Browsing by Author "Peters, Lamees"

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    Somali parents’ educational support of their primary school children
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014-04) Peters, Lamees; Daniels, Doria; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Educational Psychology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Parental involvement is a term that is associated with parental participation in schools and parents’ support of their children’s education. It is subjective in nature and often difficult to evaluate. In the late 1990s, many Somali families immigrated to South Africa due to the on-going factional wars in their country to take up employment opportunities and start a new life as immigrants. Limited knowledge exists about such parents’ understandings of education and their role in the educational development of their children. In this study, the researcher explored the various forms of support that Somali immigrant parents provide to their school-going children. This basic qualitative research study is situated in an interpretive paradigm. Through snowball sampling, five parents from a Somali community in the Helderberg area of the Western Cape were selected for the study. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews, a focus group interview and observations and was subjected to content analysis. The study found that there are various forms of support that Somali parents offer their primary school children. The support that these parents offer is mostly of physiological nature, such as to feed and to clothe them. The challenges that these Somali participants face are educational, cultural and linguistic. The study found that because the majority of the participants are uneducated, they face limitations in how they can support their children academically. Due to their lack of schooling experience together with their linguistic constraints, the parents’ participation tend to be limited to attending meetings and participating in social events.