Exploring parental involvement and home-school relations in Irish immersion education: Integrating multiple perspectives

This article describes qualitative findings from a mixed methods exploratory study of parental involvement in the heritage immersion context of Ireland. The research aimed to provide an in-depth analysis of the nature of home-school relations in this less usual educational setting. Three studies were designed in order to address this objective. Study 1 was a mixed methods investigation of the topic from the perspective of parents, involving a series of in-depth interviews and a self-report parental involvement survey. Study 2 was a qualitative exploration of educators’ experiences of parental involvement in an immersion setting. Study 3 was also qualitative in design and explored the topic at hand from the perspectives of immersion pupils. Findings indicated that there are distinct challenges to parental involvement in the context where the language of the home and the language of the school differ. Implications for practice in immersion schools are considered.