Strangers in the School: Facilitators and Barriers Regarding Refugee Parental Involvement

Background and Purpose: Parental involvement has been deemed one of today’s most important topics in educational spheres. Despite the importance of school as a supportive social context for newcomers, schools can be challenging places for refugee youth and their families to navigate, especially for those who have experienced migration-related trauma and who have had limited experience with formal schooling prior to migration. This study explores Middle Eastern refugee parents’ experiences with schools and the facilitators and barriers for their engagement. While Iraqi and Syrian refugees are currently two of the largest groups of resettled refugees in the United States, minimal research exists on their experiences navigating their children’s schools.

Methods: Nineteen in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with Middle Eastern refugee parents (18 mothers and 1 father) from Syria (11) and Iraq (8) who resettled to Chicago in the last several years. Interviews were conducted at local schools, lasted between 45 and 60 minutes, and a translator was available to facilitate the interview process. Verbatim transcripts of all interviews were generated, transcribed and later coded using MAXQDA, a software program designed to support computer-assisted qualitative methods. In this study, inductive data analysis included descriptive and pattern coding to shed light on parents’ general attitudes, interests, and values with regard to learning and connecting with staff and other parents, focusing on their general participation in learning activities and school-based programs.

Findings: Refugee parents shared how they encourage their children to seek out academic support from older siblings, teachers, mentors, or tutors at local community organizations and a general belief that education is critical to their integration into US schools. Data suggests that refugee parents did not connect with many other parents at their children’s school and were not actively involved in parent-sponsored groups at the school level. Facilitators of parental involvement included a welcoming and inclusive environment cultivated by educators who shared racial, ethnic, and language similarities to refugee families. Barriers to their involvement included a lack of English language proficiency and a perception that their children were performing well academically and behaviorally. To many parents, involvement with the school was only necessary if their children performed poorly or teachers contacted them with direct requests to come to the school. Finally, parents were less engaged due to discrimination and xenophobia instigated against their children, causing them to develop a level of distrust for the school community.

Conclusion and Implications: A major resource for educators and school social workers, this research augments understanding of the experiences of Middle Eastern refugee parents and sheds light on the challenges, needs, and vulnerabilities of this understudied population. Recommendations for school administrators and staff includes creating a welcoming environment to promote diversity and inclusivity, developing liaisons or mediators at the schools to work closely with refugee families, creating anti-bullying initiatives to eliminate discriminatory practices against refugee youth, and facilitating comprehensive family orientations and periodic check-ins with families to ensure their students’ academic success and well-being.