Strategies for Dealing with Conflicts in Value Positions between Home and School: Influences on Ethnic Minority Students’ Development of Motives and Identity

Abstract

A theoretical model is presented in which participation in the school community is viewed as a multifaceted activity. In this model, culture is conceptualized as traditions of practice and as a societal field. The school practice and the role of the family and their differences in value positions about school life are interpreted as a central factor for children’s involvement and participation in school practice and for the type of conflict they may face. The type of conflict and the individual’s strategy for dealing with it influence the children’s development of motives and identity. Discrepancies and conflicts between Turkish-Danish students’ motives and their parents’ value positions about school life are analysed to see how this influences young persons’ feelings of well-being and development of motives and competencies. The analyses draw on (a) interviews with Turkish-Danish youth about their school life, friends, subject matter learning, family and future plans, and (b) interviews with parents about their conception of their children’s school life and future.