Portuguese-Canadians and academic underachievement, a community-based participatory research project

grantor: University of TorontoFor decades, Portuguese-Canadian children in Toronto have been underachieving in disproportionate numbers. Yet, little scholarly attention has been focussed on this group. Existing educational studies have been limited to school practices. They have not examined the larger-world social, cultural, political and economic context in which Portuguese-Canadians, live, nor its influence on their education. These have also failed to seek out the opinions of Luso-Canadians or ground their findings on existing research on minority underachievement. The present study utilized a participatory-research, community-development approach to describe the important issues which are affecting Luso-Canadians. Comprising a first-ever, nation-wide needs assessment of Luso-Canadians, this 3-year project was entirely developed, realized and disseminated by community members. Data was collected from the 1991 census, 18 focus groups were conducted across Canada by local volunteers and a 14-page survey was distributed to community associations, churches and media. The results showed that Luso-Canadians have substantially lower education and average income levels than other immigrants. Participants identified education issues as having greatest importance for their community, particularly the lack of English or French, the academic underachievement of youth and a lack of participation in job retraining. They also described the ways in which the Portuguese in Canada are educationally, economically, socially, culturally and politically marginalized and detailed how these limitations contribute to the underachievement problem. Finally, they discussed the roles of community, parental and mainstream attitudes in perpetuating these issues. Ultimately, a picture has emerged of a community which is facing the twin prospects of ' social reproduction'--where disproportionate numbers of young people are entering the marginalized socioeconomic roles of their parents--and ' cultural annihilation', in the smaller and more remote communities, due to language loss. This study also illustrated how the prevailing theory of minority underachievement John Ogbu's "Cultural-Ecological Theory of School Performance," (Caste Theory) fails to account for the academic difficulties of Portuguese-Canadians. These are best explained by the ideas of Paulo Freire, which describe the dynamics between dominant and subordinate societal groups. The pedagogical implications of adopting a "Freireian" approach to underachievement might shift the focus of educational strategies from simply decrying educational barriers to developing the capacity of Luso-Canadians to recognize and overcome their "limit-situations."Ph.D