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There is No Choice: Examining Somali Parents' Experience with Special Education

We now have a student population that is culturally, linguistically and economically diverse. This, in turn, has resulted in school board initiatives in response to this diversity, primarily; it appears, in ways that harden social class and racial divisions in the society (Roberston & Kushner, 2006). One clear example of this is the over-representation in Special Education of poor, immigrant students of colour, whose culture and language differs from that of English-speaking Canada. This thesis focuses on the experience of Somali parents whose children have been placed in Special Education or where an attempt has been made to place them. The purpose of this study is to examine if high or low cultural capital among Somali parents’ influences the placement of their children in Special Education. Through qualitative semi-structured interviews, I look at the experience of 8 Somali parents. Thematic analysis of the data is used to understand the findings.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:OTU.1807/24231
Date05 April 2010
CreatorsMahamed, Fowzia
ContributorsLivingstone, David W.
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
Languageen_ca
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis

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