Exploring experiences of Eastern Europeans parenting a child with SEN in the UK and perspectives from school staff
Further reading
Abstract
Parenting a child with Special Educational Needs (SEN) poses significant challenges for families. The challenges encountered when navigating the complex educational and SEN systems that exist within British society, are amplified for immigrant parents, as they are also facing cultural, linguistic and societal barriers. Literature has identified schools as playing a significant role in positively mediating the experiences of migrant children and their families, within the political and social context of their new country.
This study explored the experiences of Eastern Europeans families parenting a child with SEN, giving the opportunity for parents to voice their opinions and discuss their experiences of school support with reference to the impact of social and cultural factors. It further explored the point of view of school staff, giving them the opportunity to discuss their experiences of working specifically with these underrepresented individuals and express their views on wider school practice. Data was gathered using semi-structured interviews and subsequently analysed using Braun and Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis process (Braun and Clarke, 2022).
The findings highlighted that parents felt they were impacted by their background and culture, experienced inconsistencies in schools supporting them and expressed a need to ‘fight the system’. Findings from the second participant group highlighted that school staff experienced significant language barriers when communicating with parents and had varying experiences of receiving support from their schools, to enable them to support parents. Staff also discussed cultural differences and considerations, such as parental attitudes to SEN and perceived parental lack of knowledge.
Recommendations for future research are discussed, as well as implications for Educational Psychology (EP) practice and other professionals working with Eastern European migrants parenting a child with SEN.
