Children’s Primary Schooling (original) (raw)

Differential parental social capital investment in children’s education: Research evidence

African Educational Research Journal, 2017

When parents bring forth children, they perceive and act on their upbringing. However, some children live with and are brought up by non-biological parents. The phenomenon of children living with non-biological parents has been a long standing practice in most societies, yet little comparative research interest had been shown to examine the involvement of real and pseudo parents in children’s education. The study sought to fill the lacuna by examining differential family social capital investment in children’s education. Cross-sectional survey was utilised to study children from three geographical settings and data was gathered from administration of survey instrument. Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS), version 20, was used to analyse the data. Several findings emerged from the study. Firstly, the study unveiled moderate manifestation of social capital in the families of the study subjects. Secondly, there was a relatively high rate of pseudo parenting, which means th...

Social Capital of Yogyakarta’s Poor Family in Parenting Education

Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Current Issues in Education (ICCIE 2018), 2019

This study aims to reveal: (1) parenting education in Yogyakarta’s poor family, and (2) the use of social capital in parenting. This research is a qualitative research with the case study type. Setting of this research is the activity of poor society in Yogyakarta. Informants in this study are 16 poor families who have school-aged children living in Bantul, Yogyakarta, a rural area that still hold the Yogyakarta’s philosophy in everyday life. The researcher is the main instrument in this research through observation, interview, and documentation. Data analysis techniques used are data collection, reduction, data display, and conclusion. The results showed that (1) Nowadays, Yogyakarta’s poor family use democratic parenting with the mother with the highest responsibility in parenting. Fathers have fewer roles in parenting, but they are merely role models for children in terms of economic, social, and cultural needs. (2) social capital implanted by poor families in Yogyakarta includes...

Ren, L., & Hu, G. W. (2013). A comparative study of family social capital and literacy practices in Singapore. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 13, 98-130

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 2011

Social capital-the social relations between people-is an important component of the family environment and is crucial for the creation of human capital for the next generation. Drawing on James S. Coleman's theory of family capital, this study focuses on parents' utilization of social capital to support children's literacy acquisition in four Singaporean and immigrant middle-class Chinese families in Singapore. Comparative analyses of observation and interview data reveal that these families differed not only in the volume of social capital they possessed but also in the activation of this capital for their children's biliteracy and educational development. They also reveal that the parents' application of social capital is motivated by such factors as the status of the family (immigrant or native), parental occupation, parents' educational views and the family's acculturation to the host society (in the case of immigrant families). Furthermore, a family's skilful use of its social capital could compensate for a relative shortage of human capital. These findings, taken as a whole, contribute to Coleman's theory by disentangling potential from actualized social capital.

Understanding the dynamics of parent involvement in schooling within the poverty context

South African Journal of Education, 2003

A qualitative study was undertaken to understand the realities and dynamics facing parents when attempting to be involved in their child's schooling. The focus was on parents in an extreme poverty context in Cape Town, South Africa. Results indicated that mainstream schools themselves pose barriers for both children and parents in the schooling system. Furthermore, results highlighted the central role that schools can play in increasing the degree of parental support, as well as ways in which to understand the support needed by these parents. The stress on parents and their relationships with their children, as a result of pressures placed on them by the schooling system, are also illustrated, because the realities of these communities are seldom considered by school staff.

Parents socio-economic status and pupils education attainment in selected primary schools

ABSTRACT This is a report of a case study of pupils’ socioeconomic status and their educational attainment in selected primary schools in malaba town council using quantitative research paradigms. The objectives of the study were: to estimate the relationship between parents’ educational level, income level and occupations; with pupils’ grades in their mock examinations leading to primary leaving examinations (PLE). Data for the study was collected through the use of questionnaires for pupils, interview with teachers and documentary analysis of the school records. The researcher used Tables, charts and Pearson’s correlation to present and analyze data. The result was a significant and positive correlation between the parents’ level of education, income and occupation with pupil’s educational performance. Fathers’ education was significant at 0.804.The mothers’ educational level was significant at 0.641. Parent’s level of income was significant at 0.875. Parents’ occupation was significant at 0.757. These findings are similar to results found by Kakuru 2001, Kasente D 2003, Bjorkman 2005, Bugembe et al 2005, Akanle 2007,Nnanyonjo H 2007, Okumu et al 2008, and Alisa 2010. But parent’ low socioeconomic status is not the only de-motivation for pupils’ performance. the assumption that the higher the education level of parents, , the better the performance of pupils is questionable because it was observed that pupils whose parents did not even go to school were represented in all the grades like any other pupils just as pupils with parents having higher education performed poorly were represented. Secondly Parents income level affects pupils performance more than education level and occupation of parents. Lastly, families with high socioeconomic status often seek out information to help them better prepare their young children for school. Unfortunately a very big percentage in malaba town council did predominantly manual jobs associated with low occupational prestige. It was therefore recommended that parents should continue to improve on their education levels through adult education programs. Secondly, children from low socioeconomic backgrounds should work with parents to increase their savings and remain in school because schooling eventually has a redeeming effect on their poor plight.

‘You want the best for your kids’: Improving Educational Outcomes for Children living in Poverty through Parental Engagement

Educational Research, 56 (3), pages 327-342, 2014

ABSTRACT Background: Existing evidence suggests a relationship between family social contexts, family relationships and interactions, children’s social and cognitive development and educational outcomes. Interventions that support families in relation to parenting and supporting children’s development can have positive effects on both parents’ skills and the educational progress of their children. Purpose: This article reports on a study conducted in an area with high levels of social and economic deprivation in Scotland, which aimed to investigate the nature and effectiveness of the services in place to support poor families. The project focused on capturing the experiences of parents and what they perceived as effective support from the nursery and school staff in terms of getting them more involved in their children’s learning. Sample: There was a particular focus on the 4 to 7 years age group, thus covering the crucial transition from pre-school (or non-school) provision to primary school. A sample of three Early Education & Childcare Centres (EECCs) and three schools were selected. The schools and EECCs were all from areas of high social deprivation and had a high proportion of children on free school meals. Design and methods: The study was qualitative in design and included in-depth semi-structured interviews with 19 service managers and practitioners, 6 focus groups with parents and 6 activity groups with children. Data were analysed using both pre-determined and emerging codes. Results: While all parents recognised the value of education for their children’s social mobility and opportunities and were keen to engage in activities, they remained aware of the limited resources they could draw upon, mainly in terms of their restricted academic competencies, specialist knowledge and qualifications. The desire to help their children overcome their families’ economic circumstances was also hampered by the absence of strong social and kinship networks that they could draw upon. Conclusions: We draw on concepts of social and cultural capital to examine parents’ positioning in relation to their children’s education. The conclusion highlights parents’ strategic orientation to school/nurseries, often seen as a resource of cultural capital, and calls for a more positive discourse of parental engagement in relation to disadvantaged groups.

Capital cultural y social: ¿qué podemos aprender para investigar y reforzar la colaboración entre familia y escuela? Cultural and social capital: What can we learn for investigating and strengthening school-family collaboration?

Cultura Y Educacion, 2006

The growing evidence indicating the considerable influence of the family on children's scholastic development suggested the need for a more careful theoretical investigation and explanation of how the home and the school influence children's schooling. Both psychological and sociological models were proposed to this end. Their common assumptions are, firstly, that families and schools impinge most directly on the child, and, secondly, that families differentially prepare and reinforce their children's attributes required by schools and that schools may or may not build upon the resources children bring from home. Two theoretical concepts that attempt to explain this impact and demonstrate the importance of active school-family relationships is that of 'cultural capital', introduced and developed by Pierre Bourdieu, and the concept of 'social capital', coined by James Coleman. This paper presents these two theoretical positions in order to investigate their capacity to provide a framework for explaining how school and family collaboration influence children's school success.

PARENTS’ SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS AND PUPILS EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT: CASE STUDY OF ST. JUDE PRIMARY SCHOOL IN MALABATOWN COUNCIL-UGANDA

This report attempted to describe and explain the relationship between parents’ socioeconomic status and pupils’ educational attainment using a case study approach. The objectives of the study were: to estimate the relationship between parents’ educational level, income level and occupations; with pupils’ educational performance in their mock examinations leading to PLE in St Jude Malaba primary school in the year 2010. Data for the study was collected through the use of questionnaires for pupils, interview with teachers and head teachers, documentary analysis of the school records and observation. Both qualitative and quantitative methods of study were used. The researcher used Tables, charts and Pearson’s correlation to describe and analyze quantitative data while qualitative data was analyzed on the basis of themes. The results showed that there was a positive correlation between the parents’ level of education, income and occupation with pupil’s educational performance. Fathers’ education was significant at 0.804 while mothers’ educational level was significant at 0.641. Parent’s level of income was significant at 0.875 and Parents’ occupation was significant at 0.757. These findings are consistent with the concept of social reproduction by Pierre Bourdieu (1986), Annet Lareau (2003) and Randall Collins. The researcher concluded that parent’ low socioeconomic status impacted negatively on pupils’ performance, through denying the children access to resources which are readily available to children from higher socio economic status. He recommended that parents should continue to improve on their education levels through adult education programs. Secondly, children from low socioeconomic backgrounds should try to persevere through financial hardships and remain in school because schooling eventually has a redeeming effect on their poor plight. Lastly children who obtain low grades should be helped to develop academic curiosity in fields which are more relevant to them.

Does family’s Social Capital Affects Parental Involvement in the Schooling of Leftbehind Children? Empirical Evidence from Niger State, Nigeria

Journal of Economics and Development Studies, 2017

Recently, empirical studies have reported mixed findings on the impacts of parental migration on the academic performance of left-behind children. Although most of the studies suggested variation in parental involvement as the potential explanation for their findings, little is known about why parental involvement may differ among different left-behind households. Using a survey data collected from 401 caregivers of the left-behind children in rural areas of Niger State, Nigeria, we investigated the effects of family's social capital on parental involvement in the schooling of the left-behind children. We also explore how these effects differ among different caregivers using Logistic regression model. We find that left-behind children in families with high social capital are more likely to have high parental involvement compared to their peers in households with low family's social capital. Also, left-behind children under the care of mothers or non-parent caregivers are less likely to have high parental involvement compared to their peers under the care of fathers. We suggest that when migrating, parents should entrust the guardianship of their children in the households with high family's social capital.