Kidist Teklemariam

This thesis addresses the gap between schools' stated commitment in England to fostering family engagement and the lived reality of disconnection and alienation reported by many migrant and refugee families who participated in this research. Drawing on fieldwork in Northern England, the study argues that disconnection stems less from parental aspiration than from a self-reinforcing cycle of misrecognition. Schools often view engagement as visible, school-facing involvement, while families’ educational labour often occurs through home routines, moral guidance, and community-based problem-solving. This cycle is exacerbated when communication is inaccessible and when UK migration governance undermines families’ sense of safety in institutional interactions. Using a constructivist paradigm, this study applies Charmaz’s constructive grounded theory to examine the conditions underpinning partnership. Data were gathered through in-depth semi-structured interviews with 23 participants representing the engagement ecosystem, including migrant- and refugee-background parents, children and young people, secondary school staff, and community leaders. The analysis produced three interrelated conceptual categories. First, conceptual misalignment refers to divergent definitions of engagement, including different understandings of authority, respect, and family roles. Second, multifaceted engagement shows how families sustain learning through collective and adaptive out-of-school strategies, even when these efforts remain institutionally invisible. Third, support systems highlight the uneven and often precarious ecologies of assistance. Young people often serve as linguistic and cultural brokers, while Ethnic and Migrant Community Groups (EMCGs) form a vital yet fragile shadow infrastructure that supports access, interpretation, and trust. The thesis introduces the Partnership Empowerment Model (PEM) as its main contribution. PEM redefines engagement as a four-way partnership among students, families, schools, and community organisations, making trust a foundational design condition rather than just a desirable outcome. Grounded in the principles of Recognition, Reciprocity, and Trust, the model offers a practical framework for moving from deficit-oriented, school-centric involvement to shared responsibility, safer participation, and more resilient educational communities. It outlines partnership routines, communication practices, and resourcing principles to support effective collaboration.

Community education sustains the academic trajectories of many refugee and migrant learners, yet this essential work is often under-recognised within the formal frameworks of school-family partnership agendas. This disconnect creates a cycle of misrecognition, eroded trust, and what this study terms “parallel working”: schools, families, and community groups strive to provide support but do so in disconnected silos. Drawing on a Constructivist Grounded Theory study with families, students, school staff, and community groups in Northern England, this article theorises community actors as “structural mediators” who repair trust but whose support remains unevenly distributed, creating a “lottery of opportunity”. In response, this article introduces the Partnership Empowerment Model (PEM), a model for empowerment and co-design. The PEM reframes engagement as a four-way partnership between the school, the family, community organisations, and the students themselves. Guided by the core principles of recognition, reciprocity, and trust, the model is designed to formalise collaboration, reduce stress on teachers, and integrate structural mediators into a cohesive educational ecosystem. By moving from parallel working to shared responsibility, the PEM offers a pathway to improve academic access and outcomes in diverse contexts.