Chinese hearing parents’ supporting their deaf children’s inclusion in primary schools in Beijing, China.

Author(s):

Xirong He(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2016

Network:

Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

ERG SES D 08, Health and Education

Paper Session

Time:

2016-08-22

13:30-15:00

Room:

OB-E0.01

Chair:

Shosh Leshem

Contribution

Research aim

The aim of this study is to explore how a small group of Chinese hearing parents supported their deaf children’s inclusion in primary schools in Beijing, China.

Theoretical framework

China is one developing country with a population of 1.3 billion, which has a different culture and history from the developed countries. And China has experienced the rapid development in economy, education and society since China opened its door to the world in 1979. Within social and economic reform, special education and inclusive education have been developing fast. In the subject of disability, the development in inclusive education for deaf people has been quickly promoted by the implementation of some important laws for the disabled in 1990s, such as Compulsory Education Law, The Law on the Protection of Disabled Persons and The Regulations on the Education of the Disabled.

Based on the educational reforms in China in 1980s and 1990s, Learning in Regular Classrooms (LRC) was introduced to offer the access to general education for disabled children, particularly aiming at the students with hearing impairments, visual impairments, intellectual impairments (Deng & Manset, 2000). LRC has been developed into a form of inclusive education for disabled students over the last 20 years (Ministry of Education, 2008).

It was reported that the number of disabled students in mainstream schools is increasing in recent years. According to the China Disabled Persons’ Federation (CDPF), the number of students with hearing impairments attending mainstream schools has increased from 45% to 85.05% from 1987 to 2006 with the implementation of LRC (CDPF, 2007).

It is well known that parenting have a great impact on their children’s education and development (Pomerantz et al, 2007; Fan & Chen, 2001). It is also suggested that parental involvement in inclusive education is a crucial factor to facilitate the success of their disabled children’s educational experience and all-round development (Gargiulo, 2012). Compared wtih teachers and professionals, parents have a greater investment in their child’s education and know more about their child’s personality and characters (Gargiulo, 2012). In terms of parenting in China, Chinese parents could provide the best support for their child and pay much attention to their child’s academic achievement with Chinese culture value (Fan & Chen, 2011). However, there is a lack of research on the Chinese parents’ experience and perspectives of their disabled children’s inclusion in regular schools in China. Therefore, as part of a larger exploration of the perspectives of hearing parents of deaf children in China, this study examined Chinese hearing parents’ experiences of supporting their deaf child’s inclusion in primary schools in Beijing.

Method

Methodology and methods Within the qualitative research methodology, a mixed-methods approach combining constructivist grounded theory and elements of autoethnography was applied to this study. Intensive interviews were conducted with ten Chinese hearing parents, adding my story as a deaf person growing up in a hearing family and attending mainstream schools in Beijing. This study utilised constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006, 2014) and elements of auto-ethnography (Ellis, 2009). The former is that, ‘constructivist grounded theorists aim for abstract understanding of studied life and view their analyses as located in time, place, and the situation of inquiry’ (Charmaz, 2014: 342). The latter is that, autoethnography refers to ‘autobiographies that self-consciously explore the interplay of the introspective, personally engaged self with cultural descriptions mediated through language, history, and ethnographic explanation’ (Ellis & Bochner, 2000: 742).

Expected Outcomes

Results The data from this study has identified a number of key findings, two of which are mainly discussed in this presentation: Chinese hearing parents’ strategies for developing their deaf children’s language skill Many Chinese hearing parents in this study acknowledged the importance of early childhood education and they were aware of key period in language development after their children became deaf. In order to remove the barriers to communication that deaf children faced, all Chinese hearing parents tried their best to exploring how to support their deaf children’s language development in early years, and some of them spent a large number of time in training their child’s language skill. Chinese hearing parents’ strategies of creating a dynamic relationship with teachers In order to remove the barriers to inclusive education, many Chinese hearing parents in this study actively created a dynamic relationship with teachers who worked with their deaf child at mainstream schools. And they worked hard to explore many strategies for facilitating the relationship with teachers and discussed the issues of deaf children’s learning at inclusion with teachers. Conclusion The key findings of this study indicated that many Chinese hearing parents illustrated their experience of creating and maintaining a dynamic partnership with teachers as a way of supporting their deaf children learning at primary schools. And, the key findings also demonstrated that Chinese hearing parents were aware of the importance of early childhood education (e.g. early development in language), but also they tried their best to explore the ‘tried and tested’ strategies for supporting their deaf children’s language development. Therefore, these key findings in this study could contribute to the field of home-school partnership by providing a new understanding of parents’ supporting their deaf children in inclusive education.

References

CDPF, China Disabled Persons’ Federation (2007) Main Data from the Second National Sample Survey on Disability in 2006. [online] Available at: http://www.cdpf.org.cn/ztzl/special/CDRS/yjzc/200711/t20071121_267788.html (Accessed: 30/09/2015) Charmaz, K. (2006) Constructing Grounded Theory: a Practical Guide through Qualitative Analysis. London: Sage Publications Ltd. Charmaz, K. (2014) Constructing Grounded Theory. 2nd edn. London: Sage Publications Ltd. Deng, M. & Manset, G. (2000) ‘Analysis of the “Learning in Regular Classrooms” movement in China’, Mental Retardation, 38(2), pp. 124-130 Ellis, C. (2009) Revision: Autoethnogrpahic Reflections on Life and Work. Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press. Ellis, C. & Bochner, A.P. (2000) Autoethnography, personal narrative, and personal reflexivity. In: Denzin, N. & Lincolin, Y. (Eds), Handbook of Qualitative Research. 2nd edn. London: Sage. pp. 645-672 Fan, X. & Chen, M. (2011) ‘Parental involvement and students’ academic achievement: a meta-analysis’, Educational Psychology Review, 13(1), pp1-22 Gargiulo, R.M. (2012) Special Education in Contemporary Society: an Introduction to Exceptionality. 4th media edn. Los Angeles: The Sage Publications. Ministry of Education of the P.R.China & Chinese National Commission for UNESCO (2008) National Education Development Report to the 48th Session of the International Conference on Education – Inclusive Education in China. UNESCO. [online] Available at: http://www.ibe.unesco.org/National_Reports/ICE_2008/china_NR08.pdf (Accessed: 15/04/2013) Pomerantz, E.M., Moorman, E.A. & Litwack, S.D. (2007) ‘The how, whom, and why of parents’ involvement in children’s academic lives: more is not always better’, Review of Educational Research, 77(3), pp. 373-410

Author Information

Xirong He (presenting / submitting)

Northumbria University at Newcastle

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE

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