Nonaligned worlds of home and school: A case study of second-generation Samoan children

Abstract

This paper focuses on issues of transition for children from a Samoan migrant community in Australia. This is an important and underdeveloped research area. Our qualitative study found that the home–school transition for three second-generation Samoan children was characterised by nonaligned expectations on the part of their parents and classroom teacher. These expectations related to the definition of roles and responsibilities, and to communicative practices. In addition, no attempt was made by parents or teachers to accommodate discontinuities between home and school. Our paper contributes to the explanatory power of theories of cultural discontinuity and of structural inequality in accounting for this migrant group’s over-representation in underachieving student cohorts. Recommendations offer possible ways to smooth the cultural transition of second-generation Samoan children between home and school, recognising that transition problems can damage not only educational wellbeing but also emotional wellbeing, potentially across several generations.