The impact of adolescents’ dyslexia on parents’ and their own educational expectations

The present study examined the role that adolescents’ dyslexia plays in their educational expectations, as well as their parents’ expectations concerning their offspring’s future education. To investigate this, 170 adolescents were asked to report their educational expectations on two occasions while they were still attending comprehensive school (in 7th and 9th grade). Forty-five of the 170 adolescents were diagnosed as having dyslexia. The adolescents’ mothers and fathers also filled in questionnaires concerning their educational expectations for their offspring. The results showed that parents of boys with dyslexia had lower expectations about their sons’ future education than parents of typically reading boys. However, parents of girls with dyslexia and parents of typically reading girls did not differ in this respect. Parents’ expectations also predicted the adolescents’ own educational expectations. Moreover, dyslexia was associated with boys’ academic achievement (GPA), which further predicted their educational expectations.     

Perspectives of Jamaican parents and their secondary school children on the value of education: Effects of selected variables on parents’ perspectives

Education in the Caribbean is perceived as the route to social mobility, but research suggests that a low value is attached to education in Jamaica. This research is designed to ascertain the value that parents and their children attending secondary school in Jamaica attach to education. Multivariate statistical analysis was used. The findings revealed that both parents and their children value education for instrumental purposes and, while age and employment status made no difference to the parents' value of education, there was a statistically significant difference in value of education between parents with children attending different school types.     

The maternal gift: mothers’ investment in their daughters’ higher education

This article explores the degree to which mothers participate in decisions surrounding their daughters’ university choices in the English higher education sector, based on a gendered PhD study involving mother and adult daughter pairings in southern England. Examples are given of how extended middle-class mothering practices are enabling their daughters to gain greater access to higher education. Mothers cite the burden of the debt as a key factor for their continued inclusion during the time of their daughters’ undergraduate study. Bourdieusian concepts, including gift exchange, are used to consider the explicit provision of the investment of mothers’ capital beyond compulsory education that I term ‘the maternal gift’. The maternal gift of mothers’ involvement and investment maintains social divisions for those less able to provide on such a high economic level and creates the possibility of socially divisive outcomes.     

Getting parents involved in children’s play: Qatari parents’ perceptions of and engagement with their children’s play

The study investigates parents’ perceptions of and engagement with their children's play in the context of Qatar. Quantitative data were collected using a questionnaire that was administered to parents of children aged 4–7 years old in Doha. A total sample of 240 parents responded to the questionnaire. Findings indicated that Qatari parents valued the importance of play to their children’s development and learning. In addition, parents showed a moderate level of engagement with their children’s play. The findings also indicated that physical play was the most common type of play in which parents are engaged with their children, followed by discovery play. Moreover, significant correlations were found between parents’ perceptions of children’s play and their engagement with all play types. In addition, significant differences were observed in parents’ perceptions of and engagement with children’s play based on parents' socio-demographic variables. These findings highlight the importance of extending children’s play in all children’s educational levels, and getting parents involved in children’s play activities.     

Predictors of change in mothers’ and fathers’ parent-child aggression risk

Parents' cognitive schemas about parenting, personal vulnerabilities, and personal resources may affect their risk of engaging in parent-child aggression (PCA). This longitudinal study examined predictors of change in mothers' and fathers' PCA risk across the transition to parenthood, comparing trajectories of parents evidencing high versus low sociodemographic risk. Potential predictors involved parenting-relevant schemas (consistent with Social Information Processing theory, including approval of PCA, negative attributions of child behavior, and knowledge of nonphysical discipline options), personal vulnerabilities (psychopathology, intimate partner violence, substance use issues), and resources (problem-focused coping, emotion regulation, social support, and partner satisfaction). Results indicated that increases in PCA approval, negative child behavior attributions, and symptoms of psychopathology, as well as decreases in problem-focused coping skills, emotion regulation ability, and partner satisfaction, all significantly predicted changes in mothers' and fathers' PCA risk over time—regardless of risk group status. Notably, increases in intimate partner violence victimization and decreases in social support satisfaction predicted mothers' but not fathers' PCA risk change; moreover, increases in knowledge of nonphysical discipline alternatives or in substance use issues did not predict change in PCA risk for either mothers or fathers. Risk groups differed in PCA risk across all predictors with minimal evidence of differential trajectories. Overall, these findings have important implications for child abuse prevention programs involving both universal and secondary abuse prevention efforts.     

The impact of inter‐generational change on the attitudes of working‐class South Asian Muslim parents on the education of their daughters

This paper presents the findings of ethnographic research into inter‐generational attitudinal change of parents towards the education of young British Muslim women. Based on in‐depth interviews with parents of different generations, given social class and ethnicity, there is a universal belief in the importance of education for young Muslim women per se, with economic and cultural factors significant in shaping this sentiment. A range of important differences in attitudes towards Islamic schooling and mainstream education, and questions relating to marriage, however, were found. There are complex issues of identity and religion among Muslims in relation to educational issues, but there has been a move towards Islamisation among both generations; the first generations through a form of cultural traditionalism and the second generations through Islamic conservatism. Although this finding is based on a study of a relatively small and isolated working‐class Muslim community in a declining post‐industrial town in the West Midlands, it is argued that this Islamisation places both particular risks and opportunities in relation to young Muslim women in education in such isolated and disaffected communities which have a wider conceptual, theoretical and policy impact.     

An interactive model of parents’ involvement and their children’s functioning in school

This study examined relationships between Parents’ involvement as related to their Identification and Alertness and to four students’ variables Attitudes toward school, Social adjustment, Self-efficacy and Academic achievements. Social adjustment was the most dominant variable and served as a mediator between self-efficacy and achievements. Parental involvement had significant, direct and positive relations with social adjustment but negative with academic achievements. Findings indicate a weakening of the relationships between parents’ involvement, identification, and alertness and children’s variables compared to the relationships between children’s variables. Educational staff and parents must create useful communication channels for helping children cope with the challenges of their social and media world.     

Substitution or complementation: the influence of parents’ educational level on sheepskin effects in the individual returns to education in China

Asia Pacific Education Review - Numerous researches have already revealed the existence of sheepskin effects and proved the signaling value of education based on empirical materials from developing...     

Is it good to value math? Investigating mothers’ impact on their children’s test anxiety based on control-value theory

The present study investigated individual and social antecedents of test anxiety. Based on Pekrun’s (2006) control-value theory of achievement emotions, we studied the relationship of students’ test anxiety with students’ control and value cognitions, the interaction of control and value cognitions, and parent-reported family valuing of mathematics. The sample consisted of 356 German 5th graders and their mothers. In line with theoretical assumptions, results of structural equation modeling showed that, when modeled together, control cognitions (i.e., academic self-concept) were negatively related to test anxiety while value cognitions (i.e., interest) showed a positive relationship. The significant interaction between control and value revealed that value was strongly related to test anxiety when subjective control was low and only weakly related to test anxiety when subjective control was high. High family values of mathematics were positively related to test anxiety. In addition, family values showed two indirect relations with test anxiety which were in opposite directions: Highly valuing math in families reduced students’ test anxiety by enhancing their control cognitions, and at the same time increased students’ test anxiety by enhancing students’ value cognitions. The overall indirect effect was a reduction in test anxiety, which shows that the anxiety-reducing effect via students’ control perceptions was stronger than the anxiety-enhancing effect via students’ value cognitions.     

Do parents’ and teachers’ views of children’s educational resilience matter?

This study set out to examine parents’ and teachers’ perceptions of children’s educational resilience. As expected, the parents attributed greater levels of educational resilience to their children than did the teachers. However, both the parents and teachers assessed the sixth graders’ educational resilience as higher than that of the third graders. The results suggest that perceptions of educational resilience may represent a different dimension from views relating to children’s achievement in school.     

The children of the educational expansion era in Germany: education and further training participation in the life‐course

In this article, we examine the social dimension of inequality in educational participation. We look at the social transmission and gender‐specific channelling of education and further training in the context of employment and family. Based on quantitative survey data and qualitative interview data collected from a multi‐level empirical life‐course study (Hamburg Biographical and Life‐Course Panel: 1980–2006) conducted with a sample of the 1979 cohort of secondary school graduates in Hamburg, Germany, we discuss the education and further training practices in their lives – with special emphasis on social class of origin and gender.     

Jordanian parents’ beliefs about the causes of disability and the progress of their children with disabilities: insights on mainstream schools and segregated centres

This study aims to identify the beliefs of Jordanian parents of children with disabilities (CWD), including intellectual disabilities, specific learning disorders and Autism Spectrum Disorder: both in terms of the causes of these disabilities, and the ability of their children to make progress. A qualitative interpretive methodology was employed. Interviews were used to collect data from 63 parents of CWD. Two major themes emerged concerning beliefs about the causes of disability and children’s progress. Results showed generally that disabilities were attributed to supernatural and biomedical causes; also, most parents had positive expectations about their children’s progress, especially in education skills, and had hopes for their children’s futures. Conclusions and implications are presented in the light of the study findings.     

Developmental stability and changes in the impact of root consistency on children’s spelling

The study reported here examined grade 2–4 children’s sensitivity to the consistency in the spelling of roots in related words. We build on earlier research by attempting to quantify the extent that children’s spellings of both inflected and derived forms accord with this principle. We contrasted children’s accuracy and consistency in spelling the root form (e.g., rock) with that of its spelling in related inflected and derived forms (e.g., rocks and rocky), as well as unrelated control forms (e.g., rocket). Across grades 2–4, children’s spellings accorded with the root consistency principle to the same extent for inflected and derived forms. Nevertheless, it was not until grade 4 that spellings maximally reflected the principle. These results are discussed in terms of how children’s spelling might come to reflect the root consistency principle that guides spelling in English.     

What mothers do: everyday routines and rituals and their impact upon young children’s use of drawing for meaning making

This paper draws upon evidence from a three‐year longitudinal study of young children drawing across home, pre‐school and school. The study shows how the belief systems of significant adults and more able peers/siblings impact upon the child’s access to, use of and beliefs about drawing. Concentrating upon the children when in the Foundation Stage (aged between three and five), the paper highlights:

• the importance of the mother’s role in organizing the home space, the child’s time and his or her access to materials;

• gendered responses to an environment in which the mother is a constant presence in comparison with the limited presence of the father.

     

The involvement of migrant mothers in their children’s education: cultural capital and transnational class processes

This paper analyses the kinds of capital, practices and investments that are implicated in the participation of migrant mothers in the educational careers of their children, drawing on a Bourdieusian framework. We present findings of a study of Muslim Iraqi mothers with school-aged children in Australia, based on 47 interviews with 25 participants. The study identifies different modes of involvement in children’s education and connects these to mothers’ cultural and social capital. Involvement, and its effectiveness, is analysed through the analytical categories of (i) high capital-high involvement; (ii) low capital-high involvement; and (iii) low capital-minimal direct involvement. The paper contributes to the theorisation of family–school relations in the context of migration, and develops a more nuanced perspective for studying social class positioning and repositioning.     

Exploring the reciprocal relations between mothers’ and fathers’ use and attitudes of corporal punishment in China: A cross-lagged analysis

BackgroundCorporal punishment is a commonly used form of disciplinary technique. Sanctified parental attitudes of corporal punishment have been found to be a significant predictor of parental use of corporal punishment in previous research, while little is currently known about the reciprocal relations between parental use and their attitudes of corporal punishment.ObjectiveThis research aimed to examine the reciprocal relations between mothers’ and fathers’ use and attitudes of corporal punishment in China.MethodsData were collected on a total of 320 Chinese father-mother dyads with their children (10–11 years of age at baseline) through convenience sampling techniques at two time points, one year apart. Parents completed self-report measures of mothers' and fathers' use and attitudes of corporal punishment. Children completed self-report measures of parental corporal punishment.ResultsThe cross-lagged analysis indicated that parental attitudes of corporal punishment in a given year predicted their use of corporal punishment in the subsequent year both for mothers (β = 0.15, p < .01) and fathers (β = 0.10, p < .05), while their corporal punishment in a given year did not predict their attitudes of it in the subsequent year (βs < 0.11, ps > .05).ConclusionsFindings indicate that the reciprocal relations do not emerge, with only attitude-behavior effects being evident for both mothers and fathers, while behavior-attitude effects were not present. Findings in the present study highlight the importance of changing both mothers’ and fathers’ favorable attitudes toward corporal punishment when conducting appropriate prevention intervention to decrease its use.     

New perspectives on the positioning of parents in children’s bullying at school

This article explores the subject of parents with respect to children’s bullying at school. The overarching claim is that parental agency and positions on children’s bullying at school are produced and made possible by an apparatus of multiple, concurrent forces that provide poor conditions for a constructive partnership between parents and schools in cases of bullying. This research adds to the existing literature in the field by suggesting that the connections between schools, parents and their children’s social behaviour at school must be seen as complexly entangled and involving a range of forces at local, societal and political levels. Furthermore, based on an emergent research design, the article contributes to the discussion of post-qualitative research, drawing upon varied, qualitative empirical material and analytically experimenting with combining Adele Clarke’s idea of situational analysis and Karen Barad’s concepts of intra-action and apparatus.     

From diagrams to self-regulated learning: student teachers’ reflections on the construction of their PLE

This paper presents a study on the reflections on their PLEs by student teachers in an ICT subject of the fourth degree course in Teacher Education (Early Childhood Teacher Training) at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB). There were four student teacher groups (n = 117) participating in this project, from the three Balearic Islands’ campuses (Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza). The main research issues focused on in this study are: the topics highlighted from the reflections on the students’ PLEs and the reflection level achieved. To explore these issues, a content analysis technique has been used to interpret their final assignment of the students’ eportfolios, in which they had to carry out their reflections on their PLEs. For that purpose, two instruments have been designed: a system of categories and a rubric of assessment. Results show that the topics on which students reflect most are the conception of the PLE, its explicitness and its purpose. Although some improvement in students’ reflective skills was observed, conclusions lead us to the necessity of working further on the depth of reflections in order to adequately support self-regulated learning.     

Do mothers and fathers perceive their child’s academic potential in a similar way?

The mothers and fathers (n?=?43) of third- and sixth-grade children were asked to assess their child’s academic potential in comparison with the child’s earlier competence and with that of her/his peers. In the interpersonal domain, the mothers’ and fathers’ perceptions of their child’s academic potential were related to each other, especially in mathematics, already when the child was in the third grade. Conversely, in the intrapersonal domain, the mothers’ and fathers’ perceptions were more consistent when assessing the sixth-grade than the third-grade children’s academic potential. These findings suggest that the normative feedback received from school tends to unify parental perceptions of their child’s academic potential as the child proceeds through school, even when the parents assess their child’s individual advancement.     

The impact of on-site educational outreach on recreational users’ perceptions of aquatic invasive species and their management

Aquatic invasive species (AIS) present a great challenge to ecosystems around the globe, and controlling AIS becomes increasingly difficult when the potential vectors are related to recreational activities. An approach combining education and outreach efforts to control AIS may be the best course of action. A survey was designed to measure public perceptions, knowledge of, and attitudes towards AIS, as well as public support for various management actions. Surveys were administered during the summer of 2013 at two boat launches where one launch had active outreach the previous summer and one that did not. A total of 400 surveys were completed with a response rate of 89%. There was support for most proposed management options, and respondents understood the urgency of managing AIS. There was a difference between the launches in how people responded, highlighting that educational programming may need to be tailored for specific recreational uses and recreational settings.