Abstract:

Asylum seekers from different African countries live in Israel on and off for about two decades. Despite this long time, children of these communities start the kindergartens in a significant setback in most of the development areas (language skills, fine motor skills, entry behavior, group participation and problem solving). The kindergartens are the mediator for establishing developmental abilities. The kindergarten teachers, pre service teachers and novice therapists rankings towards the entrance to the school, are predictors of academic achievements in the primary classes (Morgan et al. 2019). The Participation of parents in educational activities, their involvement in the educational processes, in practice and implementation of a treatment plan, accelerates the progress and closing gaps of their children. Another benefit of the parents' participation means that they increase their community netweb and cultural participation.

In a reality of poverty, long working hours and a sense of alienation from some of the staff, parental participation is rare. This has an effect on the opinions of pre service teachers and therapists on the parental functioning and the social perception of the group of these asylum seekers.

This qualitative study examines by interviews the perceptions of 12 veteran kindergarten teachers, pre service teachers and novice therapists, regarding of the parental function in the community of asylum seekers. The interviewees described cases and dilemmas from their work. The cases underwent content analysis in order to find common themes.

The findings reveal 4 common themes regarding parental function:
- The indifferent apprentice
- Indecisive customer
- The patient
- The partner

The study has a theoretical and practical contribution, and its findings may be used by educators, Institutions for the training of kindergarten teachers and therapists, regarding appropriate actions for reaching out in order to promote the participation and involvement of parents in educational settings.

References:
[1] Morgan, P.L., Farkas, G., Hillemeier ,M.M, Pun, W.H., Maczuga, S.(2019) Kindergarten children's executive functions predict their second-grade academic achievement and behavior. Child Development, vol 90(5), 1802-1816

Keywords:

Asylum seekers, parental functioning, teachers perception of parents.