Chinese migrant parents' educational involvement: Shadow education for left-behind children

Abstract

As rural people keep migrating to cities in China over the past few decades, tens of millions of children have been left behind by their parents. In this study, I investigated how Chinese migrant parents involve in their left-behind children's education through the theoretical lens of concerted cultivation and the accomplishment of natural growth. I drew on qualitative data from left-behind children, migrant parents and teachers collected at a rural primary school in Sichuan Province. Most migrant parents involved in this study migrated to a less developed area in Tibet. Their voices are a valuable addition to the literature that has so far focused on those going to developed cities. It was found that shadow education is a major channel through which the parents involved in their left-behind children's education. The parents could 1) exercise concerted cultivation and variously use shadow education, 2) hope to meaningfully involve but were constrained by multiple barriers, or 3) exercise natural growth and leave their children to themselves. I interpreted these patterns with a view to China's evolving culture, ideology and social structures. I conclude by discussing sociological implications of these patterns, and theoretical contribution to the literature.

Overcoming interruptions in educational trajectories: Youth in Ghana with international migrant parents

“…While most studies focus on how remittances affect stayer youth's schooling, only recently are studies showing what happens when migrant parents are less involved in stayer youth's education (Peng, 2021). We followed how stayer youth with interrupted educational trajectories deal with the hurdles they encounter and found that they actively mobilize local networks of support to add to or compensate for lack of support from migrant parents for their education.…”

“…A lot depends on the transnational family form: who cares for the child and how often the child changes caregivers (Mazzucato & Cebotari, 2016). No or limited transnational parenting and inadequate local caregiving negatively affect stayer youth's education (Peng, 2021). This research demonstrates how stayer youth receiving insufficient care from migrant parents or caregivers remain in school until they graduate high school.…”

“…Not always can stayer youth rely on caregivers. Stayer youth can suffer from a lack of care or poor care from migrant parents and caregivers for their education (Peng, 2021). We find that stayer youth in such situations agentically seek support from extended family members.…”

Semiprivate space and access to online education during COVID-19: empirical tests from China

“…Due to economic income, policy restrictions and other reasons, the underage children of these migrant workers often find it difficult to move with their parents and are helplessly handed over to their grandparents, thus forming a large population of "left-behind children" (Zhou et al, 2014;Lu et al, 2015). Therefore, the problem of intergenerational guardianship arises (Zhou et al, 2014;Peng, 2021). Intergenerational guardianship, that is, the method of guardianship in which children are raised by their paternal or maternal grandparents, often leads guardians to be more lenient when discipling and teaching, which generally creates a negative effect on children's learning (Lee and Liu, 2001).…”

How does cultural capital influence the school choice of rural and urban migrant families in Nanjing, China? Evidence from a survey study

“…This encourages individuals from rural regions to relocate to cities in search of better paying job opportunities (Wu et al, 2010(Wu et al, , 2014. Internal migration is driven not just by a desire for better job possibilities, but also by a disparity in education between rural and urban areas (Liu, 2015;Peng, 2021;Wang, 2009). It has also been confirmed that educational disparities exist in school infrastructure construction, teacher training and distribution, and funding investment (Luo & Zhang, 2017), and these disparities were reflected in the PISA result in 2018, which revealed a 42% education disparity rate between rural and urban China.…”