Good parenting matters more than the quality of a school when it comes to academic success, according to new research from the US.A study of 10,000 teenagers has found the home environment is three times more important than the school, when it comes to 18-year-olds’ test results. This is from the Telegraph…
Researchers found that pupils at weaker schools, who came from homes where parents were closely involved in their children’s education, performed better in tests than children at better schools who had apathetic parents.
However, they said the quality of a school still mattered – particularly at secondary stage when children were more liable to be influenced by relationships outside the home.
The team, from North Carolina State University in the US, studied the relative importance of what they termed “family social capital” with that of “school social capital”.
Family social capital was based on how much parents trusted their children, how often they checked homework, discussed school activities, and attended parents’ evenings and school events.
A school’s social capital was based on how highly parents rated teachers, morale amongst pupils, participation in sports and extracurricular activities, regularity of contact from school to parents, and the lack of problems like absenteeism and bullying…
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