HOME LEARNING ENVIRONMENT AS A PREDICTOR OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN’S ACHIEVEMENT
Abstract
In the literature, children’s achievement is often associated with family background and characteristics, but also with parental educational practices, or the home learning environment that families create for their children. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between different family variables and children’s achievement. More specific, we intended to identify which aspects of the family environment predict better children’s social and cognitive development: the parents’ education, family income, or the home learning environment that parents create for their children. In the study we used self-reported data, based on questionnaires administrated to parents of preschool children. The questionnaire contained items about the activities that parents engaged at home with their children, activities that had the potential to provide learning experiences and to contribute to children’s social and cognitive development, such as reading to children, playing with them, painting and drawing, and so on. Data were analyzed using hierarchical linear regression. Our results support the importance of the home learning environment and its prevalence in generating social and cognitive development, comparing to family characteristics.
References
Melhuish, E., Sylva, K., Sammons, P., Siraj-Blatchford, I., Taggart, B., Phan, M. (2008). Effects of the home learning environment and pre-schools centre experience upon literacy and numeracy development in early primary school, Journal of Social Issues, 64, 157–188.
Sylva, K., Scott, S., Totsika, V., Ereky-Stevens, K. and Crook, C. (2008). Training parents to help their children read: a randomized control trial, British Journal of Educational Psychology, 78, 435-455.
Bradley, R. (2002). Environment and parenting, in M. Bornstein (ed.) Handbook of Parenting, 2nd ed, Hillsdale, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Barnes, J., Freude-Lagevardi, A. (2003). From Pregnancy to Early Childhood: Early Interventions to Enhance the Mental Health of Children and Families, London: Mental Health Foundation.
Sylva, K., Melhuish, E., Sammons, P., Siraj-Blatchford, I., Taggart, B. (2010). Early childhood matters: evidence from the effective pre-school and primary education project. New York: Routledge.
Deslandes, R., Potvin, P., & Leclerc, D. (1999). Family characteristics as predictors of school achievement: parental involvement as a mediator. MCGILL Journal of Education, 34(2), 135- 153.
