Education of parents and attitude towards school of their daughters and sons

Abstract

This paper presents the results of the research the goal of which was to gain insight into the linkage between the attitude towards school and educational aspirations of female and male pupils and the aspects of their family environment which are gender marked (educational status of mothers and educational status of fathers as gender-role indicators). The approach to research topic was developed by relying on ecological systems theory of development (Bronfenbrenner) and social-cognitive theory of gender-role development (Bussey and Bandura). Research comprised a representative sample of 2447 female and male pupils of eighth grade from 36 schools in Serbia, and data were obtained by using answers to the questionnaires referring to some aspects of family and school environment. This is an in-depth analysis of data collected as part of the international study TIMSS 2007. Research findings can be expressed on two levels. The first - female eighth grade pupils, compared to their male peers, have considerably higher educational aspirations, a more positive attitude towards school as learning environment, and in extracurricular everyday life they prefer activities which are encouraged by school contents. The second - educational aspirations of male and female pupils are highly positively correlated with the accomplished educational level of the same gender parent, while attitude towards school and the type of extracurricular activities, both in boys/male pupils and girls/female pupils, stand in higher correlation with the accomplished level of education of the mother.