Impact of parental education and support on pupil performance

I helped DD1 with almost all her GCSEs. She has dyspraxia and couldn't revise alone. I reckon she ended up at least 1 grade higher in everything than she would otherwise have achieved.

My parents didn’t help me, but I was self motivated and very successful academically (not professionally, but that’s another thread). I am here to help my child - I’m a low-key tiger mum. However, my dc, so far, has not been interested and he’s not really benefitting, regardless of my availability + keenness.

Your daughter’s success is on her.

I dont believe in contextual offers anyway.
i think its a big issue that schools especially primary are carried by parents helping kids (for 11+ etc). Parents at dc school do all the reading practise. They wrre listened to 6 times a year if that by a teacher...

in terms of your op i have maths,bio, chem alevels but cant even really help with higher level gcse paper. As i cant remember -its 28 years ago now! But also the gcse work is much harder than we did. I think i woukd only get a 6 maybe 7 now. a
Dd has asd and cant get started on any work. But the maths tests etc have very short time limits.

The school homework is rubbish its almost 50% revision. So they almost never actually learn the tooic before revising.
i expect most parents around here are paying for tutoring for maths from y9.
We are also only getting about 20mins of maths homewokr aweek compared to getting some after every lesson like i used to.

My DS is a talented writer, as am I. The only way I helped was with reading with him and encouraging him to write. The talent is his.
He chose to go down the politics route at university though.

I have my daughter constantly asking for help with maths and science which of course I give but I don't think she realises not every parent can do this

well common sense should tell her they don’t / can’t

and is she needing extensive help for these subjects at GCSE? I can count on one hand the number of times my year 11 son has called upon me for help. And he does very well.

is the bigger question around whether your daughter is struggling op?

And you did fine 🤷‍♀️

I don't see how you could possibly control for all the variables that might impact a student's results, and level the playing field accordingly in a way that was actually fair.

It's possible to have parents who are highly educated but give very little help with homework or school activities, just as it's possible to have parents who have not received a high degree of formal education, but who are nonetheless very intelligent or engaged and play a big role in their children's education.

There are schemes for being first in family to go to university, aren't there?

My elder brother is a Maths genius. I was good at Maths, but nowhere near his level. He would happily help with my Maths homework if I needed it.
How could you contextualise something like that? Or an another relative, or next door neighbour, or paid tutor..

I don't consider the help I give my children an "unfair" advantage. Its acknowledged that supportive parents increases attainment.

I speak fluent French and used to help my kids with French. Apart from the fact they have beautiful accents, they’re still both rubbish at it. I’ve clearly not passed on my linguistic genes at all. They’re both into science (vet med student and Biology student).

Did you get help from your parents?