Publication details
Czech Nannies as Educators and Teachers for Vietnamese Second Generation Immigrant Children in the Czech Republic
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2013 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | Belgrade International Conference on Education 14-16 November 2013 |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Archaeology, anthropology, ethnology |
| Keywords | second generation immigrants caregiving nannies |
| Description | Many children of Vietnamese immigrant parents living in the Czech Republic are brought up by Czech nannies. Their first generation immigrant parents look for Czech nannies to take care of their children while they are working, and to equip children with knowledge that they themselves cannot provide them (language skills, transmission of cultural memory, etc.). Vietnamese immigrants are the third-largest immigrant group in the Czech Republic. In comparison with other immigrant groups and even the majority population, there is a higher share of children under 15 years of age. And, in comparison with other immigrant children, Vietnamese children are highly successful in the educational process; they tend to be fluent in the Czech language and linguistically integrated into the majority since early childhood, and achieve the best positions in universities in early adulthood. This paper is based on 50 in-depth interviews with children (20 second and 1.5 generation immigrant children between 16 and 25 years old), nannies (15) and mothers (15). The aim of this paper is to look at how parents, nannies, and children conceptualize the role of nanny in children’s lives, with the accent put on their educational role. I intend here to analyse the multiple and changing roles of nannies at different stages of children’s childhood/life (from new-born babies to pupils at primary schools). In doing so, the paper not only uses an empirical data from a particular case study, but it also elaborates on the conceptualization of caregiving as entailing not only taking care of a child, but also upbringing, education, and teaching. The paper shows the essential link between caregiving, education and integration, as acknowledged in the interviews. The paper was written with the support of the Czech Science Foundation, under the research project “Educational strategies of migrants and ethnic minority youth“ (P404/12/1487). |
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