
ERIC Number: ED400056
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1996-May
Pages: 46
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
An Inquiry into the Contributions of the School and of the Family to Children's Successes in French Minority Schools: A Case Study of Exogamous Families at Ecole Emilie-Tremblay.
Beauchamp, Denise
Based on the author's experience working with the French minority in the Yukon, this study investigated the contributions of the school and of the family to the success at Ecole Emilie-Tremblay, a school of children from exogamous families (those with parents from different language groups). Three areas of parental involvement were defined--academic, sociocultural, and political--and interviews with parents and questionnaires for students were designed to explore the parents' influence within each of these areas. The contributions of the school were investigated in terms of adaptation to its clientele, through interviews with the principal, teachers, and trustees of the school board. Findings revealed four main issues that determine the level and influence of exogamous parents' involvement in their children's schooling: (1) parents' recognition that they are the primary and most important educators; (2) parents' understanding of the school's mission; (3) school adaptation to its unique exogamous clientele; and (4) the willingness of Anglophone parents to embrace the French language and culture. Exogamous parents appear to contribute to their child's education in light of their own first language, and lack of parental support raises the danger of children becoming semi-lingual adults, strong in neither French nor English. (Contains 13 references.) (MOK)
Descriptors: Family Environment, Foreign Countries, Intermarriage, Language Acquisition, Language Enrollment, Language Minorities, Language of Instruction, Minority Groups, Parent Child Relationship, Parent Participation, Parent School Relationship, Qualitative Research, School Effectiveness, School Role, Socioeconomic Influences
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Dissertations/Theses
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Canada
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A