A Contextual Understanding of Mainland Chinese Parent Involvement in Their Children’s Primary School Years’ Education

J O U R N A L O F A S I A N C R I T I C A L E D U C A T I O N

Zou, Wuying, 2013, A Contextual understanding of Mainland Chinese Parent Involvement In Their Childrens Primary School Years Education, Journal of asian Critical eductation, vol. 2 pp. 54-68. 2013 Journal of Asian Critical Education

WuYING Zou, NEIL ANDERSoN, REESA SoRIN, & KARIM HAJHASHEMIsChool of eduCaTion, JaMes CooK uniVersiTY

A ContExtuAl undERStAndIng of mAInlAnd ChInESE PAREnt InVolVEmEnt In thEIR ChIldREnS PRImARy SChool yEARS EduCAtIon

ABStRACt Although parent involvement has received long-standing attention in the literature, there is limited research about Chinese parent involvement, especially, in mainland, China. With Chinese immigrant students high academic success having been repeatedly reported, more attention has been given to Chinese parent involvement, however it was restricted to Chinese overseas, or in Taiwan and Hong Kong. It is unclear whether findings obtained accurately described Chinese parent involvement, and can be generalized to Chinese in Mainland.

This research attempts to add an in-depth contextual understanding of mainland Chinese parent involvement. Based on face-to-face interviews, this study investigated Chi-nese parents involvement in, expectations for and perceptions of their childrens educa-tion. Participants were 30 parents, randomly selected from 5 primary schools in Changsha, China.

Results indicated that parents: 1) are highly involved in their childrens education, with daily homework supervising; frequently communicating school issues to their children and generously investing time and money in childrens extra-curricular training; 2) hold high expectations for their children with more than 70% parents expecting their children to complete at least university education; 3) mostly attribute their educational involvement to the realistic need of well preparing their children for the fierce workforce competition, and passing the university-entry exams.

Key words:Chineseparentinvolvement,context,interview,MainlandChina,

Mainland Chinese Parent Involvement In Their Childrens Education | Wuying Zou | 55

IntRoduCtIon

Stemmed from Sociological theories noting the impact of familybackgroundonchildrensschoolachievement,parentinvolvementhasreceivednumerous attentions from researchers indifferent areasduring therecentdecades .Todate, ithasbeenwidelyrecognizedasastrongpredictorofstudentsacademicachievementandotherpositiveschoolbehaviours(An-dersonandMinke,2007,FlouriandBuchanan,2004),i .e .,highergradepointaveragesandbetterscoresinreadingandmathematics(SenechalandLeFevre,2002);reducedspecialeducationplacementsandgraderetentions(MiedelandReynolds,1999);lowerstudentdropoutratesandhigherlevelsofsocialskills(McWayneetal .,2004);andincreasedabilitytoself-regulatebehaviours(Bro-dyetal .,1999) .Ifpupilsaretomaximizetheirpotentialfromschoolingtheywillneedthefullsupportoftheirparents(DesforgesandAbouchaar,2003) .

Despite extensive attention on parent involvement inwestern contexts,thereiscurrentlyadeficitofresearchaboutChineseparentinvolvement(KimandWong,2002),exceptthelimitedliteraturefocusingonChineseoverseas,orinHongKongandTaiwan(ChaoandTseng,2002,Shek,2006,Li,2001) .ItisinexplicitwhetherfindingsobtainedaccuratelydescribedChineseparentalinvolvement,andcouldbegeneralizedtoabroaderpopulation,especially,inMainland,China .

However, with Chinese immigrant students academic outperformancehaving been repeatedly reported by cross-cultural studies (Stevenson etal ., 1994), and with the best results in mathematics, science and readingachievedbystudents fromShanghai in the2009 testof theProgramme for International Student Assessment (PISA)havingbeenrevealed(Dillon,2010)more researchers have been interested in Chinese parent involvement .AsHuntsingeraandJoseb(2009)wonderedDoChineseparentsmanifesttheirinvolvement in theirchildsschooling in thesamewaysasdoparentsfromotherethnicgroupsornot?(p .400)ItwouldbeinterestingandvaluableforeducatorsandresearcherstoknowmoreaboutandtobetterunderstandhowandwhyChineseparentsinvolvethemselvesinchildrenseducation .

aim of the present studyThis study attempted to address the current gap and add an in-depthunderstanding of Chinese parent involvement to the literature . Using face-to-face interviews of 30 parents, the present study investigated the pattern,andthecontextofChineseparentinvolvement .Thenitfurtherexaminedthecontextual impact on parents involvement in and perceptions of childrenseducation .Researchofthisstudywasguidedbyquestionsasbelow:

56 | Journal of asian Critical education | Vol. 2 2013

1)HowdoChineseparentsinvolvethemselvesintheirchildrenseducation?

2)Whyaretheyinvolvedinchildrenseducationinthisway?

RESEARCh dESIgn And mEASuRE

Method This studyemployedamixedmethodofusing semi-structured face-to-faceinterview,with threesectionsincludedandbothquantitativeandqualitativeitems examined . The first section of the interviewwas designed to collectparents demographic characteristics, i .e ., education level, occupation, andyearlyincome,etc .Inthesecondpart,variableaboutthepatternofChineseparentinvolvementwasexaminedbyinvestigatingthequestionHowareyouinvolvedinyourchildrenseducation?InspiredbyEpsteins(1986;1995)six-levelmodelofparentinvolvement,meanwhile,groundedintheeducationalandculturalChinesecontext, thisstudyparticularlyexamined threequantitativeitems related to parents involvement: homework supervising, talkingwithchildrenaboutschoolissues,extra-curricularlessonstheirchildrencurrentlyhad .At the end, the interview further examined two questions, What doyou expect for your childrens education? and Why do you have suchexpectation/s?Quantitativedataandqualitativeinformationwasrespective-lyanalysedbydescriptivestatistical techniqueandcontentanalysismethod(JohnsonandLaMontagne,1993) .

ResearchsiteChangshaisacapitalcityofHunanProvince,locatedincentralSouthChina,withapopulationof6million . Ithasbeenhighlyreputedfor itssuccessfulbasiceducation,withhigherrateofgraduationsenrolledintouniversities .Par-ents inChangshahavebeen traditionallyhighlymotivated to scaffold theirchildrenseducationachievement .Findingsobtainedhere,canbegeneralizedand added into the literature for better understandingofChineseparent in-volvementinmainland,China .

ParticipantsFollowthecriterionofhavingstudentsfromdifferentfamilybackgrounds,4publicschools,plusoneprivateschoolwerepurposivelyselectedtoserveasanunbiasedsamplefor thisstudy .Fromeachschool,6parents,30 in total,withchildreningrade3wererandomlyrecruitedtocompletetheface-to-faceinterview .Ofthegroup,28aremothers,2arefathers,allfromdifferentlevelsoffamilySocioeconomics(SES)background .


ProcedureFrom1024primaryschoolsintheurbanarea,10primaryschoolswerepur-posivelyselectedunderthestandardofhavingstudentsfromdifferentfamilybackgrounds .Thenprincipalsof theseschoolswerecontactedwithby tele-phoneandemailfortheirconsenttoattendtheresearch,andforinformationofclassesingrade3 .5principalsagreedtoparticipateinthestudy .Oneclassingrade3fromeachschoolwasrandomlyselectedtobethesampleandinforma-tionsheetwasthensenttotheclassroomteacher,tobehandedovertoparents .Ineachclass,amongthosewhoconsentedtoparticipateintheresearch,fiveparentswererandomlyselectedtoattendtheinterview,andfurthercontactedwithaboutthescheduleofinterviewbyemailortelephone .

AllinterviewswereconductedinChinesebythefirstauthor,atsuitabletimesandinplacesnominatedbyparents,suchasathome,orinschooloffice,etc .90%ofthemwerecompletedwithin1hour .Beforeinterviewsstarted,par-entswerepromisedthattheinformationtheyprovidedwouldbeconfidential;nonameofparticipants,theirchildren,orschoolswouldbereported .

mEASuRES

instruments of Parent involvement Parentinvolvementisamultifacetedconceptencompassingabroadrangeofparentingpractices(Fan,2001) .Itcantakeforms,suchasparentalaspirationforchildrensacademicachievement(Bloom,1980),parentscommunicationwithchildrenaboutschool(Walberg,1986),parentsparticipationinschoolsactivities (StevensonandBaker,1987),parental rulesofeducation imposedathome(Marjoribanks,1988),parentsvolunteeringinchildrensschoolandhelpingwiththeirhomework(Carlisleetal .,2005) .

Throughoutmostoftheliterature,EpsteinsModel (1986,Epstein,1995)has beenwidely recognized as a typology and fundamental framework forinvestigatingparentingactivitiesandeducationalpractice(ChengandSally,2009) .Accordingtothismodel,parentsengageinchildrenseducationatsixlevels:parenting,addressingchildrensbasicneedsandsupportasstudents;communicating, talking with teachers/schools about school programs andchildrens progress; volunteering, assisting or participating in schools;learning at home, supervising childrens home learning; decision making,being involved in schoolsdecision-making; collaboratingwith community,workingwithcommunityprogramstoaccesseducation-relatedservices .


Parent involvement instrument in this studyPreviousstudieshavesuggestedthatChineseparentspracticedmorehome-based involvement and tended to conform to the school requirementsand supervise their childrens learning at home (Ho and Willms, 1996) .Based on Epsteins model, meanwhile, grounded in Chinas educationaland cultural context, this study particularly examined three types of parentinvolvementwhicharesignificantinChinesecontext:homeworksupervising,communicating school issues to children, extra-curricular lessons currentlyregisteredfortheirchildren .

Homework has been world-widely recognised as an effective way forstudents to practise academic skills, increase learning-task involvement,and tofoster theirself-disciplineaswellas responsibilities (Epstein,1988) .However,thesignificanceofhomeworkisparticularlypronouncedinChinesecommunitieswherechildrenspendsubstantialamountoftimeontake-homeassignmentseveryday(ChenandStevenson,1989,Tam,2009) .ThereforeitisfundamentallyimportantforthisstudytoinvestigatehowChineseparentshomeworksupervision .

Communication with children about school issues Rather than generalparenting,parentalcommunicationwithchildrenabouttheirschoolprogresswas found to bemore strongly related to studentmotivation (Marchant etal ., 2001) .Parental communicating the importanceof education to childrenhelps them learn strategies to enhance theirperceptionsof competenceandcontrol over achievement outcomes (Lareau, 2000); and structure learningexperiencesthatresultinskilldevelopment(Keithetal .,1993) .Whenparentscommunicatewiththeirschool-agedchildrenaboutschoolissues,childrenaremoresatisfiedwiththeschoolandhavehigheracademicachievement(Cole-man,1998) .

Extra-curricular lessonsExtra-curricularlessonswerevaluedbyresearchersasavitalandessentialsupplementtogeneralschoolcurriculum,withbenefitsto enhance and strengthen the content and quality of the curriculum (FungandWong,1991,DentemaroandKranz,1993); togreatlycontributetostu-dentsgrowth,schooladministration,andsociety(Milleretal .,1956) .Inthisstudy, it refers to supervised training sessions forvoluntaryparticipation inordertofacilitatechildrenslearningandimprovetheirachievementinsomearea(s) .These lessonsare student-centred, scheduledoutsidenormal schoolhours,formallyorganised andplannedinaccordancewithstudentsabilityandinterest(ChowandWong,2000) .


Other studies found that extra-curricular lessons participants dem-onstrate positive effects on academic performance, personality, and peeracceptance(Fung, 1992,Shi, 1996) .They are able to attain higher academicachievements(HollandandAndre,1987,Camp,1990);expressmuchstron-gercareeraspirations(Crittendon,1998);developtheirpotentialtoagreaterextent(Shi,1996);enhancetheirleadershipskills(Hollingsworth,1996);de-veloptheircharacter,andimprovebehavior(Hollingsworth,1996)aswellastheirsocialskills .

In China, its very popular for students to attend extra-curricular les-sons, for the potential positive effects,more frequently for their utilitarianbenefits .InmostareasofChina,localpoliciesentitlestudentsthepriorityorextrascoresasarewardaddedtothegrossresultsofentrance-examtogainadmissionintokeyschoolsoruniversities .Howevertheadmissionintokeyschoolsoruniversitiesisfiercelycompetitivewitheverypointbeingcrucialtodistinguishstudentsthewinnerfromtheloser .ForChinesechildren,havingextra-curricularlessonsissomehowadivideforthemtostudyinkeyschoolsoruniversitiesornot .Onlyiflookingatchildrensextra-curricularlessonscanwerelativelyaccuratelydescribethescenarioofChineseparentinvolvement .

Parent expectations for childrens educationParentexpectationsarebeliefsthatparentsholdaboutthefutureperformanceoftheirchildrenandareoftenfocusedonachievement-relatedareassuchaseducational,professional(BarberandRao,2005) .Ofmanyfamilyvariablesthat contribute to childrens school achievement, parent expectation wassingledoutby researchers tobe themost salientandpowerful force (Patri-kakou,1997,Seginer,2006) . Especially parentalexpectationsforchildrenseducationalattainment(e .g .,whetherornotattendcollege)havebeenshowntobesignificantlyrelatedbothtothechildscurrentachievementandtolaterachievement(Fuligni,1995,Marjoribanks,1988) .

Chineseparentsarereputedtonotonlyhavehigherexpectationsfortheirchildrensacademicachievement(Li,2001),viewacademicsuccessashavingmultiplebenefitsforthefamily(ChengandSally,2009),butalsoplaceahighpremiumoneducationandacademicsuccess,andactivelyengageinchildrenslearning(White,1993) .Examiningsuchexpectationsisnotonlyessentialforthisstudybutalsonecessaryforustohavein-depthunderstandingofChineseparentinvolvement .

RESultS

Results presented in the following subsections focus on: (1) presentingthe profiles of participants of this research; (2) describing the pattern of


Chineseparentinvolvement;(3)contextualunderstandingofChineseparentinvolvement .

demographic characteristics Parents demographic information can be found in Table 1 .As it showed,93 .3%of the samplewasmothers,with the rest6 .7% falling tobe fathers .Allparentswere-agedrangingfrom30to43yearsold,with35 .7yearsasthemedianage .Excepttwoparents,mostofthemhavecompletedatleasthighschoolleveleducation(equivalentto12years),with36 .7%holdingbachelordegree,andanother20%respectivelyhaving3or2yearsdiploma .

Slightlymorethan30%parentshadincomelessthan50,000/year,fallingtothelowerSESgroup(theNationalBureauofStatistics,2002) .However,therewasnearlyone-thirdofthegroupearnedannuallymorethan100,000,with3 .3%ofthemevenhadyearlyincomehigherthan200,000peryear .An-otherone-thirdofparentsbelongedtomiddleclasswithincomerangingfrom50,000to100,000 .

Dataofparentsoccupationalsoclearlyshowed thatparentswere fromdiversefamilybackground .Except5parentsdeclinedtorevealtheircareer,33 .3%parentsdefined themselvesasprofessionals, e .g ., engineers,doctors,teachers, accountants, etc .Another 6 parents were working as managerialstaff,with2asseniormanagers,4asadministrativestaffs .Another4parentswerefrombusinessbackground,with1parentclaimedtobebusinessman,another3asself-employed .Except3housewives,therewas1laborand1unemployedparent .

Table 1DemographicCharacteristicofParents(n=30)

Variable Number Percentage % Median

GenderFather 2 6 .7

Mother 28 93 .3

Age(30-43) 35 .7

EducationLevel

4yearsUniversity 11 36 .7

3yearsCollege 6 20College

2yearsCollege 6 20

HighSchool 5 16 .7

MiddleSchool 1 3 .3

PrimarySchool 1 3 .3


YearlyIncome(1 .0=10,000)

20 .0 1 3 .3

Occupation

Professional(doctor,teacher,engineer,accountant,etc .)

10 33 .3

Professionalmanager 2 6 .7

Administrativeofficers 4 13 .3

Businessman 1 3 .3

Self-employed 3 10

Housewife 3 10

Labor 1 3 .3

Unemployed 1 3 .3

Informationmisssing 5 16 .7

The pattern of Chinese parent involvement

Informationabouthowparentsparticipateinchildrenseducation;andwhat

expectationsdotheyhaveforchildrenseducationaresummarizedinTable2 .

Table 2 ParentsInvolvementin&expectationsfor

ChildrensEducation(N =30)

Involvement Area Scale Number Percentage %

Median

Home-worksupervising

Frequency(Everyday)

Yes 29 96 .7

No 1 3 .3

Timespent(Daily)

(0,30mins) 12 40

1-2hrs30-60mins 10 33 .4

1-2hrs 6 20

2-3hrs 1 3 .3

3hrs 1 3 .3

Communicationschoolissuestochildren

Frequency

Daily 11 36 .7

Often 16 53 .3

Seldom 2 6 .7

Rarely 1 3 .3


Extra-curricularlessons

Amount (,2) 3 10 3[1,5]

[2,4) 16 53 .4

[4,6) 10 33 .3

Tuition(halfyear)

[600,2000) 5 16 .6 2,200[600,100,000]

[2,000,6,000) 16 53 .4

[6,000,8,000) 3 10

[8,000,100,000] 4 13 .3

Missing 2 6 .7

Weeklyhours(children)

[0 .5,4) 8 26 .7 5[0 .5,12]

[4,8) 12 40

[8,12] 9 30

Missing 1 3 .3

ExpectationsforChildren

Clearly-mentionedeventualeducation

Atleastbachelor 9 30

Keyuniversity 2 6 .7

First-class/Overseasuniversity

5 16 .7

Master 2 6 .7

PhD 1 3 .3

Other

Tobeaprofessional 3 10

Goodstudyhabit 1 3 .3

Behealthy&happy 4 16 .7

Notclearly-mentioned

Tobefinanciallyself-supported

3 16 .7

Homework supervision Asindicated in the table,96 .7%ofparents,areac-tivelyinvolvedindailysupervisingtheirchildrenshomeworkfromlessthan30minutestoevenmorethan3hours .40%parentsclaimedthetimespentonchildrenshomework less than30minutes;while toanother10parents, thetimewasdoubledtoabout1hour .However,therewere6parentsneeded1~2hoursadaytohelpchildrenwithhomelearning,whiletoanother2parentsitwasrespectively2-3hoursandmorethan3hourseachday .

Communication school issues to children InformationinthetablerevealedthatChineseparentshighlyconcernedtheirchildrensschoolissuesbycom-


municatingwiththemfrequently .90%ofthemtalkedwiththeirchildrenaboutschoolprogressinafrequencyabovethelevelofOften .Amongthem,near-ly40%diditeveryday,whilepresumablyanother50%diditoften .Only10%oftheseparentsseldomorrarelymentionedtheseissuestotheirchildren .

Extra-curricular lessons AsTable2 shows that registering extra-curricularlessonsfortheirchildrenisamust-doforChineseparents .100%ofparentscurrentlyregisteredfromonetofiveextra-curricularlessonsfortheirchildren .Theirchildrenslightlymorethan50%wereengagingin2-4traininglessons .Another33 .3%had4-5subjects .Only10%ofthesampleregisteredlessonsfortheirchildrenlessthan2lessons .

Themoneyparentsspentonchildrensextra-curricularcouldbefoundinTable2 .Themediantuitionis2,200/halfyear,with10,000onthetopand600atthebottom .Morethan50%ofthegroupinvested2,000~6,000persixmonthsfortheirchildrensextra-curricularlearning .Withinthem,only5parents spent less than2,000,however, another4parents spend8,000~10,000,with3spend6,000~8,000perhalfayear .

Meanwhile,parentsspendplentyoftimeontheirchildrensextra-curricularlearning .Asdemonstrated, themedianweekly time is5hours .40%of thisgroup,12parents,spent4~8hoursperweekonchildrensextra-learning .Theweeklytimeforanother8parents,26 .7%ofthesample,ismorethanhalfhourbutlessthan4hours .However,another30%parentsspend8~12hoursaweekengagingintheirchildrensout-schooltraining .

Parent expectationsWhileaskedabouttheirexpectationsfortheirchildren,63% parents clearly claimed that their children should complete universityeducation .Morethanaquarterclarifieditasatleastauniversitylevel .An-other2parentsexpectedtheirchildrentostudyatakeyuniversity;whileanother5parentshopeitshouldbeafirst-classoranoverseasuniversity .Therewere2parentswhowantedtheirchildrentohavemasterdegree,whileanother1parenthopesittobedoctoraldegree .

Among those not clearly expressed their expectations, 10% preferredtheirchildrentobeaprofessional,suchaslawyer,doctororengineer .1parenthopedhischildtoformgoodlearninghabits .Another4parentsemphasizedmoreonchildrensnon-academicdevelopment,suchashappinessandhealth .Differentwithothers, therewere3parentsonlywanted theirchildren tobefinanciallyself-supported .


Parents perceptionsParents views about the load of study, the significance of education,weredescribed inTable 3 .Numbers andpercentageswere calculatedby contentanalysisaccordingtothefrequencyofwords/phaseusedbyparents .

Table 3 Parentsperceptions

Variables Parents perceptions Number Percentage %

Load of study

Heavy(toomuchmanyhomework) 9

30

Sound 18 60

Notheavyatall 3 10

significance of education

Meansofenhancesocialstatus 16 53 .3

Thewaytolearn,knowtheworld 4 13 .3

Crucialforchildrenswholelife 10 33 .3

Reason of emphasis on education

culturaltradition:respecteducation,parentshighexpectation

9 30

preparationforthecompetitiveworkforce

15 50

Impactofuniversity-entrysystem 6 20

AsTable 3 revealed, 18parents regarded the loadof study as sound; al-thoughanother9parents,considereditwastooheavy .Toanother10%par-ents,itwasnotheavyatall .However,almostallparentsunderstoodeduca-tionissignificanttotheirchildren .Morethan50%parentstookeducationasameanstoenhancesocialstatus .Foranother4parents,educationisawaytoknowmoreabouttheworld .Althoughnotclearlystated, toanother33%ofthisgroup,educationiscrucialforchildrenswholelife .

Whyparentsemphasize theirchildrenseducation?30%of themattrib-utedittotheinfluenceofChineseculturaltraditionofrespectingeducation,andhighlyexpectingforchildrensfuture .However,another15parentsun-derstood itmorepracticallyas theneedofwellpreparing theirchildrenforthefiercecompetitiveworkforce .20%ofthisgroupthoughtitwasledbytheuniversity-entrysystemwherechildrenhavetopasscomplicatedexaminationstostudycontinuinglyinuniversities .


dISCuSSIon

Differentwith previous studies focusing onChinese parent overseas, or inHongKong,andTaiwan(ChaoandTseng,2002,Shek,2006,Li,2001),thisexploratorystudyshedlightsonmainlandChinese;aimedtoexploreanin-depthcontextualunderstandingoftheirinvolvementinchildrenseducation .BasedonEpsteinsmodel,and informationcollectedfromface-to-face interviews,this study investigated the pattern, the context and the self-perceptions ofChineseparentinvolvement .

Consistent with previous findings about that Chinese parents overseasregardededucationastheirtoppriority(Li,2001),seriouslyconcernedwiththeirchildrenslearningandactivelyparticipateintheirchildrenseducation(Pearce, 2006), this study shows that Chinese parents at home put theirchildrenseducationinacriticallyimportantposition .Morethan50%parentsinterviewedregardededucationasmeanstoenhancesocialstatus,withanotherone-thirdcloselysupposedthateducationiscrucialtotheirchildrenswholelife .

Consequently,parents in this studywere found tobehighlycommittedtotheirchildrenslearningandschoolsuccess .Mostofthem,about90%,notonlysupervisehome-learningmorethan30minutesaday,butalsocommu-nicate school issues to their childrenquite frequently .Besideshighlybeinginvolvedinchildrenshome-supervision,parentsinthisstudyactivelyengagein their childrens extra-curricular activities . 100% of this group registered1~5traininglesson/sfortheirchildren,withaveragely5hours/weekspentand2,200/halfyearinvestedinthesetraininglessons .

Whileaskedaboutwhyeducationissosignificanttotheirchildren?50%parentsattributedittotherealisticcontextwheretheyounggenerationisundertheoverwhelmingpressurefromtheworkforce .Withthetechnologyimprovinganduniversityeducationmoreaffordable,itbecomesfiercelycompetitiveforundergraduatestofindasatisfactoryjob,thentolivecomfortably .Forthesakeoftheirchildrentostandoutinthefiercecompetition,toleadadecentlife,whatparentswantedtodo,inthisstudy,istopushtheirchildrenstudyhardandstudywell .Nottoloseatthestart-pointofyourchildrenissomehowanalarmclockringingtoparentsatallthetime .Parentingcannotbeunderstoodunlessitisplacedwithinitseconomic,social,political,andhistoricalcontext(Taylor et al ., 2000) . InChinese context, education is somehowa businesswiththewholefamilyascooperators .

Asparentsnoted,thecurrentuniversity-enrolmentsystemisanotherpow-erfulforcepushingthemactivelyengageintheirchildrenseducation .Poli-ciesinChinaentitlenoaccessforchildrentostudyinuniversities,especiallykey universities unless they pass the difficult university-entry exams and


getascoregreatlyhigherthantherequirement .However,asanintervieweesaid,Nowadays,ifyouwanttofindarelativelygoodjob,mostbasicallyyouhavetograduatefromagooduniversity .Thatcouldpartlyexplainwhymorethan50%parentsinthisstudyexpectedtheirchildrentocompleteatleastuniversityeducation .Slightlyinconsistentwithpreviousresearch,whereChi-neseparentshigheducationalengagementwasattributedtoChineseculturetradition;inthisstudy,only30%parentsclaimedtobeculturallymotivatedtoparticipateintheirchildrenseducation,followingtheculturaltraditionofrespectingeducationandpeoplewell-educated,andhighlyexpectingfortheirchildrenssuccess .

Insummary,Chineseparentsinthisstudynotonlyhighlyexpectfortheirchildrenseducation,butalsoactivelyengageintheirchildrenslearningbyextensive homework supervision; frequent communication school issues totheirchildrenandgenerousinvestmentintheirafter-schooltraining .Themostpowerfulforcedrivingthemtopractisealltheseparentingistowellpreparetheirchildrenforthefiercelycompetitivelabourmarket,andtopassthecom-plicateduniversity-entryexams,ahighbartowardstheentryofbetterlife .

However, considering the cultural and economic diversity inmainland,China,andthelimitedsampleofthisstudy,itwouldbebettertobecautiouswhilegeneralisingthefindingstoabroaderpopulationofChinese .

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Wuying Zou is a PhD candidate in Education at James Cook University, Australia. Her research focuses on how and why Chinese parents are involved in their childrens education. More specifically looking at the pattern, the impact, and the motivation of their parental involvement.

Documents

A Contextual Understanding of Mainland Chinese Parent Involvement in Their Children’s Primary School Years’ Education