ED-E591
Educational attitudes and motivation of immigrant families and their
children and the influence on academic achievement
Jay Smyth
Abstract
In my teaching career, I have noticed that children of immigrant
families tend to do well in our school system. They frequently have a very
responsible and positive attitude towards their education and often achieve
superior grades As education is extremely important for the individual
and for our society, in addition to being very costly, it is significant
to discerne why children of immigrant families achieve higher grades than
children of established Canadian families, Perhaps there are methods or
techniques that established Canadian families can learn to use to stimulate
high academic achievement in their children.
6 Indo-Canadian, 3 Chinese-Canadian, 2 Vietnamese-Canadian and 15 established
Canadian families were interviewed using questionaires and oral interviews
Some video taping and observation was included. Parents and students were
primary subjects. Questions focused on educational expectations, attitudes,
and parent involvement in their child's education.
Initial results and analysis indicated that Asian-Canadian families
had higher educational goals for their children than established Canadian
families. The data also indicated that Asian-Canadian families placed a
greater emphasis on respect for authority, laws and rules than did established
Candian families. In addition, Asian-Canadian families tended to monitor
their children after school time and homework more than Canadian families
Established Canadian families were more involved in their children's school
activities. More analysis of the data needs to be done to identify significant
factors in the study