Parenting across cultures in contemporary England

This group explores a wide range of cultures in contemporary England and the unique characteristics of parenting in each one of them. We examine how parents across these cultures perceive and practice their parenting. A better understanding of how culture shapes parenting will help practitioners and professionals interact with parents. 

This is a mixed method research combining semi-structured interviews and questionnaires exploring parents' opinions, perceptions and parenting practices. Each student-researcher is studying parents from one specific cultural group in contemporary England. 

This project will shed light on the impact of culture on parenting across a wide range of cultural groups in contemporary England.

Social workers, teachers, psychologists and other professionals working with these parents will benefit from the knowledge gained which will allow them better understand the parents and families they are working with.

The project is conducted in collaboration with MSc Social Work students: Rozina Mithani, Uzma Kausar, Mehwish Jahan, Shumaila Asghar, Nana Yaa Ayitia, Felicia Benjamin, Ruth Apula Mokakwa, Sarah Akeke, Mariah Ahmed, and Areeba Naseem. 

Participate in our study

Watch this video that explains our study – or select the option below that matches your background.

Meet the Principal Investigator(s) for the project

Dr. Yohai Hakak - Dr Yohai Hakak joined Brunel in September 2014. Dr. Hakak's practice experience is in mental health social work. His areas of research interests are migration, embodiment, parenting, risk-perception, youth, religion, gender and mental health and the connection of these areas with social work. Dr Hakak published in these areas numerous articles. His last manuscript titled Haredi Masculinities between the Yeshiva, the Army, Work and Politics: The Sage, the Warrior and the Entrepreneur was an ethnographic study of Jewish Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox) young men in Israel. It was published by Brill in 2016. The outcomes of Yohai’s academic work included also several award-winning documentary films. Yohai is interested in supervising students in the following areas and in relation to social work: Migration Embodiment Religious minorities Masculine identities Mental health Risk and its perception Mixed couples

Related Research Group(s)

Interculturality for Diversity and Global Learning - Challenging conventional attitudes and practices and promoting respectful and effective intercultural communication, cross-cultural intelligence, diversity and inclusion, within a world that is increasingly interconnected digitally.

Project last modified 01/07/2024