ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the role of parents, carers or guardians in the educational outcomes of their children. The term ‘parent’ is used here to encompass all of these more precise relationships, and others like them. It is clear that the characteristics of parents are strongly related to the education and participation of their children. There is a high level of predictability from one to another, in all countries where such data have been assessed and reported. In fact, parental characteristics, occupations and prior experiences may be the best single predictor of children's lifelong learning trajectory (Gorard & Rees 2002). This is so even for nations such as Denmark, which have reportedly high levels of social mobility (Tverborgvik et al. 2012). Around the world, Wobmann (2003) found that students’ performance in maths and science was strongly related to their parents’ educational level and the number of books at home. Marks (2007) showed that students’ performance in literacy and numeracy in 30 countries was related to parental SES characteristics. All other things being equal, more educated parents tend to have children who are more successful in education. Conversely children from families living in poverty, on average, tend to do less well than their peers.
