Parent-School Interaction in a Post-Migration Context: An Analysis from the Perspectives of English-Speaking Single Mothers with Children Enrolled in the French-Language Public School System in Montreal, Quebec, Canada

The author examines educational disadvantage in immigrant Canadian children and youth residing in the province of Quebec and attending public schools in the city of Montreal, a plurilingual, multiethnic, multiracial, and multicultural city. Bronfenbrenner’s (1974, 1979, 1986) socio-ecological perspective of human development and intersectionality (Collins, 2009, 2015; Collins & Bilge, 2016; Crenshaw, 1991; Jiwani et al., 2021) were used to conceptualize the intersecting inequalities experienced by single-mother families in a post-migration context in Quebec. The author’s inductive analysis of the data uncovers the unique challenges faced by single mothers in relation to their children’s education in Quebec. Some of these challenges noted by the author include linguicism, discrimination, racism, and inadequate pedagogical practices among multilingual immigrant youth in Accueil high schools. The following insights emerge from the author’s interviews with twelve English-speaking immigrant single mothers: immigration is a feminist practice; urgent reforms are required to minimize educational injustices in Accueil schools; and a deceiving immigration environment is promoted by Canada and Quebec internationally.

PhD dissertation

Concordia University

Montreal

2022

en