Date of Award
2018
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (EdD)
Department
School of Education
Abstract
The "typical" American family is becoming more diverse with more families encompassing different configurations of individuals, such as blended families, multi-generational families, foster families, and single parent families (Lambie, 2011). This research study used qualitative research methods (teacher interviews) to investigate the extent to which teachers in a Catholic school received training on collaborating with non-traditional families and family diversity. Additionally, this study investigated the perceptions teachers had about working with foster families, kinship care-givers, grandparents raising grandchildren, and divorced parents and whether these perceptions changed after receiving a brief professional development on working with these types of families. Although the sample size was small, the results of this study suggested that the participants slightly increased their out-reach practices to non-traditional families after receiving a short-training related to working with non-traditional families. Teachers in the study also reported increased cultural sensitivity and a better understanding of working with different types of families following the in-person training.
Recommended Citation
Kilfoyle, Bonnie, "Teachers' Perceptions of and Collaboration Practices with Non-Traditional Families" (2018). Dissertations. 3343.
https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/3343
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2018 Bonnie Kilfoyle
