Family Involvement in Schools to Improve Learning and Inclusion for the Most Disadvantaged Children and Youth
Abstract
This special call aims to provide a forum for developing and exchanging knowledge in educational research focused on reducing educational and social exclusion in schools and communities through family involvement. We are looking for contributions focused on the study of theories, policies and practices that foster educational opportunity for the most disadvantaged children and youth. Contributions could be centered on two foci: a) research-based knowledge to reduce the socio-educative exclusion affecting the most disadvantaged children and youth; b) studies that show a positive impact of family involvement on academic, social and emotional development of the most disadvantaged students.
Description
The international scientific community has already advanced the knowledge about how to improve students’ academic results at primary schools incorporating the family into the learning process. However, it is still to be learnt about how to break the cycle of educational inequalities among traditionally excluded students (Gadsden, Davis & Artiles, 2009). Some of the causes, manifestations and consequences of such inequality on excluded populations’ daily lives have been pointed out (Sen, 2000; Flecha & Soler, 2013).
Darling-Hammond (1996) discussed access to quality education as being at the heart of inequality, while others report on the reality of life disparities around many other issues in social contexts (FIFCFS, 1999). The development of capacities that guarantee educational excellence for all children is capital too to reduce social inequalities and strengthen social cohesion. Despite the effort of many critical educators to transform difficulties into possibilities (Freire, 1997), immigrant children, ethnic minorities and those living in poverty are beaten by segregation, taught with low expectations placed on them, and experience disengagement and school failure (Delpit, 1995; Oakes, 1985).
Those inequalities find their expression in schools in Europe and worldwide, but it is time to move beyond causes and shed light upon effective solutions. It is therefore necessary to shed light upon those actions implemented already in schools worldwide that have provided evidence to support equity, overcoming social problems and obtaining the best educational results for all (Zimmer, 2003; Brunello & Checchi, 2007, Ladson Billings, 1994; Orfield, 2001).
Contact person(s):
Aitor Gómez González, Co-convenor NW14 (<link window for sending>aitor.gomez@urv.cat)
Rocío García Carrión, Link-convenor NW14 (<link window for sending>rocio.garcia@deusto.es )
References
Brunello, G. & Checchi, D. (2007). Does school tracking affect equality of opportunity? New international evidence, Economic Policy, 22(52), 781–861. Darling-Hammond, L. (1996). What matters most: Teaching for America's future. New York, NY: National Commission on Teaching and America's Future. Delpit, L. (1995). Other People’s Children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York, NY: The New Press. Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics.(1999). America’s children: Key national indicators of well-being. Washington, DC: Author. Ladson-Billings, G. (1994). The Dream keepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Flecha, R., & Soler, M. (2013). Turning difficulties into possibilities: Engaging 10 Roma families and students in school through dialogic learning. Cambridge Journal of Education, 43(4), 451-465. Freire, P. (1997). Pedagogy of the heart. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc. Gadsden, V. L., Davis, J. E., & Artiles, A. J. (2009). Introduction: Risk, equity, and schooling: Transforming the discourse. Review of Research in Education, 33(1). Oakes, J. (1985). Keeping track: How schools structure inequality. Yale University Press. Orfield, G. (2001). Schools More Separate: Consequences of a Decade of Resegregation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Civil Rights Project. Sen, A. (2000). Development as freedom. New York: Anchor Books. Zimmer, R. (2003). A New Twist in the Educational Tracking Debate. Economics of Education Review, 22(3), 307.