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.
Parent and Family Engagement in Higher Education: Considerations for Research and Practice
Parent and Family Engagement in Higher Education: Considerations for Research and Practice
Dr. Casandra E. Harper, University of Missouri
Dr. Judy Marquez Kiyama, University of Arizona
February 25, 5pm GMT
Register here https://bit.ly/parentsinHE
Drawing from over a decade of scholarship where we (Harper and Kiyama) examined parent and family engagement from a non-deficit perspective, this presentation highlights the agency and resources families access through their engagement actions. Throughout this session we will describe our Model of Parent and Family Characteristics, Engagement, & Support (Kiyama & Harper, 2018) to encourage a conversation about how we might think about parent and family engagement within higher education contexts.
Parents and families of today’s college students, particularly first-generation, low-income, and students of color engage higher education in much more complex ways, with questions and excitement and rich cultural backgrounds informing their engagement. Research on parents and families in higher education in recent years has offered promising findings on how students find family members to be supportive and helpful in their collegiate trajectories (Harper, Kiyama, & Lee, 2022, 2023; Kiyama & Harper, 2018). While narratives of parents and family members of today’s college students tend to focus on the experiences of White and wealthier families, our work draws attention to how parent and family might look differently for different students. Likewise, our work emphasizes the need for efforts within institutions that collaboratively work to support parents and families of today’s college students. Engaging parents and families through asset-based, inclusive practices involves intentional efforts from postsecondary institutions, and particularly from those professionals who are responsible for the work.
Dr. Casandra E. Harper is an associate professor of Higher Education in the Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis Department at the University of Missouri. Her research is focused on the diversity of the individual student experience, which has included attention to race, ethnicity, gender, ability, and class across the following key experiences and outcomes: multiracial identity development, racial identification, openness to diversity, the influence of student-faculty and student-parent interactions, perceptions of campus climate, and financial aid as it relates to college access and academic success. Casandra received her B.S. in Psychology and her M.A. in Higher Education from the University of Arizona and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Higher Education and Organizational Change at UCLA.
Dr. Judy Marquez Kiyama is a professor in the Center for the Study of Higher Education, Department of Educational Policy Studies and Practice, at the University of Arizona. Working alongside Latinx/o/a, immigrant, and refugee families and communities are at the core of Dr. Kiyama’s research efforts. Her research is organized in three interconnected areas: the role of parents and families; equity and power in educational research; and minoritized groups as collective networks of change. Judy served as the Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Development within the Office of Faculty Affairs from 2020-2023, and worked to implement efforts that furthered the aims of the University of Arizona to excel in its Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) designation. Judy earned all three of her degrees from the University of Arizona, including a bachelor’s degree in Family Studies, and a master’s and PhD in Higher Education.
Current Trends in Preparing Educators for Family and Community Engagement
Current Trends in Preparing Educators for Family and Community Engagement
Dr Margaret Caspe, NAFSCE
February 11, 2025 4PM GMT
Register here https://bit.ly/February11webinar
This webinar explores emerging trends in educator preparation with a focus on integrating family and community engagement into coursework and clinical experiences. Participants will gain insights into innovative strategies, research-based practices, and policy shifts that are reshaping how educators are equipped to build strong school-community partnerships.
Margaret Caspe, PhD, is the NAFSCE's Senior Research Consultant. She co-leads the Pre-Service Family Engagement Consortium which is a collaborative of national partners and state and higher education teams dedicated to supporting educator preparation in family engagement. Over the past 20 years, she has studied how partnerships among families, schools, and communities influence children’s development in a variety of areas, including language and literacy, and bilingualism, as well as science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Prior to joining NAFSCE she worked with the Global Family Research Project and Harvard Family Research Project where she developed tools to support faculty in developing courses on family engagement topics and oversaw a project to amplify family engagement in public libraries. She is co-editor of Promising Practices for Engaging Families in STEM Learning and author of a variety of articles published in journals such as Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Public Library Quarterly, School Community Journal, Childhood Education, and Young Children. As an advisory member of various national collaboratives, including the Family Math Roadmap Project, she provides insights on the intersection of research, practice, and policy to promote innovative family engagement strategies. Margaret earned her Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University, where she currently teaches courses as an adjunct faculty member. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and three daughters. Contact Margaret at caspem@nafsce.org
On the Same Team: Deepening Relationships, Trust, and Community with Underrepresented Families
On the Same Team: Deepening Relationships, Trust, and Community with Underrepresented Families
Ari Gerzon-Kessler, Educator (USA)
January 22, 2025 5PM GMT
Registration link https://bit.ly/4f1zZdc
Parental Activism in Education
Parental Activism in Education
Dr Nathan Fretwell, Middlesex University
December 11, 4PM GMT
Event recording https://youtu.be/z5NQqzkB5Qw
Parental activism has emerged as a prominent albeit polarising and contentious feature of the ‘culture wars’ currently being waged around education in countries like the UK and USA. Set against a wave of conservative reaction that has seen parent groups challenge the inclusion of transgender rights, LGBT+ issues, and antiracism within school curricula (Marshall, 2024; Pappano, 2024), this paper seeks to reclaim the progressive democratic potential of parental activism as a form of collective parental involvement in education. Drawing on qualitative data collected from parent-led campaigns engaged in struggles over a range of progressive educational issues, the paper argues that parental activism belies the individualism inherent in traditional conceptions of parental involvement and constitutes an important means for exercising voice in educational contexts that many parents experience as disempowering. I capture the energy, effort and commitment displayed by parents fighting for educational justice, detail how their actions were guided by care not only for the interests of their own children, but for wider educational communities, and outline how they framed educational activism as a vehicle for demonstrating to their children, and others, the importance of civic engagement. I conclude by arguing that we need to widen the horizons of parental involvement to accommodate parents’ pursuit of collective interests. In so doing, we might better recognise and value the democratic potential of parental activism in education.
Nathan Fretwell is a Senior Lecturer in Education and Early Childhood in the Department of Education at Middlesex University, UK. The main focus of his research lies in exploring relationships between families and educational settings and services. He has research interests and expertise across education and family policy, home-school relations, educational activism, and the philosophy of education.
Anti-Oppressive Parent/Caregiver Engagement - an Ethos for Leadership
Transnational Parent Knowledge in Heritage Language Education
Transnational Parent Knowledge in Heritage Language Education
Dr Emma Chen, Western Washington University
October 16, 5PM GMT
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, 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, University of San Francisco
September 25, 6PM GMT
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.
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
2023/24 Webinar Recordings
See our Youtube playlist to view previous webinars in the series