to ask what the most important factors actually are in helping children do well academically

[somewherewest]

According to a poster over on the AIBU thread about grammar schools several essays suggest that "the most deciding factor of any child's academic achievement at school is the educational background of its mother and/or the number of books in the family home".

Is parental education genuinely such a decisive factor? If it is how do we go about trying to promote an educational 'level playing field' for all children?

Agh autocorrect fail - *having SOME other kind of positional advantage, not done..

From the link I gave above: At secondary school, the differences in GCSE results between rich and poor can be attributed broadly to the following:

60% Prior attainment at 11 (ie: children who do well in school at ages 11 and 14 are also likely to do well in their GCSEs, irrespective of other circumstances)

6% Family background factors (including parental education). (This suggests that the effect of parental education and family background on attainment at age 16 works largely through its influence on attainment before age 11 - ie: in the main the damage has been done before secondary schooling)

8% Differences in parental attitudes and behaviours (including material resources, notably computer and internet availability at home having one of the biggest effects)

15% young people’s attitudes and behaviours captured at ages 14 and 16 (this is the biggest contribution to the gap in GCSE results after prior ability, so might be worth trying to address in secondary schooling). The behaviour/attitude that made the biggest difference that was captured in the study was 'expectation for HE formed by age 14'

1% school effects (Children attending schools with a strong KS2–3 value added score, or those at a school with a sixth form or at grammar school, are more likely to think that HE is likely than children in other schools, note independently educated children were not surveyed)

planetwaves actually I raised that difference. I wrote very early on about baby-talk etc, which I believe is an important differentiator between high and low achievers.

planet that would be my summation too.

I am not remotely surprised that wealth has now overtaken maternal education as the largest factor in educational attainment. If that's what the study ultimately says.

It makes perfect sense to me in the current economic climate.

What is interesting is how resistant educated women are to that notion.

I also take your point about qualifications standing as proxy for educational attainment. But I think for a large study it is probably the best measure. Less loose than most other measures.

Yes, I agree with wordf and planet. I don't think money without brains in many careers works too well these days (no way would Prince Harry for example have become a surgeon) but if the money has bought the accent, a better chance of getting good exam results, then yes that helps.

This of course supports my view that almost the best thing mothers can do for their children is what I did in my teens - get out there in the library or these days on line - and look up what careers pay and then pick a career which enables you as a woman to earn a lot of money to benefit your children (not just relying on provision of sex and housecleaning services to men for money).

I also agree that exam results are not the whole story. I think my daughters benefit as much from the family grit, stoicism, health, fitness, never being off sick however bad you feel, being utterly reliable, never late, having that capacity to keep going no matter what when most of the nation are pulling sickies and getting the modern equivalent of the vapours helps. I am sure school and home both contribute to that kind of thing as indeed do your genes. Pick the genes of a husband or sperm donor very carefully as children are often 50% determined by their genes.

I see what you mean wickeddevil. My DD is 2 though and can't make it far beyond 7.30!

greengrow/xenia I think I have a girl crush on you

Thanks. On a website populated mostly by women who have given up work entirely or work part time and who in most cases earn a lot less than their men my views are never popular.

Greengrow
On a personal level what you suggest can and does work. I am an example of what you suggest; well paid job in the City funding my DC through private school etc.

However, that route isn't open to the majority of women (or men for that matter) as there aren't that many high earning jobs around. So how to we improve the performance of those children who don't have a wealthy home background or those who lack support at home. I am concerned about the effect on society and on the UK's competitiveness if we don't get more of the population engaged in education to high level.

Of course there's not always an option to get a high paying job, or indeed to never have time off sick if you can manage to hold down a job at all, if you're a disabled parent

(Feeling even more sorry for my DCs now)

It's true that private school will never be an option for everyone. What surprises me is that people who have access only to bad schools and could opt for homeschooling or some kind of homeschooling consortium, don't.

There is not much that I prioritize above my children's education (this is true for everyone on this thread, I suspect) so this would be the obvious solution if I were unable to send them to a good school.

As I see it, this isn't an option for people who have limited intelligence, or are really scraping by, or have children with special needs.

Lots of people really aren't aware of HE as an option. We considered it for a long time and it's still an option if it's ever needed. DH was talking to a friend the other day whose son (at same school) is really struggling and he genuinely thought it was illegal to just withdraw your child and HE

Erm, HE is not really an option if you have to work to pay the bills. Most of those afflicted by poor school options will hardly be rolling in money....

Language, language, language.

Talk with your children, listen to them, reflect to them their behaviour/actions/achievements e.g. you have finished the puzzle by yourself after concentrating hard for a long time. You must feel very proud. Rather than good girl or well done.

Give them the words and phrases they need to describe ideas, feelings and experiences. The rest will follow...

So how to we improve the performance of those children who don't have a wealthy home background or those who lack support at home.

Has no one read how utterly miserable uk children are, how materialism has permeated every pore of our society and we are shallow and brittle.

The UK scores appalling on child happiness.

Does no one care about this, or just the material side of making sure our league tables are up there on the GDP front?

concerned

Of course H. ed isn't always an option, but some people are able to combine work and H.ed
You don't need to be rolling in money either, you just make it a priority.
We are a low income family ourselves with a sahp and manage it quite well, affording 4 tutors for various subjects.
It is quite viable for many people and a lot of people don't know that it is an option.
However, it isn't for everybody, some people wouldn't want to.

I agree BeyondRepair, childhood happiness will only become a priority when you can crowbar it into the formula of economic rationality.

What is interesting is how resistant educated women are to that notion.

I am resistant to that notion, of course I can see the advantages, but they are ones we cannot buy for our DC and therefore I am not going to act and behave or think that we are at a disadvantage.

I think your attitude and state of mind also has a huge bearing on your DC and teaching them, they are hard done by, in a hard done by world, only saddles and shackles them down.

I am more for the anything is possible route, I am an optimist, and I hope I pass this onto my DC.

Sometimes on here I see posters moaning about un fair things are, and its them, I feel most sorry for the children having to bear and put up with.

The most successful person I know from our group of friends, some of whom had very expensive educations, was the girl with a natural talent in her area, charismatic, friendly, and whose Mother, from a council estate, told her all the time "you can do what you want, you can do what you want".

She is now pretty much at the top of her tree leading a very glam life. Yet on paper she was most disadvantaged of all of us.

My other highly successful friend ( talking mutli millons ) left school at 14 and is an entrepreneur.

Of course HE is not an option for everyone financially, I assumed that's what thelovelyboots meant by "really scraping by".

TBH it is the main thing that would be a problem if we needed to HE - income is low anyway (we are just over the threshold for HB) and that's with DH working FT and me PT (due to health)

Anyway I see myself as an assets to my DC not only because I have a degree but mostly because I do not see us as disadvantaged and will work and do what I can with what I can to make sure they get the best start they can.

"It's true that private school will never be an option for everyone. What surprises me is that people who have access only to bad schools and could opt for homeschooling or some kind of homeschooling consortium, don't. "

My daughter is at an OFSTED inadequate school and we have no choice but to send her there. I still feel that her OFSTED inadequate school offers a better standard of education than most home educated children get. I feel that social interaction is as imporant as numeracy and literacy. If my daughter would be utterly miserable and lonely if she was home educated. I would hate having to force my daughter to do school work for hours when she wasn't in the mood.

"
As I see it, this isn't an option for people who have limited intelligence, or are really scraping by, or have children with special needs."

Do you really mean to be so rude?

I agree about optimism. However I'd say that lots of people who rant on here are doing it specifically because they wouldn't dream of doing so IRL, especially in front of their DCs.

I include myself in this - my DCs have a rough life in comparison to some but we do our best to have a happy family life. We don't whinge about having no money for example - if we don't have the money for something then we will be matter of fact about it but that's it. My DCs are still excited about any opportunity no matter how small. We are very against materialism.

For example you'd be amazed how many people were actually sympathetic when we told them where we were going on holiday this year. We haven't been away at all for a few years but this year we scraped together enough for a few days in a city a few hours away, specifically chosen because there was an important historical building we were desperate to visit. We were all excited and enjoyed it and yet people still head tilted FFS. Even DD's 7yo friends were baffled that it's all we were doing.

greengrow where is your evidence that most women who post here don't work outside the home or work part-time? I can see why you say most earn less than their OH because of the enduring pay gap.

Beyond I too am an optimist. My friends call me Pollyanna .

However, I am incredibly interested and involved in education and can see which way the wind is blowing (has already blown?).

The downward pressure on education is, as you say, making it a difficult experience for some.

But what is to be done about that? We can't put the genie back in the bottle.

In this post industrial country of ours, there is less need for unqualified labour.
In addition, the middle ground has contracted alarmingly.

The labour market has polarised offering low skill/low pay jobs and high skill/high pay jobs. Sure, there will always be notable exceptions. Everyone will know someone who knows someone who became a millionaire without a GCSE to their name . But this doesn't detract from the stark realities.

And it is those stark realities that drive education and the pressure to attain as highly as possible. Parents can step out of the educational arms race, but they should do so ackowledging the facts, I think.

This isn't moaning by the way. I have no skin in the game (or perhaps I am a millipede with a size ten in all camps]. It is simple observation, that the social and economic climate that allowed me to go from a sink estate to Oxbridge and then on to the City, no longer exists.

As for being an asset to my DC. I hope I am. However, what I do see is that for all the support and time I have invested in them, some of the greatest opportunities they have been afforded have cost a truck load of dosh .