« Previous | Contents | Next »
Listen
CHAPTER FOUR HOW IMPORTANT ARE EARLY LIFE EXPERIENCES AND FAMILY BACKGROUND?
Children growing up in difficult, disadvantaged conditions, with parents whose own educational experiences have been poor, may not have the same crucial learning support as those raised in more comfortable circumstances. It then falls to teachers to make up for this lack of support - and so prevent poor skills from being passed from one generation to the next.
Social class
We found a strong association between family social class and literacy and numeracy levels. For example, just 17% of BCS70 cohort members living in Scotland with SCQF Level 2 or 3 literacy had fathers doing 'white collar' work back in 1970. However, this increased to 38% among those with SCQF Level 5 or higher literacy and 41% of those with SCQF Level 5 numeracy.
Housing
Survey participants living in Scotland in 2004 were far more likely to have lived in rented, overcrowded accommodation as children than the BCS70 cohort as a whole. Those with the lowest skills levels were the most likely to have grown up in such conditions, and in inner city areas or council estates. We found, for example, that only 2 in 10 adults in Scotland with SCQF Level 2 or 3 literacy or SCQF Level 2 numeracy had grown up in owner-occupied homes, compared to around half of those with SCQF Level 5 or higher skills.
Economic disadvantage is one of the factors which work against educational progress and inhibits literacy and numeracy skills acquisition.
Financial circumstances
Adults with low levels of literacy and numeracy - especially the former - had often experienced relative poverty in childhood. Compared to survey participants with SCQF Level 5 or above literacy, the families of those with skills at SCQF Level 3 or below were far less likely to have had a phone, colour TV or car in 1975 when they were 5. In 1980, when they were 10, 35% were receiving free school meals, compared to 11% of those with Level 5 or above literacy. By 1986, their families were also more likely to have received state benefits.
Parents' education
Only 1 in 7 cohort members with the poorest literacy skills had mothers with any post-compulsory education, compared with more than 1 in 3 of those with SCQF Level 5 literacy or numeracy skills. Those with skills at or below SCQF Level 3 were also the least likely to have parents with any formal qualifications.
Completing the picture of skills difficulties being passed from one generation to the next, parents of those with the poorest grasp of literacy or numeracy were themselves the most likely to report difficulties with these skills.
Cohort members with the poorest grasp of literacy and numeracy were the least likely to have been read to every day when they were age 5. Most likely to have been read to every day were cohort members with SCQF Level 5 or higher numeracy.
Parental support
Parents of cohort members with literacy or numeracy issues were the least likely to have read to their children when they were young or to have been seen by teachers as interested in their children's education. Reflecting their own poor educational experiences, few of these parents wanted their children to continue in education after the age of 16. Their low aspirations were shared by cohort members themselves. At 16, more than 8 in 10 of those later assessed as having SCQF Level 2 or 3 literacy wanted to leave education at the earliest opportunity, as did nearly 6 in 10 of those with SCQF Level 2 numeracy. This compared with 1 in 3 of those with SCQF Level 5 literacy and 1 in 4 with SCQF Level 5 numeracy.
Conclusions
Survey participants with the poorest of literacy and numeracy skills came from relatively disadvantaged backgrounds. They were likely to have grown up in overcrowded, rented accommodation and to have poorly educated parents with little active interest in their children's education.
Parental aspirations and attainment strongly influence their children's education
« Previous | Contents | Next »