Family Education Improves Student's Academic Performance: Contributions from European Research

Abstract

There is a wide body of literature about the relation between families’ education andstudents’ academic performance. Several contributions have focused its analysis ondescribing the gap between children of academic families and non-academic families,especially those with low socioeconomic status from underprivileged neighbourhoods.These kinds of conclusions have had an impact on educational actions which start fromthe point that children from non academic and underprivileged families are condemnedto school failure. Findings from a large-scale European research project on schooling arerefuting these conclusions. This research has provided evidences on those types offamily and community participation that are contributing to educational success. Thispaper presents one of these types of participation, which is family education as aSuccessful Educational Action (SEA) that is improving students’ performance bycreating learning spaces between families and students where cultural and educationalinteractions are shared. Data provided here illustrates how these interactions contributeto accelerate children’s learning.