Conditions for educational achievement of lower secondary school graduates

Conditions for educational achievement of lower secondary school graduates

Published Jan 2004

Author

R. Piwowarski

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Home-family factor found to be most important for child’s success at school in Poland

What matters to students’ performance at the school leaving exam? This paper looks at the factors in the family and home environment and (to a lesser extent) in school and the educational system have a significant effect on the educational achievement of students.

The introduction of a compulsory leaving exam for graduating secondary students is a major element of the Polish schools reform of the late 1990s. A key characteristic of the new examination procedure is that it tests the students’ knowledge and skills on a unified basis. This is recognized by the author of the paper as a good opportunity for him to assess the reasons for the recently reported poor general performance of Polish students.

An additional motivation for the research is the current scarcity of studies on the significance that the different factors have on the students’ general performance in particular countries. The paper contains an elaborate overview of the original methodology used, a detailed analysis of the outcomes of the study for 2002 as well as a large list of comprehensive data tables and graphs.

The final results indicate that the main factors influencing the students’ performance are rated in the following hierarchy:

  • student-dependent factors (from the most powerful to the least significant): the educational plans; father’s education; the availability of a computer, books and internet in the student’s home
  • school-dependent factors: the educational plans; the number of full-time teachers in the school; the number of students; the assessment of teachers (specifically in history and mathematics)
  • factors with negative impact on student achievement: father’s unemployment, mother’s absence, alcohol and drug addiction in the family, together with school absences and repetition of the year

The magnitudes of the described relations vary according to the size of the place where the school is located (large/small city) and its regional characteristics (rural or urban district). The larger and more urban the school environment is, the stronger are the observed relations, and vice versa.

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