Impact of parental education and support on pupil performance

[mids2019]

I have a PhD in physics and in a fortunate position to help with my daughter with GCSE maths work in terms of algebra, trigonometry etc. as I have a mathematical background and still use maths

I have to say that assistance has brought on results in terms of test results etc. Of course my daughter is primarily responsible but I can't deny parental support and education really helps.

In some ways I can see it as a bit of an unfair advantage as other pupils in her class don't benefit from one to one tuition on the whole. I don't know if this should be viewed as unfair and you can't use having non university educated parents as a mitigation for any exam performance but it did make me think

Universities contextualise for living in deprived regions but should we also look at parental education when looking exam results to level the playing field?

OP your daughter is constantly asking you for help

Is that not ringing alarm bells that she’s struggling?

I am suggesting to my daughter's school we hire tutors for subjects where they aren't strong in and the school is not wishing to discuss it perhaps because they don't want to be seen endorsing private parallel education.

what do you mean? You are seeking permission from the school to get a private tutor for your daughter?

I was wanting advice not pernission.

Wrong thread?

Back in the day my alma mater invited pupils whose parents didn't have a degree to a residential. The pupils spent two days taking part in workshops over various disciplines.
As parents who are teachers we value education and have always helped our DD 11 with all aspects of school work.
Some parents don't help.
Some parents can't.
Some parents won't.

We helped with her maths and got her from maybe a 6/7 level to a 9 so we considering a tutor for a subject we are not that intimately connected to go see if it yields results. I just think it's all evidence that home environment is a massive facfor.

But why are you seeking permission from the school?

It would seem that to get these results she needs extensive help op. She’s not planning on taking those subjects to a level presumably?

Unique student identifierOne important policy initiative of the National School Reform Agreement is the introduction of a ‘unique student identifier’ (USI) to track individual student performance over time. This will enable data on educational outcomes to be more easily linked with other data held by state and federal governments, and provide researchers with a clearer picture of how educational outcomes shapes social, economic and health outcomes later life.
However, the Productivity Commission report notes the rollout of this initiative is well behind schedule.
The USI offers more than mere standardisation. Once in place, researchers will also be better able to evaluate the impact of education policy interventions by conducting randomised control trials, similar to those used by in medicine to assess the efficacy of new drugs and treatments. Such trials are crucial for assessing whether a particular education policy reform, for instance a new teaching method, has a causal impact on learning outcomes.

Part of the data collected here is parents current salary range and educational highest level of attainment.

It’s been delayed probably by Covid but the Data should be amazing when they’ve got a clean full set to track through a child from birth to death.
And everything that it’s needed in way of support and how that correlates with its parents background.
Obviously, we don’t have this in the UK, but we should

Huh?

Lots of state schools in my area anyway don't have the resources and time to teach children to above a grade 7 or so in certain subjects like maths and science.

Children therefore will often need support in the form of parents help or tutoring especially in certain subjects to get the highest grades.

My son's school didn't even start higher maths at GCSE until year 11 and less than 5% would have got an 8 or above.

i suspect it's more about the type of school a child attends and the type of support a parent is able willing to offer which makes the difference.

Have you ever seen a UCAS application form?

Yep.,, 2023, for my son

no question regarding my education.

Oh, I see you can’t read. Sorry you should’ve mentioned that people would’ve dumbed it down a little bit for you.
Never mind

Oh dear 😆

But that wasn’t what we were talking about, so I’m delighted to hear your son managed to get through despite your input.

I am suggesting to my daughter's school we hire tutors for subjects where they aren't strong in and the school is not wishing to discuss it perhaps because they don't want to be seen endorsing private parallel education.

I agree with others – what are you asking the school? And why? If you want to employ a tutor for your DD, that's up to you.

Why are you being so rude to other posters?

Odd isn’t it

i wonder how posters like this fare in real life

That is exactly what we were talking about

we live in germany and my kids speak perfect english because of their dad.. should we not have taught them the language so that its fair in school when they are taught in class?
This is just one of the things where life is unfair 🤷🏻‍♀️
Everyone is born with some advantages and disadvantages. There is no way to make it all even for everyone.

So back to my question

“they ask”

how? Where?

No we bloody don't want that!
I don't want my data being used and my child excluded from things because of my/DHs education level. It all sounds worthwhile until you start allocating university and employment opportunities by parent occupation/postcode etc. It will just be another way of politicising education which is the last thing we need.
We already have a government obsessed with identity politics and they are filtering that down into education policy.

I have to say I struggle with the whole idea of 'levelling the playing field'. What's wrong with some people being better at some things than others, whether through genetics or effort? Why does everyone need to be the same?

I seem to recall DS having to tick a box on his UCAS form about parental education.

Also surely there will be genetic advantage too