Somalia has undergone a prolonged period of civil war, lawlessness and turmoil, which has resulted in many people becoming displaced, and a number of those displaced people have migrated to New Zealand as refugees. This thesis is a study of communication and collaboration between Somali refugee families and their children’s schools in Christchurch, New Zealand in the light of their experiences pre and post-resettlement in New Zealand. This was to take into account recommendations of the UNHCR Handbook for best practice. Informed by interviews with 40 Somali parents, 15 Somali secondary students, two school principals, and 15 teachers, the thesis examines collaboration with schools in the context of the families’ experiences in their home country, the flight process, the refugee camps and the migration and resettlement in New Zealand. Data were gathered using questionnaires, individual interviews, focus groups, observation, and document analysis, and subjected to a qualitative analysis. The study revealed a remarkable degree of heterogeneity among Somali refugee families who have been settling in Christchurch over fourteen years. Many diverse factors were identified such as gender, previous socio-economic status, urban versus rural origins, level of English language, poverty, employable work skills, and refugee experiences such as the level of trauma, all of which have impacted on the capacity of individuals and families to adjust during their resettlement. Many refugees were identified as having undergone major trauma during the civil war and refugee flight process. These experiences have affected the integration of many into their new society, but this study found that those with the greatest apparent level of recognised need and vulnerability were those with the poorest communication skill. This resulted in their having a poor relationship with schools and left them quite alienated. For many such families the only interface with their local school was being summoned to discuss the infractions of their children and any subsequent disciplinary measures. Therefore, one of the greatest needs to improve communication and collaboration was identified as the ability to learn the English language. Other barriers to successful communication and collaboration included issues associated with racism, cultural awareness, teacher workload, lack of acknowledgement of refugees’ special needs in school policies, teachers’ low expectations of refugee parents, intimidating school environments, ambiguous information, the Somali oral culture, parents’ financial hardship, parents’ lack of transport, parents’ workload, inadequate housing and the families’ high mobility. There are currently neither national policies nor adequate resources to facilitate refugees improving their English language skills, nor to support schools in other aspects of their communication and collaboration with refugee families, and this study suggests that the absence of guidelines and resourcing is another key factor behind the poor engagement between the families and schools. Schools and their teachers also need good professional development that takes account of the diverse needs of these families in order to help build and strengthen better working relationships with refugee families. The thesis goes on to discuss the current models of parent-school collaboration, and it concludes by presenting a proposed new empowerment model of parent-school collaboration which is tailored to help support refugee families. Key tenets of the proposed new model are that there must be principals who provide committed leadership and support, by meeting and welcoming parents when children are enrolled, providing follow-up meetings after enrolment, and developing structures, policies and guidelines to promote parent-school collaboration. They need to provide adequate resources to educate school personnel and mainstream parents about the refugees’ culture and experiences, and a designate a co-ordinator with responsibility for creating an inclusive environment with positive ethnic relations, while conducting monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of these measures on communication and collaboration. The model also suggests that there should be greater inter-agency co-ordination and co-operation between the schools and organisations such as health services, social services, WINZ, NZIS and the Police. Implementing the proposed model would build on existing social capital to result in adults and children who are more actively involved not only in education, but also in health care and social and recreational activities where the school is the hub for empowering those families which are most at risk.

L’objectif principal de cette étude est de qualifier et ainsi mieux comprendre l’impact de la présence d’un enfant victime de l’Ensemble des Troubles Causés par l’Alcoolisation Fœtal (ETCAF) sur les relations de couple, scolaires et communautaires du ou des parents responsables de cet enfant. A partir du modèle écologique de Bronfenbrenner de la famille et s’appuyant sur une approche qualitative phénoménologique, l’analyse des témoignages de huit parents (couples) a permis de qualifier la nature des relations vécues par ces derniers avec les divers acteurs des couches écologiques (rubriques) définies par Bronfenbrenner. Ces familles sont adoptives ou des foyers d’accueil. Cette étude se concentre sur trois grandes rubriques soient le couple, l’école et la communauté (incluant la famille). Cette étude propose que dans le contexte de ces rubriques, les relations des parents sont influencées par cinq phénomènes : la complexité de l’ETCAF, la capacité intellectuelle, émotionnelle et financière des acteurs à gérer les enfants victimes de ce désordre, la ténacité des acteurs à vouloir et pouvoir supporter l’enfant à court et long terme, la vulnérabilité des acteurs dans le contexte de la discipline et du contrôle de l’enfant et finalement la complicité entre les acteurs. Le témoignage des parents démontre clairement que ces phénomènes influencent non seulement leurs relations avec les différents acteurs, mais que le couple lui-même (lorsqu’il existe encore) est soumis à d’énormes pressions sociales qui ont justement pour origine le manque de compréhension, la vulnérabilité, l’incapacité de soutenir l’enfant ou encore l’absence de complicité avec les intervenants de l’école, de la communauté et parfois avec un des partenaires. Cette étude propose donc une grille d’analyse des relations vécues par ces parents qui permettrait de mieux identifier les besoins à court et à long terme de ces derniers et des divers acteurs qui entourent le couple.

Manitoba, like all provinces since the 1990s, has put forth efforts to increase parental input into local school decision making. Despite efforts, parents struggle to gain the recognition and support required to be true stakeholders in school governance. Six members of parent-centred school partnership councils (PSPCs) were interviewed in this qualitative study to determine the role and potential of such councils in three rural Manitoba public schools. This study suggests that the strong efforts since the 1990s for Manitoba schools to have parents as true partners in shared governance has not fully been realized.

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Photocopy of typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1979. / Bibliography: leaves [164]-176. / Microfiche. / x, 176 leaves 29 cm

<p>The main purpose of this study was to assess the psychological well-being of mothers and their pre-adolescent children (aged 10-12). Specifically, the study used a mixed methods sequential explanatory design to compare and understand the interaction between 245 single and married mother-pre adolescent relationships with regard to self esteem, autonomously-supportive and psychologically controlling parenting practices. And their familial enviironment within low and high socio-economic settings. A qualitative component was used to explore mothers' understanding of their relationships with their pre adolescent children. The Coppersmith- Self-steem Inventory and the Satisfaction with Life Scale were used to assess the psychological well-being of mothers and children, the Perceptions of Parents Scale for autonomously-supportive maternal parenting practices, Parent Psychological Control for psychologically controlling parenting practices and the environment Scale for family functioning. The findings provide an understanding of how healthy families function within enhancing and hindering environments and empasises the importance of parenting.</p>

Thesis (D. Min.)--Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-123).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 151-153).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of California, Santa Barbara, 2007. / Adviser: Yukari Okamoto. Includes bibliographical references.