Montserratian mothers’ and English teachers’ perceptions of teaching and learning

After the explosion of a previously dormant volcano in Montserrat (an island in the Caribbean, in the Leeward Islands of the West Indies, overseas territory of the UK) in 1996, about 3000 people emigrated to England. As the children settled into English schools, the pattern of underachievement observed with previous West Indian immigrants started to repeat itself. However, a new fact emerged: Montserratian parents were unhappy with the standards of mathematics and science in English schools, which they considered low. This paper reports a case study of how two Montserratian mothers and their four children perceived English schools. The parents, a Montserratian and an English teacher were interviewed about their views of teaching and learning. The parents were also videotaped while helping their children with homework; the English teacher watched one of these tapes and commented on the session.The interviews and videos were analysed by themes. The interpretation of the themes identified in the interviews was later checked against the events in the homework sessions. Different implicit conceptions of school emerged from the analysis: Montserratian schools appear to fit an ‘interdependent’ style of socialisation whereas English schools fit a more ‘independent’ style. These implicit conceptions of schooling resulted in misunderstandings between teachers and parents, who did not perceive each other as truly helping the children. Differences were also observed in implicit teaching and learning aims. These differences seem to explain the Montserratian parents’ perceptions of a low standard of work being asked of their children in English schools.It is suggested that teachers of immigrant children would find it useful to understand pupils’ and parents’ implicit conceptions of schools when they receive immigrants in their community. Their communication with parents might work better if it fits with the parental expectations and parents have time to learn the ways of schooling in the host country.