Parents’ own school recollections influence their perception of the functioning of their child’s school

Abstract

This follow-up study set out to examine whether parents' recollections of their own school would predict their degree of satisfaction with the functioning of their child's school. A group of academically educated and vocationally educated parents with a child in preschool (N=391) were asked to think back to their primary school days and evaluate their school; these parents were then asked to indicate their satisfaction with the functioning of their child's school once the child had reached the first, the third and the fifth grade. The parents' recollections were found to influence their degree of satisfaction: among the academically educated respondents, the parents with relatively positive recollections showed higher levels of satisfaction than the parents with relatively negative recollections did; and among the vocationally educated respondents, the mothers with relatively positive recollections indicated higher levels of satisfaction than the mothers with relatively negative recollections did. It was suggested that parents' recollections may be seen as an experiencebased component of their general attitude towards education.In a newspaper column of his, the Finnish poet Tommy Tabermann (2005) wrote about "the wounds that are covered, apparently forever, by thin scars." What he meant was "the memories of denigration and mocking", which most of us recall, he claims, when we think back to our school days. This study set out to examine the poet's assumption that the memories of our school days are there, just below the surface as it were, ready to activate themselves. More precisely, we asked whether parents' recollections -both negative and positive ones -of their own school would predict their satisfaction with the functioning of their child's school during the first five school years.Everyone has personal memories, good and bad ones, of going to school. As a child starts school, the parents' own school memories are likely to activate themselves and to function as a basis for their evaluation of the child's schooling. For instance, parents usually make comparisons between particular aspects of their own and their child's school: in what respects their own school was better and in what respects things have improved (Metso, 2004).Parents' school recollections have attracted surprisingly little empirical research, although there is a fair amount of agreement that the social-psychological influence of the

From past to present: how memories of school shape parental views of children's schooling

“…However, the kinds of experiences parents recall from their many years of direct exposure to school settings may impact the way they view school and the importance they place on academic outcomes (Räty 2007(Räty , 2010. Taylor, Clayton, and Rowley (2004) contend that parents' own experiences in school are important considerations in understanding children's academic socialisation.…”

Past in the present: the way parents remember their own school years relates to the way they participate in their child’s schooling and remember his/her school years

“…Besides, parents' school memories predict their satisfaction with the functioning of their child's school (Räty 2007) and account for their attitudes towards education and their degree of optimism about the possibilities of the school to develop their child's potential (Räty 2003). Thus the attitude endorsed by the school memories instructs the perceptions of educational reality and participates in its construction.…”

“…In the first study, focusing on the first five years of school, we examined whether the parents' recollections of their own school would predict their degree of satisfaction with the functioning of their child's school (Räty 2007). A group of academically and vocationally educated parents with a preschool-aged child were asked to think back to their primary school days and evaluate their school; these parents were then asked to indicate their satisfaction with the functioning of their child's school when the child had reached the first, the third, and the fifth grade.…”

Eğitim Yaşantısına Ebeveyn Katılım Algısını Açıklamaya Yönelik Bir Model Geliştirme

“…Bu durum da okul personelinden gelen mesajları davet olarak algılamalarını artırmaktadır. Ayrıca Raty (2007) olumsuz okul deneyimi olan ebeveynlerin çocuklarının okul yaşantılarını olumsuz olarak algıladığını ve katılım düzeylerinin düşük olduğunu, Chrispeel ve Rivero (2001) ebeveynin okula ilişkin kendi geçmiş olumlu yaşantılarının katılımı artırdığını belirtmiştir. Bir başka deyişle ebeveyn, kendi okul tecrübesi olumlu ise çocuklarının eğitim yaşantısına katılmaya daha istekli olmaktadır.…”

“…Bu araştırmalara göre, başarılı okul deneyimi olan ebeveynler, okul personeli ile iletişim kurarken kendilerini daha yeterli ve bilgili hissetmekte (Manz, Fantuzzo ve Power, 2004), olumsuz okul deneyimi olan ebeveynler ise çocuklarının okul yaşantılarını daha olumsuz algılama eğiliminde olmaktadırlar (Raty, 2007). Ebeveyn katılımının rol yapısı ve geçmiş okul deneyimi gibi motivasyonel faktörlerden etkilenmesinin yanı sıra, Bandura (1997) tarafından ifade edildiği şekliyle, "kişinin istenilen sonuçlara ulaşacak biçimde davranabilme yeteneğine inanç" anlamına gelen öz yeterlik düzeyi tarafından da etkilenmektedir.…”