Events

This conference is organized by the Asia Research Institute; with funding support from the Center for Family and Population Research at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore.

Educational resilience (also called academic resilience) for an individual refers to academic competence despite being high risk or stressful environments (Martin, 2002; Masten, 1994). Understanding the processes involved in achieving academic resilience could provide theoretical and policy relevant tools for breaking the intergenerational cycle of poor academic achievement, poor job prospects and poverty for those less privileged individuals.

We propose to organize a conference to invite leading scholars to investigate the pathways to educational resilience, particularly focus on protective factors specific to Asian contexts that can buffer the negative effects of low socio-economic status, dysfunctional, or migrant family environments on Asian children’s educational outcomes. Currently, the booming economy and the large population (4.6 billion — more than a half of the world) make the study of Asia more important than ever. In addition, a series of challenging problems such as large poverty rate, uneven distribution of resources between regions, rural poor migrating to cities, and high family divorce rates may adversely shape children’s educational development through influencing their family resources, functioning and circumstances. Family, as the most influential system plays critical roles in individual’s development. Therefore, eliminating/ reducing the pile-up of family risk factors and improving family’s capacity to promote resilience development of Asian children faced with these challenging life circumstances are meaningful and necessary.

The conference aims to offer an excellent opportunity for scholars to put their unique cases in contexts, to learn from other countries, and ultimately to develop new research agendas and methodologies for further comparative research on the issue.

This conference will bring together family scholars to examine the following themes:

1. Investigate the salient factors that ‘protect’ children from the negative influences of poor, migrant or divorce family environments on educational outcomes in Asian context.
2. Examine the effectiveness of educational resilience intervention programs delivery in Asian countries.
3. Compare the effects of protective factors on children’s educational outcomes across Asian countries.

We call for papers that use either qualitative or quantitative method to examine these issues. Cross-national comparisons and longitudinal studies are particularly welcome. We will focus on Asian context, but not limited to the Asian context. Some comparisons between eastern and western will be encouraged. Researchers can include other non-family factors that help us to further understand the role of family relative to these non-family factors. Thus everyone can include their non-family factors of interest, but they must ensure that family is one of the major concerns in their paper.

References:
Martin, A. (2002). Motivation and Academic Resilience: Developing a Model for Student Enhancement. Australian Journal of Education, 46(1), 34-49.
Masten, A. S. (1994). Resilience in Individual Development: Successful Adaption Despite Risk and Adversity, in M. C. Wang & E. W. Gordon (Eds.), Educational Resilience in Inner-city America: Challenges and Prospects (pp.3-25). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

REGISTRATION

Admission is free, however registration is required. Kindly register early as seats are available on a first come, first serve basis. Please email Valerie at valerie.yeo@nus.edu.sg to indicate your interest to attend the event.

CONTACT DETAILS

Conference Conveners

Dr Haibin LI
Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore
E | arilih@nus.edu.sg

Prof Wei-Jun Jean YEUNG
Asia Research Institute, and Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore
E | ariywj@nus.edu.sg

Secretariat

Ms Valerie YEO
Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore
E | valerie.yeo@nus.edu.sg