Reframing Parental Involvement as Social Engagement: A Study of Recently Arrived Arabic-Speaking Refugee Parents’Understandings of Involvement in Their Children’s Education

Oct 15, 2026

The involvement of refugee parents in their children’s education is essential for academic success and social integration, yet school personnel often struggle to find effective approaches for recently arrived families. Using qualitative semi-structured interviews, the study explores how Arabic-speaking recently arrived refugee parents perceive their involvement after arriving in Canada. Barriers identified include limited language proficiency, competing basic needs, lack of homework, limited cross-cultural and interreligious teacher understanding, and contested sexual health education spaces. Findings challenge the dominant normative parental involvement model and recommend reframing involvement as social engagement with the school community.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages34

Reading Time1 h 26 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Résumé

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Reframing Parental Involvement as Social Engagement: A Study of Recently Arrived Arabic-Speaking Refugee Parents’Understandings of Involvement in Their Children’s Education Jerome Cranston University of Regina Shauna Labman University of Winnipeg Stephanie Crook University of Manitoba Abstract The involvement of refugee parents in their children’s education is crucial for academic success and social integration. However, school personnel often seem to struggle to find Canadian Journal of Education / Revue canadienne de l’éducation 44:2 (2021)©2021 Canadian Society for the Study of Education/ Société canadienne pour l’étude de l’éducation [www.cje-rce.ca](www.cje-rce.ca) approaches that will increase recently arrived refugee parents’ involvement with the school. While refugee parents are not a homogenous group, many face uniquely similar and intersecting challenges. Using a qualitative research approach, specifically semi-structured interviews, this study examines the perceptions of one group of Arabic-speaking, recently arrived refugee parents’perceptions of being and becoming involved in their children’s education after their arrival in Canada. The findings suggest the following factors act as barriers to their involvement: (1) limited language proficiency,(2) competing basic needs,(3) lack of homework,(4) teachers’ limited cross-cultural and interreligious understanding, and (5) sexual health education being a contested shared space. While the findings illuminate what some recently arrived refugee parents regard as barriers, the discussion challenges educational leaders and policy makers to critically question the dominant, normative model of parental involvement that is employed and recommends they reframe their conceptions of parental involvement as social engagement with a school community. Such a reframing may better support recently arrived refugee parents’integration into their new home country. Keywords: parental involvement, recently arrived refugees, integration Résumé L’implication des parents réfugiés à l’éducation de leurs enfants est cruciale pour la réussite scolaire et l’intégration sociale. Cependant, le personnel de l’école semble souventavoir du mal à trouver des approches susceptibles d’accroître l’implication scolaire des parents réfugiés récemment arrivés. Bien que les parents réfugiés ne soient pas un groupe homogène, beaucoup sont confrontés à des défis similaires et croisés. En utilisant une approche de recherche qualitative, plus spécifiquement des entretiens semi-structurés, cette étude examine les perceptions d’un groupe de parents arabophones réfugiés récemment arrivés quant à leur implication dans l’éducation de leurs enfants après leur arrivée au Canada. Les résultats indiquent que les éléments suivants constituent des obstacles à leur participation : (1) une maîtrise limitée de la langue ; (2) des besoins fondamentaux concurrents ; (3) le manque de devoirs ; (4) la compréhension interculturelle et interreligieuse limitée des enseignants ; et (5) l’éducation à la santé sexuelle étant un espace partagé contesté . Si les conclusions mettent en lumière ce que certains parents réfugiés récemment Canadian Journal of Education / Revue canadienne de l’éducation 44:2 (2021) [www.cje-rce.ca](www.cje-rce.ca) arrivés considèrent comme des obstacles, la discussion met les responsables de l’éducation et les décideurs politiques au défi de remettre en question, de manière critique, le modèle normatif dominant d’implication parentale qui est utilisé et leur recommande de recadrerleurs conceptions de la participation parentale comme un engagement social avec une communauté scolaire. Un tel recadrage pourrait mieux soutenir l’intégration des parents réfugiés récemment arrivés dans leur nouveau pays d’accueil. Mots-clés : participation des parents, réfugiés récemment arrivés, intégration Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their time and

FAQs

What does the study investigate about recently arrived refugee parents’ role in education?

It examines how Arabic-speaking recently arrived refugee parents understand and experience involvement in their children’s education after arriving in Canada.

Which factors are identified as barriers to parental involvement?

The study reports barriers including limited language proficiency, competing basic needs, lack of homework, teachers’ limited cross-cultural and interreligious understanding, and contested spaces around sexual health education.

How does the discussion propose reframing parental involvement?

It challenges the dominant normative parental involvement model and recommends reframing involvement as social engagement with a school community to better support integration.

Oct 15, 2026

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