1. Families for our times March 2007

2. lo ach hi

3. Factors shaping educational outcomes  child’s characteristics  family characteristics  parental involvement  school quality  community  peer group  family support services

4. Good parenting  at home  authoritative not authoritarian  conversation/discussion  confers respect values attitudes

5. Effects of parents/effect of schools achievement parents / school effects age 7 0.29 / 0.05 age 11 0.27 / 0.21 age 16 0.14 / 0.51 from Sacker et al (2002)

6. Barriers to parental involvement  extreme poverty and social chaos  substance abuse  depression  the difficult child  lack of confidence or knowledge  alternative values  barriers set up by schools

7. Dynamics of families  parents are human  parents do not run families  children are significant players

8. Charles Desforges c.w.desforges@exeter.ac.uk