Fatherhood has a huge role to play in children's education. Using my social science expertise, I explored just what impact an enriching parent-child relationship has in schools.
One of many fascinating articles I had the opportunity to write for 'Maths - No Problem!'.
Differentiation is a big topic at Maths - No problem!, we consistently practise that no child should be segregated by ability. Though this is because it’s scientifically proven that mixed abilities allows all students to thrive, it’s worth questioning why we have such a range of abilities in the classroom. Following much research, it seems a father’s educational input may have a much bigger impact than anticipated.
In 2015, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) announced that children are seven and a half times less likely to succeed if their father has a poor educational outcome. In comparison, a mother’s education only makes three and a half times the difference. Amongst the ONS and many historically established scientists, comes the theory that this forms and endless poverty cycle.
“There is evidence that children and parents from poorer backgrounds develop lower expectations as children grow older – they stop believing that their children will be able to achieve high ambitions, or do not know how to help them do so.”
- Barnard, Economic sociologist.
A report by Sir Michael Marmot’s Institute of Health Equity, published this week, found that children from more deprived areas were more likely to fall short of developmental and educational milestones than those from affluent families. This includes having started to read, write and do simple sums. In a study of African-American fathers taking part in parental courses, Gadsden, Brookes and Jackson (1997) conclusively found that fathers' beliefs about their children's educational success and future possibilities were ambivalent, often contraindicated their practices, and sometimes were at odds with their self-perceptions of facilitating children's literacy achievement.
But is it really all down to the degree?
However, there is fascinating argument to suggest that how much a father has achieved is unimportant, ruled out even, if they simply makes sufficient contribution and participation in their child’s education. Even when fathers have limited schooling, involvement in their children's schools and school lives is a powerful factor in academic achievement. Nord, Brimhall and West (1997) conducted a study which proved this. They used the national Household Education Survey to analyse nonresident and married fathers in school activities of K-12 students, based on their attendance to school meetings, classes and events, parent conferences and volunteering. Involvement was marked as ‘low’ if they did 0-1 activities, ‘moderate’ if 2 and ‘high’ if 3-4. The results concluded that those were were moderate or highly involved in school events were those of children who were significantly more likely to receive high marks, enjoy school and never repeat a grade, than those who scored 0-1. In addition, it has been proved by Grolnick and Slowiaczek (1994) that paternal involvement such as school behaviour response, personal and emotional availability and exposure to their intellectual and cognitive ability increased the competence and performance 0f 300 11-14 year old participants.
Every Little Matters
Essentially, you don’t need to have an Oxbridge degree for your child to succeed in school, we all know that. All that matters is the presence, participation and availability to care for the big daunting institution your child is experiencing. Snow, Burns and Griffin (1998) identified a range of key early literacy behaviours associated with children’s engagement of texts and success in reading:
• Oral language development, including book reading
• Phonemic awareness
• Alphabetical exposure
Therefore, even reading before bed can be hugely beneficial to a child’s long-term performance and school-success. Book reading, one of the most important activities in providing a context for language development, is an essential component of an effective preschool curriculum (Senechal et al., 1998). It is intimately tied to language development, helps children to develop phonemic awareness and mastery of the concepts of print, and can be used to engage fathers with the program and at home.
How Fathers Can Increase Educational Availability
Share expectations and set goals together for your child. Simply talking is hugely underrated.
Allow your child to struggle in order to learn. Do not provide the student with a set method or equation to answer the question. It is important to allow your child to struggle in order for them to excel. Being a parent it is hard to watch your child struggle, but it is in act one of the key necessities in propelling your child’s education.
“No-one learned to ride a bike properly with training wheels.”
- Ban Har, Leading Mathematician and Maths - No Problem! Expert.
Scaffolding: Bruner and Vygotsky. Make sure the level of challenge and the level of competence is proximal to make sure the child doesn’t get anxiety about a subject or become bored with it. Challenge your child with an easy question by asking them to create a problem with it, or ask them to come up with other methods to answer the question.
Focus on going beyond the information given so they can discover their own method of how mathematics can work. Learning is an active process where learners construct new ideas and concepts based on their current/past knowledge. If your child has developed a concrete understanding of mathematics, it will easier for them to apply that knowledge to new concepts.
Make sure in the learning process that your child is able to explain the question to you and what is taking place. Learning socially is a key in learning and allows your child to come up with their own explanation of the question. This encourages reflection on the question and the fact that your child can confidently report back to you as a parent.