Parent Engagement Webinar Series

The Parent Engagement Webinar Series at the University of Glasgow is a regular series of webinars that brings together academics, policymakers, educators, and graduate students to discuss a range of diverse topics related to the way parents, caregivers, and family members get engaged in their children’s education and how schools and post-secondary institutions respond to such engagement in the interest of students’ education and learning.

Each webinar usually lasts one hour and consists of a 30-minute presentation and a Q & A session.

See below for details of upcoming webinars.

Sign up for our mailing list

Transnational Parent Knowledge in Heritage Language Education

Dr Emma Chen from Western Washington University 

October 16, 5PM GMT

Registration link https://bit.ly/parentengagementwebinaroct

This research delves into the lived experiences of Chinese mothers in the diaspora, with a
particular focus on their roles in heritage language education. The study is grounded in the
theoretical framework of transnationalism and parent knowledge. The study employs narrative
inquiry as its methodology. Data was collected through in-depth, participant-led conversations
conducted in Mandarin-Chinese, the shared heritage language between the researcher and the
participants.


The findings reveal the complex realities of transnational motherhood. The mothers navigate life
in the Chinese diaspora, often parenting alone with the aid of "digital nannies," which refer to
digital devices, online resources, and multimodal media. They transition from immigrant families
to transnational families, maintaining connections to their homeland while adapting to their new
environment. The mothers create academic family environments that foster intergenerational
teaching, integrating Chinese and Western educational practices. The research highlights the
transformative power of motherhood in a transnational context. The mothers redefine traditional
roles, blending personal and universal experiences, local and global realities. They challenge
societal norms and redefine the future for their children, demonstrating the lengths a parent will
go to ensure a better life for their child.


This research contributes to our understanding of transnational parent knowledge in heritage
language education. It underscores the significance of parent engagement in language learning
and the unique challenges and strategies of mothers in the diaspora. The findings have
implications for educational policies and practices, and for supporting families in similar contexts.


Emma Chen is an assistant professor at Woodring College of Education, Western Washington
University. She is an immigrant mother of two young multilingual children who are multilingual
language users of Mandarin-Chinese, English, and French. Engaging in narrative inquiry
methodology, Emma's research focuses on transnationalism, raciolinguistic ideologies,
translanguaging, and transnational parent knowledge, aiming to centre the linguistic practices of
transnational families within the context of language teaching and learning.

Centering Families & Communities to Co-design Educational Justice

Centering Families & Communities to Co-design Educational Justice

Professor Ann Ishimaru from the University of Washington 

October 2, 6PM GMT

Given the challenges facing schools and communities today, the need to move beyond our default institutional practices for engaging families and communities has become all too clear. However, the racialized scripts that shape US systems-centered interactions and practices run deep. In this webinar, Dr. Ishimaru will introduce solidarity-driven codesign as an approach that leverages the expertise of racially minoritized youth, families and communities to lead transformative systems change alongside educators. Dr. Ishimaru will offer insights and examples from her research of efforts to decenter institutional agendas and power hierarchies, create space for those typically pushed to the margins, and foster collaboration with educators in imagining and realizing more just educational futures. 

 

Dr. Ann M. Ishimaru (Japanese American Yonsei/she/her) seeks to foster joyful learning in educationally just schools and communities. As a writer, researcher and the Killinger Endowed Chair and Professor of Educational Foundations, Leadership and Policy at the University of Washington College of Education, she cultivates the leadership and solidarities of educators and racially minoritized youth, families and communities. She also directs the Just Educational Leadership Institute and is the Faculty Research Director of the Leadership for Learning EdD program, where she supports leaders and collaboratives in learning to codesign humanizing educational systems, data literacies, relationalities and futures. In addition to peer-reviewed articles in educational research journals, she published “Just Schools: Building Equitable Collaborations with Families and Communities,” with Teachers College Press in 2020. Her latest book, with Dr. Decoteau Irby and Dr. Terrance Green, "The Work” of Equity Leadership for Justice and Systems Change, will be published in 2025 by Teachers College Press.

Family Engagement for Immigrant and Refugee Students

Family Engagement for Immigrant and Refugee Students

Professor Monisha Bajaj from the University of California, San Francisco 

September 25, 6PM GMT

Registration link https://bit.ly/ParentEngagementWebinarSep

In this talk, Professor Monisha Bajaj discusses strategies and approaches from her recent co-authored book Humanizing Education for Immigrant and Refugee Youth: 20 Strategies for the Classroom and Beyond (Teachers College Press, 2023). Family engagement requires attention to the needs of newly arrived youth and their families, including extended families in the case of recent migrants who are unaccompanied minors. This talk offers a glimpse into promising, evidence-based practices from schools in the United States.

Bio: Dr. Monisha Bajaj is a Professor of International and Multicultural Education at the University of San Francisco. She is the editor and author of eight books and numerous articles on issues of peace, human rights, migration, and education, and is the editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Human Rights Education. Dr. Bajaj has developed curriculum and teacher training materials—particularly related to human rights, racial justice, ethnic studies, and sustainability—for non-profit and national advocacy organizations as well as inter-governmental organizations, such as UNICEF, UNESCO, and Room to Read. In 2015, she received the Ella Baker/Septima Clark Human Rights Award (2015) from Division B of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the Distinguished Research Award from the University of San Francisco in 2018. www.monishabajaj.net

Event recording

2023/24 Webinar Recordings

See our Youtube playlist to view previous webinars in the series