A Bridge Between Home and School : A qualitative study about promoting parental school involvement of immigrant parents, for enhancing children’s academic success

Abstract: The overall purpose of this thesis was to explore the program “Bredsands Brobyggare,” which aims to increase immigrant parents’ involvement and participation in their children’s schooling. This was achieved by studying how the “bridge builders” experience relationship building with the parents and what strategies they use while working with the target group, as well as how these strategies are considered to affect the parents’ involvement in school. In the thesis, four semi-structured interviews were conducted with service providers working in the investigated program. The results were analyzed from a hermeneutic abductive approach through a thematic analysis. Dempsey and Sandler’s theoretical model of motivational sources for parents’ involvement in their children’s schooling is the theoretical framework underlying the analysis. The results showed that the bridge builders used their cultural-understanding ability to build a relationship with the parents and increased other professionals’ awareness and understanding of their difficulties and needs. Furthermore, after establishing a relationship with the parents, the bridge builders used other approaches, such as a strength-based approach and the implementation of individualized support according to the parents’ needs, aiming to create a stable line of communication between school and home, which in turn can potentially develop parents’ involvement in their children’s schooling.