Listening to the voices of African parents on their experiences in the UK education system

Description

. In the UK education system, although students from the African backgrounds achieve above-average in their GCSEs’(Demie 2013; Gov.UK 2022), some students still struggle to integrate into the school system. For example, around 4.13% of students from African heritage were excluded from school between 2018-2019 (Gov.UK, 2021). Hence, there is a need to address some of the issues these students and their families face, first by involving their parents positively. Parental involvement has been reported to have a significant effect on students’ achievement throughout the years of schooling (DfE, 2011). Still, cultural differences and society issues might prevent parental involvement, which this study aims to explore. Critiques of parental involvement practices have focused on immigrants and Minorities culturally specific nature which hinders participation (Leithwood et.al, 2003; Arday, 2017), but did not specifically focus on the perception of African parents. This study listened to the voices of African parents with an aim to identify ways to promote inclusion.

Estimated audience numbers (if applicable)

British Education Research Association 2023 Conference (BERA)

Period	12 Sept 2023 → 13 Sept 2023
Held at	Aston University, United Kingdom
Degree of Recognition	National