This study explores gender differences in the ways teachers interact with high school students from disrupted families. Four language arts teachers and five mathematics teachers from an urban high school in Montreal, Quebec were interviewed and observed in their classroom interactions with students. The findings revealed that gender differences were related to the teachers' perceptions of professional roles, and were reinforced by the segmentation of teaching and guidance responsibilities in urban schools. Female teachers were inclined to consider teaching as related to the upbringing of youths, and perceived themselves as responsible for the academic and social-emotional development of their students. Male teachers, in contrast, viewed their role as subject-specialists to disseminate knowledge. These role perceptions strongly influenced teachers' classroom interactions with students from disrupted families.

3 pp. / To understand children, their development, needs and uniqueness is vital for parents. This publication uses tables to outline the mental, social and physical development for each group of children from 4 to 8 year old.

This study aims to establish the knowledge and learning needs of parents with toddlers in order to formulate guidelines for a pro-active parental support programme. The topic represents a response to the need for information and skills expressed by numerous parents in the researcher's private practice. Contemporary parents continue to be confronted by the significance of the responsibility of parenthood. They also continue to experience learning deficiencies regarding their role as parents in spite of living in an age of information and technology. Intervention research was undertaken. The principal findings of this investigation were the following: parents participating in this investigation expressed the need for guidance that take into account two specific factors, namely that the program should be based on a Christian perspective and that the guidance should take the specific developmental phase of the child into consideration - the toddler phase in this case. Themes were also identified that these parents would like to see included in such a programme. These were: discipline, developmental phase, moral values and character development, emotional needs of toddlers, parental involvement in children's play, the uniqueness of every child, conflict management and communication, parental style, children and marriage, and aspects in the adult's world with a negative impact upon parental status. These themes were used as guidelines to compile a prototype parental support programme. This program was subjected to a pilot study involving three separate groups of parents. Guidelines were continuously evaluated and adapted where necessary. A final global evaluation confirmed the suitability of the program for further development and testing. / Thesis (M.A. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

This thesis is primarily an analysis of two unstructured questions from a mail questionnaire sent, in 1956, to adopters in Quebec, Ontario, New York, Ohio and California. The method we have used is that of content analysis which is described in another section of this introduction. [...]

Lesbian families with children are greater in number and more visible today than ever before. In fact, social scientists have suggested that we may be in the midst of a lesbian "baby boom". Canada's Census figures support this assertion. Between 2001 and 2006 there was a forty-seven per cent increase in households made up of two lesbian mothers and their children. This dissertation addresses the legal issues raised by lesbian motherhood, focusing primarily on legal parentage. It considers the terms upon which parental recognition has been achieved thus far, and evaluates the efficacy of a reform agenda focused exclusively on gaining access to the existing legal framework. To explore the legal and social dynamics of planned lesbian families, interviews were conducted with forty-nine lesbian mothers living in British Columbia and Alberta who conceived using assisted reproduction. Mothers were asked about the structure of their families, how they defined terms such as "parent" and "family", the extent to which they had engaged with law, and their recommendations for law reform. The interviews revealed that lesbian mothers define family and parenthood broadly, emphasizing intention and caregiving over a purely biological model of kinship. All of the mothers defined a "parent" as someone who intends to parent and, once a child is born, performs that intention through caregiving. Parental status was thus not limited to those who shared a biological relationship with a child, or even to two individuals. The research suggests that lesbian mothers have little interest in being subsumed into the existing legal framework which tends to prioritize dyadic and biological parenting. In fact, only a tiny portion of the mothers felt that identical treatment would adequately respond to their needs. The vast majority supported law reform that would extend to them the benefits of the current system, while simultaneously expanding the existing framework to include a wider variety of parental and family configurations within it. The reform model chosen to achieve this aim combined parental presumptions in favour of the lesbian couple or a single lesbian mother, with opt-in mechanisms that allowed the family to extend beyond the two parent unit.

Teaching children with autism to interact with their typically developing peers can be a challenge. Previous research has documented that there are many effective ways to teach social interaction; however, these interventions were implemented almost exclusively by trained professionals. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of parent-implemented contextually supported play dates. Specifically, two parents were taught to use mutual reinforcement and to design cooperative arrangements to help their child with autism to interact with a typical peer in their homes. Two independent reversal designs were used to demonstrate a functional relationship between parent-supported contextually supported play dates and an increase in synchronous reciprocal interactions for both participants. Social validity was also high for both parents; however, there was no consistent impact on participant, confederate, or parent affect. The results are discussed with reference to previous research, future directions, and implications for practice.

This study set out to examine the relative influence of personal and school-based characteristics and parental involvement on mothers’ and fathers’ perceptions of public school performance. A national and representative sample of parents of school-aged children (N= 2008) were asked to award a grade (A, B, C, D or F) to their community school. There is a significant lack of empirical study of the factors influencing parents’ perceptions of school performance. The present study controlled for the socioeconomic status of parents and the community school being graded. Parental involvement in schools and assisting with homework are elements of parents’ relations with schools and were controlled for in the multivariate analysis. It was found that mothers and fathers are differentially influenced by personal and school-based characteristics; and, of import, there is a negative and significant association between participation in school-based activities and a father’s perception of school performance. The opposite association with participation in school-based activities was observed for mothers. Further, perceptions of “Failing” schools are influenced to a greater extent by the socioeconomic status of the parent and of the school. The results are interpreted by gendering the relations between parents and schools, and drawing from feminist standpoint theory. Particular focus is brought to the discordant association of parental involvement and the grades awarded to schools by mothers and fathers.

“Specifics of the educational consulting of parents” by J. Aleknavičiūtė. Master work. Managed by doc. dr. A. Grabauskienė. Vilnius Pedagogical University, Department of Educology. – Vilnius, 2005. The problem of the cooperation between the ofice and family is being raised up in educational literature and practice. For improving and managing the cooperation between school and family, different forms of work are investigated. In the review of educational and pedagogical literature the analysis of lithuanian and foreign publishings on educational institution and family cooperation is made, with the intention of finding the right place for pedagogical consulting. After acquiring the today’s situation, the fact of missing analysis of the consulting of parents is stated, and there are not so much information published on the subject. Institutions, intended to consult, themselves face the same problem. It was noticed, that parents are leaking the educational culture, with knowledge as one of it’s components, and parents could acquire that from consultants. So the analysis was made on the evaluation and knowledge about educational consulting from the side of consultants. Also veryu important, that the consultants should have a possibility to evaluate their own expertise and competence, ability of consulting parents. Subject of analysis – specifics of consulting the parents. Target of analysis – to find out the value of consulting, the influence of the consultant and his... [to full text]

Support groups are an effective source of support in a number of populations (e.g., Beaudoin & Tao, 2007; Preyde & Ardal, 2003; Singer, et al., 1999). Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a particularly stressed group who can benefit from support (Blacher & McIntyre, 2006). These studies investigated: 1) predictors of participation in support groups for parents of children with ASD and 2) the effects of participation in an online support group for these parents. One hundred seventy-eight parents completed a series of online questionnaires measuring their beliefs about support groups and ASD, coping style, social support, mood, parenting stress, and their child’s autistic symptoms and daily functioning. Parents who were currently using parent support groups (PSGs) reported using more adaptive coping strategies than both parents who had never used PSGs and parents who had used PSGs in the past. Parents who had used PSGs in the past reported that they did not find the groups as beneficial as parents who were currently using them, and parents who had never participated in PSGs reported several issues with accessibility that made it difficult to participate in PSGs. A smaller group of parents (n = 36), who had participated in the first study, participated in an online support group designed for this study. An additional group of parents (n = 25), who had also completed the first study, served as a no-treatment control group. The parents in these two groups completed a subset of the questionnaires used in the first study following the 4-month support group, so that changes in mood, anxiety, parenting stress, and positive perceptions could be documented over time. No significant differences between the groups and across time were found. However, parents who participated in the group reported being satisfied with the support they received and finding the group helpful. Overall, the results of these studies suggest that interventions for parents of children with ASD need to be individualized and focused on the needs of the parents. Further research is required to investigate the efficacy of online support groups for parents of children with ASD. / Thesis (Ph.D, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2011-06-20 10:55:21.845

As Ontario is home to more than half of Canada’s immigrants (Statistics Canada, 2006), Ontario’s school enrolment is very diverse. Levin (2008) provided some statistics: 27 percent of the population of Ontario was born outside of Canada; 20 percent are visible minorities. Toronto, with approximately 40 percent of the province’s population, is one the most diverse urban areas in the world, and receives approximately 125,000 new immigrants each year from dozens of different countries. Accordingly, as the number of immigrant families in Toronto increases, it is increasingly important that teachers and administrators understand how immigrant parents want to be involved in their children’s education, and how to best support these parents’ needs and the needs of their children. The purpose of this case study was to examine the involvement of immigrant parents in one classroom. Specifically I examine: (a) how one school involved immigrant parents in their children’s education; (b) how immigrant parents perceive they have been involved; and (c) how immigrant parents want to be involved in their children’s education. This constructivist case study examined immigrant parent involvement from the perceptions of different stakeholders--the vice-principal, teacher and immigrant parents from the one teacher’s class. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the vice-principal and one teacher of one model middle school in the Toronto District School Board to elicit information about their school and their experiences related to immigrant parent involvement. In addition, a parent questionnaire was used to explore parents’ perceptions. The parent questionnaire was distributed to the one teacher’s class of parents (all but one who were immigrants). The data analysis revealed five core themes related to immigrant parent involvement. The educators suggested that parents lack the knowledge of how the Ontario education system functions, while the immigrant parents said that they were unaware of what is being asked of them or offered to them. No communications sent home to the parents were translated. Suggestions for future research and recommendations are offered to the school and school board in order to provide additional support to immigrant parents. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2012-05-08 21:52:46.287