International migration has increased in the last decades, which has caused a greater diversity in schools. The challenge for schools is not only to attend to the needs and differences of the students, but also to include the immigrant families and involve them in their children’s educational process.
This article examines the case of Peruvian families who have migrated to Japan. These families are raising and educating their children in a country whose culture and society are so different from their own. The inclusion of these families in schools becomes imperative because many of them have decided to reside permanently in Japan.
The objective of this research is to focus on the family-school relationship in order to analyse how the Peruvian families are integrating into the Japanese public schools and what factors are influencing this process. Fieldwork was conducted at a junior high school where the majority of the foreign students are Peruvian. Data was collected through parent and teacher interviews as well as participant observation at this school.
This article demonstrates that beyond factors such as the language and lack of information, there are other aspects related to the cultural capital and social class of the families, which are influencing the family-school relationship.
