"Good" Parenting: Parental Support in Education as a Factor in Inequality

Abstract

Parental support is generally considered as important, positive, and desirable for students' educational trajectories. As research in education has repeatedly proven, parental capital significantly affects students' educational pathways in terms of ambitions, opportunities, and outcomes. In this article, we investigate how teachers and parents in Slovenia view the role of parents in students' educational trajectories. We observe whether their role might mitigate or increase educational inequalities. We draw on qualitative data obtained through interviews with teachers and parents of ninth-grade students in Slovenia. The article shows that parents in Slovenia are very involved in their children's educational process; they have high educational aspirations that seem to be internalized by their children. Their engaged involvement can be newly considered as a factor in the social differentiation of children, as it covertly sanctions those parents and children who are unable or unwilling to create a supportive family climate.