Poor Parents ‘Hinder’ High School Completion of Child

It calls for change of mindset and involvement. According to an analysis from the University of Melbourne, parents from poorer backgrounds are less likely to encourage their kids to finish high school.

Nearly 6 in 10 children from the low socio-economic households in Australia currently complete high school, while 90 percent of students from more wealthy homes finish their secondary studies. According to the lead researcher Dr. Cain Polidano from the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, the attitudes of parents played a crucial role.  The study was co-authored by Barbara Hanel and Hielke Buddelmeyer.

"Differences in the education aspirations of parents are probably the most important factor explaining the gap in school completion rates," he said.

The researchers found during the study that the students from poor background were less likely to plan on completing high school. Along with this, they were less likely to believe that their parents want them to finish school.

"More importantly though, parents on lower incomes are more likely to favour vocational training courses -- which have no school completion pre-requisite -- over university courses," Polidano said.

"Therefore, those parents may be more willing to let their children quit school. It seems many parents aren't aware that more than 95 percent of schools now offer their own VET courses."

The quality of schools on offer is unimportant in explaining the gap. But the study portrays how good quality teachers encourage disadvantaged students to remain in school, but have little effect on the maintenance of other students.

"This result underlines the particular importance of teachers in promoting a positive learning culture in low SES schools where academic achievement may not be the norm among students and their parents," Polidano said

"These findings should help schools and politicians better focus policies aimed at closing the SES completion gap, which is vital to reduce inequality of opportunity."

The research, 'Explaining the SES School Completion Gap' has been produced as part of the Melbourne Institute's Working Paper Series 2012.