Connecting Worlds: Funds of Knowledge as a Transformative Pedagogical Approach for the Inclusion of Migrant Children in Rural Schools / Conectando mundos: Los Fondos de Conocimiento como enfoque pedagógico transformador para la inclusión de la infancia migrante en las escuelas rurales

We asked 28 young people (16–18 Years old) from two schools in Lancashire to reflect on their COVID-19 experience and Co-Design the ideal learning environment. In this paper, we present young people’s vision for the ideal classroom that combines the best of the home and school learning environments. Young people would like to have flexible furniture arrangements, with space for group and individual activities, a bespoke learning environment that can be appropriated and adjusted according to individual preferences (e.g. sound, light, temperature, ventilation levels). Furthermore, they aim for comfortable environments with earth colours, natural materials and a direct connection with nature. We argue the importance of taking young people's perspectives presented here to inform future policy, the design of learning spaces and school rebuilding programmes.

It is assumed that additionally to the family background and child characteristics, the children’s learning environments are crucial for the acquisition of early competencies. This study aimed to compare the effects of home and institutional learning environment on young children’s vocabulary and to test necessary conditions for a potential compensatory effect of the institutional learning environment. Using longitudinal data from N = 557 preschool children (German National Educational Panel Study), we analysed to what extent family background and children’s characteristics predicted home and institutional learning environments and to what extent these learning environments predicted vocabulary in preschool and primary school. In order to test if both learning environments predict vocabulary separately, we used almost identical indicators to operationalize them. The effects were estimated within a structural equation model. The study revealed that both, home and institutional learning environment, had small and separate effects on children’s vocabulary. The home learning environment was more closely related to the family background, while the institutional learning environment was more closely related to the children’s characteristics. This evokes new possibilities to discuss compensatory effects.

Home environment has been conceptualized as the quality of human interactions from the point of view of the child. It includes those aspects, which foster growth and development such as family trust and confidence, sharing of ideas, parents support, parental approval, parental encouragement, care, affection and approval and support of siblings. Children living in rural or urban areas are exposed to different environments. Generally children from low socioeconomic status attend government schools while, children of well to do families attend private or public schools. These two types of schools have another major difference: difference in medium of instruction .In addition, home learning environment, school learning environment and academic achievement may be influenced by various socio-economic factors like age, gender, family size, parents, education and occupation and also by the socio economic status of the family .. Thus academic achievement is dependent on school learning environment as well as home learning environment. The present study is on attempt to investigate the parental influence in academic performance of students. The focus will be describing the key variables included in the study, i.e., parental influence and its impact on academic performance.Academic performance includes three processes: the ability to study and remember facts, being able to study effectively and see how facts fit together and form larger patterns of knowledge and being able to think for oneself in relation to facts and thirdly being able to communicate knowledge verbally or on paper. Thus Journal of Education (1981) posited that performance might be seen as an index of the candidates' ability and motivation. Defining academic performance as excellence, Tuckman (1975) stated that, performance is used to label the observable manifestation of knowledge, skills, concepts, understanding and ideas. Performance is application of a learning product that at the end of the process provide mastery. The acquisition of particular grades on examinations indicate the student's ability, mastery of content and skills in applying learned knowledge to particular situations. A student's success generally judged by examination performance. Success in examination is a crucial indicator that a student has benefited from a course of study (Wiseman, 1961). Researchers believe that authentic academic performance should involve on examination of the total person, in the other words; the examination should cover the individual's ability and skills in applying practical knowledge.Parental influences has been identified as an important factor affecting student's achievement (Miller, 1980; Dryfoos, 1990) The child rearing attitudes or parental behavior may be viewed in terms of many different dimensions such as, acceptance, affection, control, warmth, permissiveness, restrictiveness and demanding behaviour. Typically warmth and control are thought to be the most important ways in which parents influence the development of their offspring or children (Maccoby & Martin, 1986). After Conducting extensive research (Rohner; 1986; Rohner & Rohner, 1981) reported major parenting dimensions in different human societies. These dimensions are parental control (permissiveness-strictness) and parental warmth (acceptance-rejection)For the past 20 years Baumrind conducted a series of researches to identify parental behavior and its association with children's behavior. She obtained two major dimensions which included demanding behaviour and responsiveness, which are pertinent in understanding parenting styles. Demandingness, is defined as the amount of degree of control the parents attempt to exert over the child. Parental responsiveness defined as the frequency of parental interactions. It also refers to being sensitive to children's has needs, warmly supportive of their efforts and broadly interested in what they are thinking, feeling and doing.Parenthood is neither simple nor a very complicated process and is based on the perception and the discharge of responsibilities in this phase of parent's lives. …

Home and preschool learning environments and their relations to the development of early numeracy skills

One purpose of this chapter is to present some insights from the Chicago human-capital school of economics that offers justification of psychological research and educational practices focused on the stimulation of students by adults within and outside the ordinary school setting. A second purpose is to summarize and bring up to date the Walberg and Marjoribanks (1976) review “Family Environment and Cognitive Development: Twelve Analytic Models.” The earlier review discusses the ability and achievement correlations with family size, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and other various sociological-status and psychological-behavioral indicators. This chapter stresses the parallel between home and school learning environments and the need for research along with other such causally implicated variables as the quality and quantity of instruction, the social-psychological environments of the class and peer group, and student ability and motivation. The third purpose of the chapter is to summarize and discuss quantitative syntheses of studies relating abilities and educational achievement to socioeconomic status and home environment, including home-based reinforcement, home instruction, and general educational and psychological characteristics of the home.

This study investigated the relationship between home and classroom learning environment characteristics and middle school students' self-efficacy beliefs about mathematics. Specifically, the study examined linkages between sources of efficacy in the home and classroom learning environments and the strength of students' self-efficacy beliefs in mathematics. Social cognitive theory includes self-efficacy beliefs as a major source of human agency and functioning (Bandura, 1997). Enactive mastery experiences, vicarious learning (modeling), verbal persuasion, and physiological/affective states (emotional arousal) are four sources of human efficacy. While numerous studies have been completed linking self-efficacy to learning and achievement (Pajares, 1996b), no studies within schools were found that examined linkages between environmental/experiential sources of efficacy beliefs described as important within current self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1997). Further, how these sources contributed, either singularly or in combination, or within and across home and school environments, to self-efficacy, was not known. Eighth grade mathematics students (n = 663) in 44 mathematics classes in 6 randomly selected schools from two large, urban, southeastern school districts participated in the study. Original measures were developed to operationalize the independent variables (perceptions of home and classroom learning environment factors contributing to the development and strengthening of self-efficacy beliefs) and the dependent variables (eighth grade students academic self-efficacy beliefs about mathematics, self-efficacy effort and persistence, and self-efficacy outcome expectations). Likewise, a new response format which represents a more clear and direct operational definition of the self-efficacy belief construct was developed. Results of the study show empirical linkages between students' perceptions of classroom and home learning environment events and characteristics, and the events and characteristics which strengthen students self-efficacy beliefs in eighth grade mathematics. The results supported Bandura's (1997) discussions of how important environmental events and experiential factors influence the development and strengthening of self-efficacy beliefs. Other results of the study suggested that eighth grade mathematics students as a group, have self-efficacy beliefs that are relatively specific to different mathematics domains (arithmetic, fractions, and equations). The study has implications for educational measurement, social cognitive theory, and educational practice through the arranging of functioning environments that contribute to the development of students' academic self-efficacy beliefs, in a critical curricula area, mathematics.

Funds of Knowledge (FoK) is a form of research in which families’ practices inform education. Unfortunately, neoliberalism minimizes understanding families’ assets because educators must transmit standardized knowledge for tests. In Appalachia, grappling with complex knowledge is challenging because of the opioid crisis. Through Bakhtin’s theory of polyvocality, this case study examined how White pre-service teachers (PSTs) in rural Appalachia attempted to “grapple” with FoK during student teaching and in diversified settings after graduation. Findings showed that teacher educators sought to promote FoK but PSTs thought about the children and families they worked with in rural and Appalachian settings through a deficit lens. Former PSTs that remained in rural and Appalachian contexts presented emergent knowledge of FoK yet framed their White students as “traumatized.” Those who moved to urban/suburban contexts with many students of color focused on behaviors and did not discuss FoK. Suggestions for policymakers and teacher educators are included.

A child’s home environment has been shown to be related to the development of early numeracy skills in some countries. However, significant relationships between home learning environment and math achievement have not consistently been found, and likely vary across different cultural and socio-political contexts. Here we explored the home environment and early numeracy skills of 243 children (3-5 years), who were not attending preschool programmes in very low-income settings in Cape Town, South Africa. Caregivers completed a questionnaire including information regarding experiences of children in the home; children completed a number identification task, a counting task and the Give-N task. The amount of resources in the home learning environment (e.g. the number of books and toys), frequency of home learning activities caregivers did with their children, and caregiver levels of education and income were not associated with number knowledge. While the home learning environment has been shown to be important for developing early numeracy skills in previous research, this study suggests that factors other than the home learning environment may also be important targets to foster numeracy skills and school readiness in low-income settings in South Africa.

This practitioner inquiry explored the perceptions and applications of students' funds of knowledge (FoK) by carceral mathematics educators in a California alternative education program. Carceral classrooms have not benefited from the application of the FoK approach, which incorporates students' home and community learning into classroom learning. This research aimed to open the door to FoK applications for carceral practitioners, bringing together nine colleagues, including myself, fellow teachers, and other staff, into a community of practice that met over the course of an academic semester. Data collection was done through

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are the core of the digital economy and could be important catalysts for progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which can improve people's lives. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognises the great potential of global connectivity to accelerate human progress. ICT has become an integral part of educational development as it enhances the efficiency and productivity of both teaching and learning of any subject. Though remarkable progress has been made in terms of access to ICT integrated education in South Africa, the issue of its reaching every rural school student and teacher has not been resolved. Against this backdrop, this paper looks at learning environments and the use of ICTs in rural schools in the Eastern Cape, a rural South African province, through an empirical quantitative study; and calls for creating sustainable learning environments through the effective implementation and use of ICTs. Data on the learning environments in Eastern Cape schools were collected from three different sources. A sample of university students and school teachers provided information on the ICT environment in schools. Government reports on ICT integrated teaching that shed light on the vision and planning of the creation of sustainable learning environments in rural education contexts, were also analysed. It is concluded that computer access and other forms of technology have dramatically increased in South Africa, however, the level of classroom utilization of technology does not correlate with this significant rise in rural schools. This calls for audacious investments to be accomplished in two major aspects: networking the classrooms with internet facilities and equipping the teachers with ICT implementation in the classrooms. Only then can sustainable learning environments in the rural schools be comprehended in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) in South Africa.

This descriptive-predictive study examined the interplay among learning environment factors (school, home, and community), familial factors (socioeconomic status and family relations), and academic achievement of 186 randomly selected Generation Z (Gen Z) learners. Factorial analysis demonstrated significant impacts of school and home learning environments on science academic achievement, while the community environment, in isolation, lacked significant effect. Interaction effects emphasized synergies between school and community, as well as school and home environments. However, there was an absence of a three-way interaction, suggesting limited combined impact. Analysis of data further unveiled a significant, large main effect of family relations on academic achievement, while economic and social status showed no significant impact. The interaction between family relations and social status was statistically significant which indicates a more substantial combined influence on science academic achievement than individual factors. Multiple linear regression analysis identified four significant predictors – positive family relations, higher family social status, and robust home, and community support – contributing to a model explaining 49.4% of variance in their science academic achievement. These results emphasize the importance of nurturing home and community environments, alongside fostering strong family relationships, as pivotal factors in Generation Z learners' academic pursuits.

This article brings a novel perspective to the relationship between the physical dimensions of Home Learning Environments (HLE) and young people's learning motivations during COVID-19 pandemic in UK.The architectural/physical focus of this investigation helps orient the reader to the literature/expertise I draw on.Based on 28 young people (16-18 years-old), the article evidences that comparing the HLE with the School Learning Environment (SLE), participants recognised the value of peer pressure and social learning environment to enhance learning motivations.Most participants found little use in home-schooling and wanted to return to in-person teaching.Students who adjusted the physical dimensions of the HLE were more motivated, especially if they had a private, semi-dedicated, or dedicated HLE.The article ends by exploring how the home-schooling experience during the COVID-19 pandemic offers an opportunity to re-imagine HLE as a complementary learning environment to SLE, motivate young people to learn and support independent learning activities.

The present study is based on longitudinal data from a German early childhood education and care (ECEC) governmental initiative assessing children's grammatical and vocabulary development between 2;6 and 4;0 years (N = 1,331), quality of the home learning environment and quality of the preschool setting. Results showed that the quality of the home learning environment predicted development in grammatical skills, but not in receptive vocabulary at age 4, while the effects of preschool process quality showed similar relative impacts on both language outcomes. Further analyses revealed effects of accumulated advantages of preschool quality for children from medium‐ and high‐quality home learning environments in their vocabulary development. The results are compared with previous findings from the German ECEC context and discussed with respect to implications for policy efforts to improve ECEC quality and ways in which both learning environments act together on children's development.

Teacher qualifications, classroom practices, family characteristics, and preschool experience: Complex effects on first graders' vocabulary and early reading outcomes

Weak foundations in Arabic literacy: Drivers of learning poverty in Jordan