New insights into family learning for refugees: bonding, bridging and building transcultural capital

Abstract

For over 20 years, researchers and evaluators worldwide have criticised the traditional formula of family learning courses for their narrow vision, and have emphasised their potential to provide a bridge between home and school experiences, building on resources that parents already have, but which are unknown or unacknowledged. This article argues that research into family learning can usefully be linked to Bourdieu's theory of ‘symbolic capitals’ to acknowledge the stores of wealth that refugee families may possess, which can be activated in the new environment to create ‘transcultural capital’– a relatively new concept in the area of migration studies. Putnam's notions of bonding and bridging capital are also helpful in the design of family learning programmes to consider how best to stimulate social cohesion at the present time. An ethnographic study of a family learning course for refugee parents in two South London schools highlights the need for an understanding of the specific strengths and needs of refugee parents. However, this can only be achieved by taking time to find out about their existing networks, the experience that they bring with them, involving them in course design and delivery, and engaging in discussion about their plans for the future.

A human right to literacy education: Implications for serving Syrian refugee children

“…Educators at times devote their efforts to transmitting activities into the home that directly imitate school activities. Without intending to, they may be viewing culturally and linguistically different families through the lens of a ''deficit'' model (Hope, 2011). This perspective attempts to match diverse children to the majority expectations for language and literacy performance.…”

Culturally appropriate pedagogy in a bilingual family literacy programme

“…Through the use of bilingual books (Hirst et al, 2010;Hope, 2011), the provision of instruction in the first language of the participants (Iddings, 2009;Zhang et al, 2010) and the incorporation of cultural practices into the curriculum (Iddings, 2009;Hirst et al, 2010), these programmes have successfully impacted children's language and literacy skills and the parents' ability to support children's literacy development at home.…”

“…Results indicated a significant increase in the children's literacy levels as compared with those of children in a control group. Hope (2011) observed a mixed group of refugee families as they participated in a pilot literacy initiative in an elementary school in south London. English was the language of instruction, and the families received a children's book (English) to take home each week.…”

Building Bonding and Bridging Capital through the ‘China Club’

“…Putnam's work on civic engagement and social interaction in the USA culminated in a model of social capital that has been has been applied to a wide range of social research contexts, including education (e.g. Hope, 2011;Santoro & Wilkinson, 2016). Putnam asserts that social capital is generated by the 'connections among individuals -social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them' (Putnam, 2000, p. 19).…”