A CAREGIVER'S PERSPECTIVE ON FACTORS THAT PROMOTES ACADEMIC RESILIENCE IN CHILDREN FROM LOW-INCOME FAMILIES

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the factors that impact a child’s academic resilience based on the ecological framework, amongst caregivers of children who have attained academic success despite living in challenging economic situations. The study investigates the concept of grit and other values and principles that caregivers believe is important promoting academic resilience in their children. It also uncovers specific parenting practices that the caregivers use to contribute to the academic resilience present in their children. With high demands from the education system in Singapore, children of low-income families find it hard to cope with limited resources and support systems. Also, current intervention such as the Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) program may not seem to be building on to the agentic roles of these children. Hence, this explains the significance of this research in building on to the agentic role of these children through enhancing the academic resilience in children in facing these high levels of challenges. It is also to provide a voice for the caregivers in supporting their own children. To have a deeper understanding the personal experiences of their circumstances, semi-structured interviews are conducted using a purposive sampling of caregivers with children who have attained academic success using the positive deviance model. A compilation of the findings is collated to enable practitioners to support low-income families. It is found that the concept of grit is not ontological, but learned from principles and specific parenting practices that the caregivers inculcate to their children. The strong emphasis on the relational interaction between caregivers and their children is found to be highly linked to their academic resilience and success.