How family background influences student achievement?

By Barbara Neza Brecko

Education is a tool for every child to succeed in life, either it be in a profession or in society. School is the institution that exposes children to knowledge and experiences, ultimately, shaping their abilities to perform at school and in society. It is suggested that educational performance is not only dependent on physical and mental capabilities the home environment plays a huge factor in a student’s performance. Scholars are researching the correlation between social background and family background to a student’s school performance. Previous research has associated social background with children’s cognitive skills since schools support students to balance of their cognitive, emotional and social development. This is done by exposing students to knowledge so they can be independent and develop their awareness of belonging. When conducting the research, a student’s home environment is assessed through the mother and father’s education, number of books at home, family and personal possession and size of household. A prominent finding in the research is if a student does not speak English at home then the students spends most o the time trying to decode and understand the teacher’s instructions instead of learning the subject. Language is a key component of the home environment that impacts a student’s performance. The research conducted does not draw any definitive conclusions. The study simply indicates that a student’s performance in school is correlated to family background, especially where the parents are born. Majority of the research is based on surveys, thus, the findings are not concrete.

Neza Brecko, B. (2016). How family background influences student achievement? (1st ed.). Retrieved from http://www.iea.nl/fileadmin/user_upload/IRC/IRC_2004/Papers/IRC2004_Brecko.pdf