Angie 2023

Adjusting to Change: School-related Practices and Perceptions in Moldovan and Ukrainian Transnational Families

Daniela Angi

---

Article information

---

Abstract

This paper discusses parents’ and children’s perspectives on the challenges that parental migration generates for children’s school performance and activities, with a focus on transnational families from the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. The study is based on interviews and focus-groups with children, migrant parents and parents who stayed at home to look after the young ones. Results show that school-related difficulties are sensitive to post-migration circumstances back home, largely derived from the absence of only one or of both parents, while also affirming the overall resilience of children in relation to their education.

Keywords:

education, transnational families, labour migration, children, parental absence, Moldova, Ukraine.

 

---

References

Amuedo-Dorantes, C., Pozo, S. (2010). “Accounting for remittance and migration effects on children’s schooling”. World Development 38(12): 1747-1759. 

Antman, F. M. (2012). “Gender, educational attainment, and the impact of parental migration on children left behind”. Journal of Population Economics 25(4): 1187-1214.

Antman, F. M. (2013). “The impact of migration on family left behind”. In Constant, A. F., Zimmermann, K. F. (eds.). International Handbook on the Economics of Migration. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 293-308.

Arguillas, M. J. B., Williams, L. (2010). “The impact of parents’ overseas employment on educational outcomes of Filipino children”. International Migration Review 44(2): 300-319.

Baldassar, L., Kilkey, M., Merla, L., Wilding, R. (2014). “Transnational Families”. In: Treas, J., Scott, J. Richards M. (ed.). The Wiley Blackwell Companion to the Sociology of Families. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, pp. 155-175.

Botezat, A., Pfeiffer, F. (2020). “The impact of parental labour migration on left‐behind children’s educational and psychosocial outcomes: Evidence from Romania”. Population, Space and Place 26(2): e2277.

Borodchuk, N., Cherenko, L. (2021). “Child poverty and disparities in Ukraine. UNICEF Ukraine and Ptoukha Institute for Demography and Social Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine”. https://www.unicef.org/ukraine/en/child-poverty-and-disparities-ukraine, accessed May 21st, 2023.

Braun, V., Clarke, V. (2006). “Using thematic analysis in psychology”. Qualitative Research in Psychology 3(2): 77-101.

Bryceson, D. F. (2019). “Transnational families negotiating migration and care life cycles across nation-state borders”. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 45(16): 3042-3064.

Castro, M., Expósito-Casas, E., López-Martín, E., Lizasoain, L., Navarro-Asencio, E., Gaviria, J. L. (2015). “Parental involvement on student academic achievement: A meta-analysis. Educational Research Review 14: 33-46.

Cebotari, V., Siegel, M., Mazzucato, V. (2016). “Migration and the education of children who stay behind in Moldova and Georgia”. International Journal of Educational Development 51: 96-107.

Clifton-Sprigg, J. M. (2019). “Out of sight, out of mind? The education outcomes of children with parents working abroad”. Oxford Economic Papers 71(1): 73-94.

Cooper, H., Lindsay, J. J., Nye, B. (2000). “Homework in the home: How student, family, and parenting-style differences relate to the homework process”. Contemporary Educational Psychology 25(4): 464–487. 

Desforges, C., Abouchaar, A. (2003). “The Impact of Parental Involvement, Parental Support and Family Education on Pupil Achievements and Adjustment: A Literature Review. Research Report No. 433. Department for Education and Skills”.https://www.nationalnumeracy.org.uk/sites/

default/files/documents/impact_of_parental_involvement/the_impact_of_parental_involvement.pdf, accessed May 17th, 2023.

Dreby, J. (2007). “Children and power in Mexican transnational families”. Journal of Marriage and Family 69(4): 1050-1064.

Dreby, J. (2010). Divided by borders: Mexican migrants and their children. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Ducu, V., Hărăguş, M., Angi, D., Telegdi-Csetri, Á. (2023). “Asserting children’s rights through the digital practices of transnational families”. Family Relations 72(2): 458-477.

Gassmann, F., Siegel, M., Vanore, M., Waidler, J. (2013). “The impact of migration on children left behind in Moldova”. MERIT Working Paper 2013 – 043, United Nations University – Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology. 

Giannelli, G. C., Mangiavacchi, L. (2010). “Children’s schooling and parental migration: Empirical evidence on the ‘left‐behind’ generation in Albania”. Labour 24(s1): 76-92.

Ginsburg, G. S., Bronstein, P. (1993). “Family factors related to children’s intrinsic/extrinsic motivational orientation and academic performance”. Child Development 64(5): 1461-1474.

Gonida, E. N., Cortina, K. S. (2014). “Parental involvement in homework: Relations with parent and student achievement‐related motivational beliefs and achievement”. British Journal of Educational Psychology 84(3): 376-396.

Grolnick, W. S., Slowiaczek, M. L. (1994). “Parents’ involvement in children’s schooling: A multidimensional conceptualization and motivational model”. Child Development 65(1): 237–252.  

Hill, N. E., Castellino, D. R., Lansford, J. E., Nowlin, P., Dodge, K. A., Bates, J. E., Pettit, G. S. (2004). “Parent academic involvement as related to school behavior, achievement, and aspirations: Demographic variations across adolescence.” Child Development 75(5): 1491-1509.

Hill, N. E., Taylor, L. C. (2004). “Parental School Involvement and Children’s Academic Achievement: Pragmatics and Issues”. Current Directions in Psychological Science 13(4): 161–164.  

Hill, N. E., Tyson, D. F. (2009). “Parental involvement in middle school: A meta-analytic assessment of the strategies that promote achievement”. Developmental Psychology 45(3): 740–763.  

Hoover-Dempsey, K. V., Battiano, A. C., Walker, J. M. T., Reed, R. P., DeJong, J. M., Jones, K. P. (2001). “Parental involvement in homework”. Educational Psychologist 36(3): 195–209.

Jeynes, W. H. (2005). “Effects of parental involvement and family structure on the academic achievement of adolescents”. Marriage & Family Review 37(3): 99-116.

Jordan, L. P., Dito, B., Nobles, J., Graham, E. (2018). “Engaged parenting, gender, and children’s time use in transnational families: An assessment spanning three global regions”. Population, Space and Place 24(7): e2159.

Kandel, W. (2003). “The impact of US migration on Mexican children’s educational attainment”. In Cosio M., Marcoux, R., Pilon, M., Quesnel, A. (ed.). Education, Family and Population Dynamics. Paris: CICRED, pp. 305-328.

Kandel, W., Kao, G. (2001). “The Impact of Temporary Labor Migration on Mexican Children’s Educational Aspirations and Performance”. International Migration Review 35(4): 1205–1231. 

Kim, S. W. (2018). How and why fathers are involved in their children’s education: Gendered model of parent involvement. Educational Review 70(3): 280-299.

Kim, S. W., & Hill, N. E. (2015). “Including fathers in the picture: A meta-analysis of parental involvement and students’ academic achievement”. Journal of Educational Psychology 107(4), 919–934. 

Lu, Y. (2014). “Parental migration and education of left‐behind children: A comparison of two settings”. Journal of Marriage and Family 76(5): 1082-1098.

Madianou, M. (2014). “Polymedia communication and mediatized migration: An ethnographic approach”. In: Lundby, K. (ed.) Mediatization of Communication. Handbooks of Communication Science. Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter Mounton, pp. 323–348.

Mazzucato, V., Schans, D. (2011). “Transnational families and the well-being of children: Conceptual and methodological challenges”. Journal of Marriage and the Family 73(4): 704-712.

McKenzie, D., & Rapoport, H. (2011). “Can migration reduce educational attainment? Evidence from Mexico”. Journal of Population Economics 24(4): 1331-1358.

Moroni, S., Dumont, H., Trautwein, U., Niggli, A., Baeriswyl, F. (2015). “The need to distinguish between quantity and quality in research on parental involvement: The example of parental help with homework”. The Journal of Educational Research 108(5): 417–431.

Patall, E. A., Cooper, H., Robinson, J. C. (2008). “Parent involvement in homework: A research synthesis”. Review of Educational Research 78(4): 1039-1101. 

Pomerantz, E. M., Moorman, E. A., Litwack, S. D. (2007). “The How, Whom, and Why of Parents’ Involvement in Children’s Academic Lives: More Is Not Always Better”. Review of Educational Research 77(3): 373–410.  

Robila, M. (2011). “Parental migration and children’s outcomes in Romania”. Journal of Child and Family Studies 20(3): 326-333.

Schapiro, N. A., Kools, S. M., Weiss, S. J., Brindis, C. D. (2013). “Separation and reunification: The experiences of adolescents living in transnational families”. Current Problems in Pediatric and Adolescent Health Care 43(3): 48-68. 

Udrea, G., Guiu, G. (2022). “The Impact of Parents’ Work Migration on the Social, Communication and Educational Experiences of Left-Behind Adolescents”. Central and Eastern European Migration Review 11(2) 101-117.

UNICEF Moldova. (2021). “COVID-19 impact on the remittances. Assessment of coping mechanisms of families with children from the Republic of Moldova. UNICEF Moldova”. https://www.unicef.org/moldova/en/reports/covid-19-impact-remittances, accessed May 18th, 2023. 

Vanore, M., Mazzucato, V., Siegel, M. (2015). :‘“Left behind’ but not left alone: parental migration & the psychosocial health of children in Moldova”. Social Science & Medicine 132: 252-260.

Wen, M., Lin, D. (2012). “Child development in rural China: children left behind by their migrant parents and children of non-migrant families”. Child Development 83(1): 120–36.

Yang, D. (2008). “International migration, remittances and household investment: Evidence from Philippine migrants’ exchange rate shocks”. The Economic Journal 118(528): 591-630.

Zentgraf, K. M., Chinchilla, N. S. (2012). “Transnational family separation: A framework for analysis”. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 38(2): 345-366.