Single Canadian mothers of Jamaican heritage share experiences about their children's education

Abstract

This thesis examines the experiences of four single Canadian mothers of Jamaican heritage with respect to their children’s education. Four themes suggested in the literature—beliefs, practices, barriers, and supports—guided the research. The interviews with the mothers largely confirmed previous research in the field. As such, all the mothers believed that it was a shared responsibility between parents and teachers in supporting children’s education. The mothers’ practices included primarily at-home support and to a lesser extent at-school support but did not include strict discipline. The barriers most salient for these mothers were lack of time and resources. To help overcome these barriers, the mothers relied on domestic kin networks. From these findings, the thesis provides implications for both research and practice.