phenomenological research process, which views the researcher as an integral part of the research design. Five main findings were identified: (a) the relationship between parents and their children appeared to improve, rather than deteriorate; (b) parents found that they improved monitoring their children's schoolwork; (c) parents experienced increased involvement with their children's schools; (d) the greatest barriers to class attendance were occupational demands and the inflexibility of work schedules; and finally, (e) parents noted an increase in self-efficacy in relation to themselves and the outside world. These results indicate predominantly positive influences on the academic development of their children.
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