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Stigmatization is a culturally widespread social justice challenge. Collaborative parent-educator relationships are critical to minimizing the impact of stigmatization on children with disabilities (Authors, 2014) and ensuring children’s access to necessary services (Turnbull & Turnbull, 2015). Yet educators from around the world describe frequent challenges in working collaboratively with parents. Further, how disability and stigmatization affect parent-educator relationships varies across cultures, reflecting particular sociocultural contexts. In many East Asia countries, for instance, educational policies/practices are quite sensitive to stigmatization, and parents may decline services for children with disabilities. In the U.S., the individual rights of each child to an appropriate education is prioritized, but stigmatization associated with special education remains a concern of many parents (see Authors, 2016). We examine the perspectives of U.S. and East Asian educators regarding any role of stigmatization on parent-educator relationships. Our aim is to stimulate innovative ideas for stigma-sensitive strategies that strengthen parent-teacher relationships. Research questions are: To what extent do educators view stigmatization as a challenge to developing parent-educator relationships? What do they view as effective strategies for building relationships with parents?
Methods
We conducted semi-structured, audio-recorded individual interviews with 18 U.S., 26 Japanese, 43 Korean and 16 Taiwanese educators including school social workers in their native languages. Participants were selected purposely, based on our professional network, to yield data on a range of expert understandings, not to be representative of their respective countries. Participants discussed their perceptions of stigmatization and its impact on their relationships with parents whose children have disabilities, and strategies to strengthen parent-teacher relationships. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and inductively coded (Schwandt, 2007) in the original languages. Then we conducted cross-cultural analysis, guided by the concept of “universalism without uniformity” (Shweder & Sullivan, 1993), i.e., after we identified themes commonly addressed by participants from four cultures, we described variations in these common issues across cultures. Peer debriefing and member checks were used to enhance the credibility of our analyses. In addition, analyses were strengthened by our cultural insider knowledge/perspectives.
Results
Educators from all four cultures described challenges posed by stigmatization to parent-educator relationships. They described parents’ reluctance to communicate with them or to accept special education for their children due to risks of stigmatization. Educators described various strategies to strengthen parent-educator relationships. Japanese educators watched over, carefully guided, and expressed empathy to parents responding to stigmatization. Korean educators avoided openly indicating children’s struggles to parents, but provided them with education about disabilities to counter misperceptions. Taiwanese educators exercised patience with parents who expressed distress due to stigmatization. U.S. educators engaged parents through fact-oriented, solution-focused responses to children’s struggles.
Conclusions/Implications
These cultural cases sensitize us to the impact of stigmatization on parents, and provide us with valuable perspectives for developing effective culture- and stigma-sensitive strategies to strengthen parent-educator relationships, and better support children with disabilities, including in the U.S. Empathetic responses to parents, for instance, allow the development of strong, trusting partnerships. Our findings also can sensitize U.S. social workers to challenges faced by parents from East Asian communities.