The Contributions Of Parental Involvement On The Family Cultural Capital Of The Migrant Children

Under the urbanization,large quantities of rural people flow to cities,making the life and development problem of migrant workers in cities an inevitable topic in China today.The education problem for children of migrant workers has become one of the most core issues among these problems.In China,the cultural capital of different classes is unbalanced,with migrant workers as the weak group in the social development process.Many studies reveal that the family cultural capital of the migrant works is insufficient,which exerts passive effects on the education achievements and social statuses of their children.However,few studies focus on the reverse direction to explore how education practice itself influences the family cultural capital.In order to present the changes of family cultural capital in the process of parental involvement more specifically and deeply,this study selects 6 migrant families as the research objects,with the private T Primary School for the children of rural migrant workers in J District,Shanghai as a case.Through the methods of interview,observation and questionnaire on migrant works,their children and teachers,this paper explores the influencing process of the parental involvement on family cultural capital.It is found that the model of parental involvement went through the transformation process of "self-elimination" to "active participation" in T school.The inherent family cultural capital shapes their concepts and actions of "self-elimination",while the evaluation on the parents' concepts and abilities by school further strengthens it.By stimulating the transformation of teachers' concepts,redesigning the school system of parental involvement,creating inclusive school cultural and organizing home-school activities,T school stimulates the awareness of parental involvement,and enhances the confidence of parents in participation,which contributes to the formation of "active participation".The results also show that parental involvement contributes on family cultural capital.First,the parental involvement facilitates the increase in the static family cultural capital,including the increase of books and the improvement of the book quality,the increase of parents' education knowledge,the activation of fathers' roles in education,the formulation of the recognition and confidence in the cultural capital of the hometown.Second,parental involvement contributes to the changes in the family operational cultural capital,including the improvement of family education behavior,the enhancement of language ability and the enrichment of family cultural life.Based on the survey concerning urbanized life of migrant workers and their children,the article introspected on the relevant issues of their current status and future development.It puts forward following proposals about how to optimize family education and quality of life.The society should mend its pace in supporting system that will meet the requirement of family education of migrant workers.Schools should actively conduct in the research and practice of home-school collaboration.Parents should change their education concepts and carry out education practice.