Friday 25 November 2022. 12:30pm - 1:00pm

Kwesi Yaro 1a, Ann Anderson 2b

Locating a third space: Black/African immigrants’ involvement strategy for supporting children’s mathematics learning in Canada

Contact Author: Kwesi Yaro (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

a Department of Secondary Education, University of Alberta, Alberta, Edmonton T6G 2G5, Canada

b Department Curriculum and Pedagogy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4, Canada

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

In recent times, Canada has seen an upsurge in migration with African/Black immigrants forming 3.5% of Canada’s population (Statistics Canada, 2016). Despite this growth, their experiences are often absorbed into other minority groups. The growing trend in the African/Black immigrants’ population and its consequent cultural diversity further places a responsibility on school teachers and curriculum developers to address issues of ethnicity, culture, and language in various school subjects, including mathematics. The guiding question for this presentation is; how do African immigrant families supports their children’s (10–15-year-olds) mathematics learning in Canada as they navigate through transitional times?

This study draws on the theoretical concept of hybridity or third space to elucidate African immigrant experiences in dealing with home-school discontinuities in supporting their children’s math learning in Canada. Hybridity or third space displaces conceptual boundaries between discourses that are generally seen as distinct (Gutiérrez et al., 1999; Planas, 2011) and, acknowledges contesting or conflicting opinions, knowledge or understanding. Hybridity advances the call for pedagogical approaches that bridge the gap between official (school) and unofficial (home) practices in children’s development and learning (López-Robertson & Schramm-Pate, 2013). In this study, we frame parents’ ability to accommodate some practices or beliefs from both cultural contexts (home and host country) as an indication of them creating or locating a third space or hybridising practices to support their children’s mathematics learning in Canada.