Minority families’ funds of knowledge, multilingual capital, and higher education access

1. Minority families’ funds of knowledge, multilingual capital, and higher education access Gao Fang & Bob Adamson The Education University of Hong Kong

2. Poor HE access of minorities in hongkong (1) • 3.6% (263,593) of Hong Kong’s 7.34 million population in 2016 were of non-Chinese ethnicity, with Nepalese, Indians, Pakistanis, and Filipinos making up the largest minority groups (Census and Statistics Department 2017) • South Asian and Southeast Asian minorities in Hong Kong show relatively low participation rate in certificate/diploma, associate degree or equivalent and bachelor degree programmes or above. • Lower socio-economic status show lowest participation

3. HE access of minorities in hongkong(2) • In 2016, HE participation rate of ethnic minorities at age group 18-24 was 43.3% • HE participationrate of overall population in 2016 = 52.6% • The gap had increased over the previous decade (44.7% overall to 36.1% minorities in 2006)

4. The issue Research on equity of access generally has typically attributed the low university/college attendance of minority students to: a)structural barriers and/or b) deficiencies in the family backgrounds

5. Minorities as deficit • Low economic capital • Low social capital • Low cultural capital • Low political capital • Low linguistic capital • Low knowledge, skills, attitudes, and relationships (e.g. McDonough 1997; Perna and Titus 2005)

6. Advantages of deficit perspective Highlights • inequitable power relations • structural inequalities • social reproduction

7. disAdvantagesof deficit perspective Highlights • negative prospects for minority groups • poverty of capital • minority groups as problems (Bensimon 2007; Rios-Aguilar, Kiyama, Gravitt and Moll 2011).

8. Towards an asset-based perspective:Funds of knowledge (1) • Culturally developed bodies of knowledge and skills in a household that have accumulated over time • E.g., Lopez (2001) noted that in immigrant Mexican families, resilience, perseverance and hard work were learned and established from their survival and well-being in the new country and were translated into working hard in the classroom.

9. Towards an asset-based perspective:Funds of knowledge (2) • Kiyama (2010): motivation to study in HE and university information drawn from social networks and academic symbols in family and community • Called for a shift to representing minority families from an asset-based perspective.

10. This study • examines the HE access process of minorities in Hong Kong • identifies multiple and convertible forms of capital • studies the interplay of multiple kinds of capital within families’ funds of knowledge on minority students’ pathways to HE

11. participants • 15 student recruited from public-funded nine universities in HK • Minorities of South and Southeast Asian descent living in families where Chinese was not the primary language at home (7 Filipino; 5 Pakistani; 3 Indian) • Enrolled in bachelor-degree programmes or above • had received some pre-collegiate education in Hong Kong’s public education sector at least at the secondary level before attending HE • low socio-economic status or economically disenfranchised home environments.

12. methods Questionnaire (background information) Semi-structured interviews in English • parents’ expectation for child’s education • educational values and beliefs at home • parental help and support in schoolwork and HE application • parental networks and extended family networks • their effects upon pathways to HE.

13. Findings: Cultural capital Minority families clearly valued their children pursuing HE: “My mother was telling us to ‘try your best, work hard, and what you are interested in, go for it’” (Pakistani female aged 22), “My siblings were very supportive, they told me ‘you should continue to study, and look for a way to get into university’” (Pakistani female, 23), “My parents always said: ‘if you have a higher education, you can decide your position in the society’” (Filipino female,18)

14. Building linguistic capital Most participants had strong English, but the parents encouraged them to worked hard at Chinese “When I was born, [my mother] … gave up her job and started teaching us. Everyday she would do revision with us. As for the Chinese subject, she went to the school and asked my teacher what she had taught me today. And she went home and did revision with me. She wanted to make sure that we were on the right track. She tried all her best for us to learn… and supported me to study harder in order to get into university.”

15. Enhancing Economic capital Parents and siblings were determined to overcome financial barriers • Parents accepted “a financial burden”, and “my parents, especially my mother, pushed me to get into tutorial classes” (Pakistani male, 22) • Four participants were the eldest in their families, and it was their responsibility to get a degree so that they could “pay younger siblings’ school fees and contribute to the family financially”

16. Using social capital Family/community networks provided relevant information and sources • how to prepare for HE entrance exams • how to manage learning • how to select universities and programmes “[My mother] asked for colleagues’ help. For example, we had a teacher who was responsible for university applications. She sought her advice about the application process, the background of each university, and what are their strengths. Then she passed [the information] on to me.” (Indian male, 20)

17. Role models Role models turned aspirations into a value “I see my siblings doing so well. Looking at them, I also want to do equally well… I always listen to them, their stories. And that’s what inspired me… They are kind of role models for me. You know, I listen to their stories and their lives, which inspired me to work hard… I feel like that I should be doing equally the same.” (Pakistani female aged 23)

18. Overcoming the deficit perspective Adversity inspires resilience “There is a common misconception that as an ethnic minority, you are already at a disadvantage… Our parents migrated from a low-income country to Hong Kong. And we are already stigmatised [as deficits]. So parents teach their children to overcome the hurdles… Getting into university is thus important to prove that the majority [local Chinese] is wrong.” (Filipino female, 20)

19. conclusions Capital generated in minority families’ funds of knowledge had a significant and positive impact on turning HE aspirations into concrete help and support (cultural capital) Familial cultural, linguistic and social capital were interconnected and provided a source of economic capital and investment in HE, despite financial barriers Positive influence of parents, extended families and community created resilience in the youth to withstand various disadvantages

20. Ways forward Although advantageous factors from minority family and community provide a support against adversity faced, a strong institutional environment is needed specifically for those families that may lack capital resources • Essential to address racism and power inequalities in the education system • Find positive and creative ways to encourage parent-school partnerships and to partner with minority families and community organizations in running HE outreach programmes

21. 谢 谢! Thank you!

22. badamson@eduhk.hk