Parental involvement in early childhood education among Chinese immigrant and English Speaking non-Chinese parents in New Zealand

Abstract

This study compared 120 Chinese immigrant parents and 127 English speaking non-Chinese parents on their parental involvement in early childhood education (ECE), and investigated the role of parenting beliefs, parenting practices, and demographic variables on the level of parental involvement. Parental involvement was measured with the Parental Family Involvement Questionnaire, which was administered to all parents, and interview data collected from 50 parents about reasons for early childhood education involvement. Parenting beliefs and practices were assessed with the Parental Role Construction for Involvement in the Child's Education Scale: Role Activity Beliefs, the Parental Sense of Competence Scale, and the Parenting Styles and Dimension Questionnaire (PSDQ). ECE practices to encourage parental involvement were also examined from interviews conducted with 30 kindergarten head teachers. Results showed that Chinese immigrant parents were less likely than non-Chinese parents to communicate with teachers, volunteer to help at the kindergarten, and participate in kindergarten decision making. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that, for the whole sample, role construction and self-efficacy were important predictors of communicating with teachers, volunteering to help at the kindergarten, and participating in kindergarten decision making. For the Chinese sample only, perceived opportunity for involvement, parent education and English language proficiency predicted communication with teachers, and opportunity for involvement was the only significant predictor of participating in kindergarten decision making. Parent interviews corroborated and supplemented these findings. Teacher interviews highlighted a range of communication strategies, policies and systems used by kindergartens to encourage parental involvement. Based on findings from parents and teachers this thesis makes some tentative recommendations for early childhood services, particularly about ways to increase Chinese immigrant parents' level of ECE involvement, such as helping Chinese immigrant parents to understand the importance of parental involvement, suggestions for enhancing the parenting confidence of Chinese immigrant parents, and their perceptions of opportunity for involvement, employing bilingual staff, and developing relationships with Chinese immigrant parents.