Silent Voices: "South Asian" Mothers and Transition to High School, A Decolonizing Institutional Ethnography of Mothering Work

In the province of Ontario, the Ministry of Education uses its regulatory texts to govern transition related activities for students preparing for high school. Deadlines set out by schools and school boards arise from the transition policies and procedures of the Ministry of Education. During the Grade 8 year, administrators, teachers and parents of high school bound students do the transition work required to support the goals and deadlines laid out in these texts. Through in-depth interviews in participants’ heritage languages, textual analysis, and personal reflections, I have conducted a decolonizing institutional ethnography of mothering work conducted by “South Asian” mothers. I have explored in-depth the question: How does the institution, a large school board in the Greater Toronto Area, within the province of Ontario, use one important regulatory text, the regional course directory or RCD, to coordinate the work of “South Asian” mothers as they prepare for their children’s transition to high school?