Family engagement in the home-based learning mode: an enlarging divide in education

Purpose This paper aims to provide an overview of the development periods of home-based learning in Hong Kong during the COVID-19 pandemic, then discusses the differences in how the more affluent and well-educated middle-class parents and the economically and culturally disadvantaged working-class parents have dealt with the challenges of this new learning mode in their children’s education. Design/methodology/approach This research mainly adopted the qualitative research method, and used data from multiple sources, including online and offline participant observations, informal interviews and second-hand official reports. Findings The preliminary findings suggest that due to the closure of the formal schooling system, the impact of unequal family resources – such as tangible economic investment and intangible cultural and social support – on students’ academic performance has been exposed, thus reinforcing the pre-existing inequality between different social classes. Research limitations/implications The findings of this paper are primarily based on preliminary observations and informal interviews, and it needs more systematic studies, both qualitative and quantitative, are needed to provide further empirical evidence to demonstrate the impacts of digital, housing and knowledge divide between the middle- and working-class families on students’ academic performance. Originality/value The paper presents new empirical data concerning the class mechanisms underlying home-based learning during the class suspension in Hong Kong. It shows that home-based learning in this challenging time has exposed the existing inequality in education.

Replacing Work with Study: A Sustainable Development Strategy for Economically or Culturally Disadvantaged Students

Education is one of the most effective ways to eradicate and reduce poverty, helping to eliminate it as well as to promote social mobility. Although universities have been extensively established in Taiwan, the country still faces the problem of a large difference in students’ academic ability and a widening gap in educational resources among families. This study mainly explored whether the strategy of encouraging learning instead of working for disadvantaged students is helpful to their learning effectiveness. The research samples were collected from the data of college students who participated in the higher education SPROUT project of Taiwan’s Ministry of Education. This study enrolled a total of 752 students categorized as disadvantaged. The results found that those students who participated in the project usually devoted more time to study and schoolwork, and so they passed more subjects in the schoolwork with better overall performance in learning. They also obtained the required licenses for employment and more student subsidies to improve their lives. Therefore, the conclusion of this study is that by participating in multiple counseling mechanisms such as schoolwork counseling, license counseling, or career counseling arranged by universities, disadvantaged students can increase their study time, which not only improves their schoolwork learning effects but also enhances their employability.

Will Kymlicka’s Idea of Multicultural Citizenship Rights and the Nigeria Federation

Will Kymlicka is a Canadian political philosopher using his Federal Canadian society as a basis argued for the recognition of minority rights, in what he calls multicultural citizenship. His idea is that the claims to self-determination or autonomy, protection of a distinct cultural language and special representation need to be accommodated. National minorities should not be forced to integrate as this can lead to violence. Without recognizing the group rights of ethnicities, they will be culturally disadvantaged. Using Kymlicka’s idea in an analytical manner, this paper applies his theory to the Nigerian federation. Despite many years of operating so-called federalism, the system is be-devilled by ethnic agitations, violent militancy, youth restiveness, and many other social ills. The paper theorizes that failure to operate a true federal structure that recognizes and fully accommodates minority rights is a key problem responsible for these social ills. Nigeria is a weak and troubled federation where the rights of national minorities are often neglected, suppressed and denied. When it comes to language, the languages of the three dominant groups in terms of population are privileged over others. Representations in both state and federal establishments are often in favour of dominant ethnic groups. The cries for autonomy and restructuring of the federation are often not heeded. The paper argues that accommodating the rights of minorities can help them integrate and foster a sense of equality in a true federation. It also argues that beyond restructuring, ethical leadership is needed to move the federation forward. The paper finds and concludes that some ideas of Kymlicka can help in creating a peaceful and unified federal Nigeria

Growing up Poor: Early Family Life and Education

Children’s experiences in families, schools and neighbourhoods influence their childhoods as individuals learn to act in meaningful ways within social institutions. Many recent research works document challenges that economic and culturally disadvantaged students experience at colleges due to incongruence between their backgrounds and the culture at higher educational institutions. Rarely has early life experiences at one’s home and family been the focal point of inquiry. The present article explores the accounts of early family life provided by students first in their families to pursue higher education. It discusses the ways in which socialisation impacts one’s life trajectories related to education. Through emphasising on the process, the article focuses on the lived experiences of students marked by constraints due to poverty at home and its relation to the shaping of their academic decisions. In depth interviews with nine participants from Delhi studying in reputed colleges affiliated to a university at Delhi shows how one’s economic and cultural position affect one’s sense of belonging at home and educational spaces wherein students negotiate relationships and identity that are restructured and transformed while they navigate through them. Attempting to study student’s self-constructions, the article shows how formal education continues to function as a project of western modernity creating fragmented bourgeoisie subjects out of poor children.

The Situation and Chances of Roma students in Secondary and Tertiary Education in Hungary

Addressing student drop-out or early school leaving has long been a major challenge for education policy makers at both national and international levels. This phenomenon affects all levels of education and has a profound impact on those classes of society that are economically and socio-culturally disadvantaged. This is particularly the case of the largest minority group in Hungary, the Roma, and its roots go back to primary education. Since the 1990s, so from the change of the regime, a positive tendency could have been observed in the completion of primary education, but in secondary school graduation and in obtaining a higher education degree they are still far behind the non-Roma population. In the current study, we identify causes of their learning failures, and we also present a selection of study grants that are available to young Roma students and support them to achieve higher levels of education. We also highlight the difficulties faced by those Roma youth, who have origins in traditional communities but obtain higher educational degrees.

Adaptation of Cognitive Abilities Scale Into Turkish

This study aimed to adapt Cognitive Abilities Scale-2 (CAS-2) Preschool (24-47 months) Form into Turkish by focusing on 24-36-month children and conduct validity and reliability studies. The study utilized the survey model and a study group which consisted of 60 socio-culturally disadvantaged 24-36-month children in Bolu province. CAS-2 Preschool Form includes five subscales: oral language, reading, mathematics, handwriting, and enabling behaviors. Translation and reverse translation procedures were used to adapt the scale developed in English into Turkish. Expert opinion was sought for content validity. Test-retest correlation and item-total score correlation consistency measures were used to examine the psychometric properties of the Turkish form. Results demonstrated that the scale is a valid and reliable instrument to determine cognitive abilities in 24-36-month Turkish children. Infant and pre-school forms are recommended to be used for 3-47-months at every socio-cultural level.