‘Although I had a failed marriage, I won't be a failure as a mother’: An analysis of Vietnamese single mothers' involvement in their children's schooling

Abstract

Parents' involvement in their children's schooling is well documented in sociological and educational research. However, the ways in which single mothers engage in their children's schooling is an understudied subject in the Vietnamese context. This article aims to address this gap by documenting single mothers' investments in their children's education. The findings reveal that single mothers in both rural and urban areas invest a large amount of their limited time and income on their children's education despite the heavy mental, physical and emotional toll these activities place on them. The mothers anticipate that these sacrifices will result in better educational outcomes for their children, thereby improving their social and economic status. These sacrifices are also a self-investment as the mothers anticipate that their children's education will facilitate class mobility and provide the mothers with support in old age. The findings illustrate that the parenting style of single mothers in Vietnam is heavily influenced by the dominant ideology of ‘good mothering’ which is constructed by cultural values, especially Confucian norms, as well as local government rhetoric and globalisation.