Building Trusting Relationships and Reciprocal Community: Inquiries into Teachers Working for and with Undocumented Migrant Parents

Abstract

ABSTRACT Conceptually guided by asset-based approaches to migrant parent–teacher relationships, this qualitative case study explores the perspectives and experiences of teachers working at St. Mary’s Preschool (pseudonym), which serves the vast majority of undocumented children and their families in South Korea. More specifically, using asset-driven lenses that position migrant parents as collaborators or partners who are capable of engaging in their children’s schooling with expertise in their heritage language and culture, this study sheds light on the ways that teachers forge and strengthen their relationships with undocumented migrant parents. The study findings demonstrate that teachers endeavor to learn from parents and capitalize on their funds of knowledge in the classroom while offering a range of legal, linguistic, and socio-cultural support and the resources necessary for undocumented migrant parents. Scholarly and policy implications for ways to develop trusting and reciprocal migrant parent–teacher relationships are discussed.