Parents’ aptitude and attitude can shape children’s outcomes before the classroom

• Social Mobility Commission reports parents’ education level and activities done at home are strongest predictors of children’s life outcomes
• Parents’ aspirations and expectations, grandparents help and partaking in extra-curriculars can also drive positive outcomes
• Commission calls for policy-makers to move from viewing a family unit as a ‘hurdle’ but instead ‘a foundation to be supported’ through a ‘strategy dedicated to families in and of themselves.’

A new literature review on the importance of early childhood intervention and family support, over and above financial aid, to improve outcomes for children has been published by the Social Mobility Commission.

UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities academics Dr Laura Outhwaite and Professor Claire Crawford reviewed the best available evidence on different aspects of family influence – from a child’s birth month to their employment in later life, to determine which play the most significant role in shaping a child’s outcome.

The review concludes that success is not only shaped in the classroom – but families play a central role in their children’s attainment. Parents’ own education level and the learning environment they create at home are the two most impactful factors driving advantage.

Parents’ expectations of their children, involvement of grandparents, a child’s social community and taking part in out-of-school activities were also identified as positive influences on educational attainment and wellbeing.

The Social Mobility Commission calls for  a move away from seeing the family unit as a ‘hurdle’ that needs to be fixed, but instead focus on what investments can support families to build positive home learning environments and capitalise on the positive influence parents’ and wider social networks can have.

Biggest drivers in improving outcomes:

• Parents’ higher education level, particularly mothers, likely due to increased family resources and household income, more access to educational materials at home, higher maternal employment rates, higher home ownership, improved partner matching and healthier behaviours during pregnancy.
• Parents creating a high-quality home learning environment, particularly in the early years, has a lasting impact on cognitive and socioemotional outcomes in primary education which could extend to adolescence and adulthood.
  • Parents engaging in reading, playing with letters and numbers, going to the library alongside more creative outlets like painting, drawing, singing songs, poems and nursery rhymes were all associated with creating a high-quality environment for young children.
  • Homework help and resources, like a computer, good wifi, a suitable space to study and private tuition created high quality environments for adolescents.

Positive drivers in improving outcomes:

• High Parental aspirations for their children is the strongest factor mediating differences in GCSE results at age 16 between different socio-economic backgrounds and ethnicities, after prior attainment. This difference in parental aspirations could be behind the attainment gap seen between White British pupils compared to other ethnicities from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
• Parents’ being more involved in school life which is influenced by parental beliefs about whether they should be involved in their child’s learning, confidence in their own abilities and the extent to which they are invited by their children or school to participate.
• More support from the extended family and grandparents through contributing to caregiving, financial and emotional support and transferring intergenerational socio-economic advantage (sometimes called the ‘grandparent effect’).
• A strong social network and community for children from low income backgrounds, including friends spanning economic groups, leads to earning more in later life than those growing up in friendship groups segregated by economic divides. Friendships with higher-income peers also leads to higher reported levels of happiness and trust and lower feelings of loneliness and social isolation.
• Partaking in extra-curricular activities like sport, culture, music, volunteering, youth clubs and politics drives better educational outcomes and can reduce likelihood of becoming NEET (Not in education, employment or Training) due to finding positive mentors.

In a foreword to the research, Chair of the Social Mobility Commission, Alun Francis OBE, said:

Too often, social mobility narratives characterise families in terms of deficits, and efforts are guided by the principle that your background should not determine your outcomes.

…framing policy primarily as an intervention to fill a perceived deficit… treats the family unit as a hurdle to be cleared rather than a foundation to be supported.

No government has had a coherent strategy dedicated to families in and of themselves.