Reconceptualizing Indigenous Parent Involvement in Early Educational Settings: Lessons from Native Hawaiian Preschool Families

Abstract

Indigenous families are often perceived by teachers and school administrators as disinterested and uninvolved in their children's education. This article aims to complicate that longstanding stereotype. A detailed, qualitative case study of two Native Hawaiian preschool families reveals compelling counterstories of Indigenous parents who are deeply concerned about their children's education, but are limited in their familyschool involvement by a range of (post)colonial, social, psychological, and economic challenges that make it difficult for them to engage with schools in conventional ways. The study raises awareness of the skillful resolve with which Indigenous families employ their limited resources to support their children's education. It challenges educators and policy makers to imagine creative possibilities for drawing Indigenous families into collaborative activity with contemporary schools.

Engaging Indigenous families in a community-based Indigenous early childhood programme in British Columbia, Canada: A cultural safety perspective

“…Consistent with this perspective, the findings described in this article illustrate how AIDP workers took into account how caregivers' reluctance and suspicions were shaped by mistrust with systems and authority figures. In particular, and consistent with international literature (Grace & Trudgett, ; Hare & Anderson, ; Kaomea, ), workers understood how programme engagement was shaped by long‐standing and ongoing state intervention in families' lives. Moreover, in placing ‘the onus on us’ to rebuild trust and ‘being willing to move a step forward’—workers explicitly located the responsibility for programme engagement and adaptation at a programme and organisational level rather than with caregivers.…”

“…Internationally, quality Indigenous early childhood programmes are increasingly viewed as critical sites for individual and collective healing, cultural and language revitalisation, and community rebuilding (Greenwood & Jones, ; Guilfoyle et al., ). However, in many settler‐colonial societies, there is a context of mistrust that has been shaped by Indigenous families' experiences of government‐sanctioned over‐surveillance and intervention, and Indigenous women's experiences of systemic racism and discrimination, such that many Indigenous caregivers are hesitant about engaging in early childhood programmes (Grace & Trudgett, , Health Council of Canada, ; Kaomea, ).…”

“…Indigenous families' equitable access to early childhood programmes can be complicated and constrained by intersecting personal, social and structural factors. These factors are remarkably similar across international boundaries and include parental experiences of systemic racism; historical and ongoing forms of state surveillance and intervention; a normative (non‐Indigenous) perspective of parenting and child rearing, and the multi‐faceted effects of poverty (Guilfoyle et al., ; Hare & Anderson, ; Jackiewicz, Saggers, & Frances, ; Kaomea, ; Kitson & Bowes, ; Niles, Byers, & Krueger, ).…”

Navigating Structural Violence with Indigenous Families: The Contested Terrain of Early Childhood Intervention and the Child Welfare System in Canada

“…In Canada, as in similar settler colonial societies, early childhood programs that are designed and delivered specifically for Indigenous families and children have become an established feature of the community landscape-primarily in response to Indigenous leaders, communities, and families reasserting their roles and rights with respect to what they want for their children (British Columbia Aboriginal Child Care Society, 2014;Greenwood & Jones, 2015;Guilfoyle, Sims, Saggers, & Hutchins, 2010;Kaomea, 2012;Mitchell, Tangaere, Mara, & Wylie, 2006;Wise, 2013). High quality Indigenous early childhood programs are increasingly viewed internationally as critical sites for pursuing cultural and language revitalization and as pathways to the collective health and well-being of Indigenous families and communities (Grace & Trudgett, 2012;Greenwood & Jones, 2015;Guilfoyle et al, 2010).…”

Four Lheidli T'enneh families' experiences and expectations of public education

“…Luckily, parental/familial engagement with the youth's education did not necessarily need to FOUR LHEILDI T'ENNEH FAMILIES' EXPERIENCES 132 take the form of presence within the school structure. It also took the role of support of their youth at home as well, which is identified within the literature as having significant value and impact on the students' successes with school (DePlanty, et al, 2007;Kaomea, 2012;University of NB, 2005).…”