The effort a parent puts into their child’s education has a bigger impact on the youngster’s achievement than the effort the pupil or the school makes, according to a study by Leicester and Leeds universities.

Using the National Child Development Study, which follows a group of individuals born in a particular week in 1958 throughout their lives, the researchers looked at the effort pupils, parents and schools made towards a child’s schooling. It looked at pupils’ attitudes, such as whether, at age 16, they thought school was a waste of time and teachers’ views about pupils’ laziness.

The study also measured how interested parents were in their child’s education, such as whether they read to the child or attended parents’ meetings, as well as looking at parental involvement initiated by schools, what disciplinary methods schools use, and whether 16-year-olds were offered career advice.

Family background

The findings show that parents encourage their children to make more of an effort, and in turn parents make more effort when their child tries harder. The background of a family affects the school’s effort, the study found.

“In general, what we are saying is that a child whose parents put more effort into his or her education does better at school. Therefore policies that aim at improving parental effort might be effective in strengthening educational attainment. 

“Influencing parental effort is certainly something that is much easier than modifying their social background,” the Daily Express quoted author Professor Gianni De Fraja, as saying.The study, has been published in the latest issue of Review of Economics and Statistics.