What is South-Asian parents’ understanding of their child’s SEND and their experiences of working with educational professionals in England? A systematic review

Brar, Sukhjagat, Cooke, Tim and Strogilos, Vasilis (2024) What is South-Asian parents’ understanding of their child’s SEND and their experiences of working with educational professionals in England? A systematic review. BERA Conference 2024 and WERA Focal Meeting, , Manchester. 08 - 12 Sep 2024.

Abstract

Despite the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (1992) emphasis on the rights of all children, irrespective of religion, language, abilities, ethnicity or gender, individuals with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) from culturally diverse backgrounds still face significant challenges. There children are usually the "least often heard and most often excluded" (Department for Health, 2009, p.14). Children from minority ethnic backgrounds experience discrimination and social injustice, encountering a ‘double disadvantage’ in accessing support and opportunities in the UK due to both their educational needs and minority ethnic status (Fazil et al. 2002; Singh & Orimalade 2009).
Research focusing on South-Asian parents is very limited despite South-Asians being the largest ethnic minority group in the UK (Office for National Statistics, 2020). Emerson et al. (2004) studied mothers’ experiences of having a child with SEND in the UK across different ethnic backgrounds. They found that South-Asian mothers scored highest on psychological distress questionnaire, suggesting poorer overall wellbeing, in comparison to parents from white and black ethnic backgrounds. Additionally, South-Asian parents with a child with SEND face greater financial and social deprivation compared to white British families (Emerson et al., 2004).
Heer et al. (2012) also found that service uptake remains low among South-Asian parents despite the SEND prevalence being three times higher compared to other ethnic minorities in the UK. This, coupled with South-Asian parents’ limited understanding of SEND and the Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) process (Daley, 2004), highlights the high levels of unmet needs of South-Asian parents raising a child with SEND in the UK (Durá-Vilá et al., 2009). For instance, speech delays are often perceived as part of typical language development, potentially leading to delayed diagnosis and impacting children’s access to educational support (Hatton et al., 2003). Stigma and rejection from the local community, with poor cultural awareness from service providers, contribute to South-Asian parents' challenges, sometimes resulting in disengagement from available support (Akbar & Woods, 2019).
While some previous systematic literature reviews have included the experiences of South-Asian parents around mental health (Shafiq, 2020), developmental difficulties (Heer, 2012), or social care (Greenwood et al., 2015), no previous systematic literature review has focused on South-Asian parents’ experiences with educational professionals in the UK. Such a review can identify helpful and unhelpful support with strong implications for educational professionals for culturally and linguistically competent service delivery Therefore, the current review aims to explore South-Asian parents’ experiences of having a child with SEND when working with educational professionals in the UK. .
The research questions are:
•What is South-Asian parents’ understanding of their child’s SEND?
•What are South-Asian parents’ experiences of working with educational professionals in England?
Five databases were used PsycINFO, ERIC, Web of Science, British Education Index, and Dissertations and Theses Global (ProQuest). The inclusion criteria for eligible studies included: a) studies with empirical data in English, Panjabi, Hindi or Urdu; b) studies from 1996 to 2023; b) studies related to South-Asian parents’ experiences with educational professionals; c) published and unpublished studies. Eleven qualitative studies conducted between 1999-2023 were included in this review, consisting of Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan and Indian parents. All the studies were quality-assessed using the Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP, Lachal et al., 2017). For data synthesis, a descriptive-interpretative approach was selected as the main epistemological framework. This was aided by a four-stage thematic analysis (Braun et al., 2019). The stages involved: reading and summarising the studies, generating initial codes, forming global themes to answering the research questions. This resulted in forming three analytical themes: ‘difficulty journey in understanding and accepting SEND’, ‘parental wellbeing within a cultural and religious context’ and ‘experiences of educational systems and professionals’.
A preliminary analysis of the findings has shown that South-Asian parents conceptualise their child’s SEND from a medical model. Religion acts as a transformative agent, empowering parents to moving away from feelings of stigma and shame to becoming advocates of their child ‘s SEND. Implications for educational professionals highlight the current gap between South-Asian parents and available support due to lack of culturally and linguistically competent services. Educational professionals such as, educational psychologists can play an integral role in bridging the gap through collaborative work with South-Asian parents and other educational professionals such as Special Education Needs Co-Ordinators and teachers. Practical implications and implications for policy and practice will be discussed.

References 250 words
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Author: Vasilis Strogilos

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