Portuguese-Canadians have historically faced disadvantages in the Canadian education
system (Coelho, 1973, 1977; Fonseca, 2010; Morgado, 2009; Noivo, 1997; Nunes, 1999;
Ornstein, 2000, 2006; Santos, 2006). While there have been studies conducted into this
phenomenon, these disadvantages remain relatively unexplored by the research community and unknown to mainstream society. Furthermore, many of those studies have focused primarily on the various manifestations of the problem of educational disadvantage and have not explored the
specific programs or practices adopted by the community to address these issues. Community based educational organizations have been shown to assist in the cultural adjustment process of immigrant youth. These organizations provide youth with the necessary cultural capital to allow
them to construct high academic and vocational aspirations, and to cope with the various discouraging experiences they may have in schools (Bielenberg, n.d; James, 2005; James & Haig-Brown, 2001; Zhou, 2005).
The purpose of this study was to describe a community-based tutoring and mentoring
program and to examine the stakeholders' perceptions of the program's impact on the Portuguese-Canadian students whom it serves, to respond to the educational disadvantages this group faces.
This program was established by members of the Portuguese-Canadian community in Toronto as a reaction to data outlining this group's educational disadvantages. Document and transcript analysis provided a rich description of the program and revealed how the program impacted the students whom it served. Specifically, this program supports its students during transitions, helps
to address negative schooling experiences, and fosters their acquisition of English. This ultimately results in improvements in these students' academics, social skills, and self-esteem and is having an overall positively impact on their attitudes and perceptions of education. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2012-09-19 18:09:53.088
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:OKQ.1974/7486 |
| Date | 20 September 2012 |
| Creators | Kwiczala, CHRISTINA |
| Contributors | Queen's University (Kingston, Ont.). Theses (Queen's University (Kingston, Ont.)) |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | This publication is made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws without written authority from the copyright owner. |
| Relation | Canadian theses |
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