Family Cultural Capital and Student Achievement by Cheng Yong Tan

Author:Cheng Yong Tan
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789811544910
Publisher: Springer Singapore

4.1 Myriad Aspects of Cultural Capital Varying in Importance

The first insight is that cultural capital is a complex construct comprising various aspects, some of which are more important than others in contributing to students’ learning (Hartas, 2015; Tan, 2017). To illustrate, Hartas’ (2015) study exemplified the complex nature of cultural capital by demonstrating how some aspects of different aspects of cultural capital can influence others to ultimately benefit students’ achievement. Her study aimed to (a) understand changes in patterns of parental home and school involvement when students started formal schooling in primary schools and when they were 15 years old, and (b) examine how various cultural capital variables such as parental education, parental reading habits, parent–child interactions, parental support with child’s emergent literacy, school-based parental support, and home educational resources predicted parental literacy support when students were 15 years old.

Hartas (2015) analyzed data from 58,653 parents in seven OECD countries, namely, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Korea, New Zealand, and Portugal, who participated in PISA 2009. Data comprised parental educational qualifications, availability of home educational resources, parental reading habits, parental involvement with children’s learning at the start of primary school and when children were fifteen years old, considerations informing parental school choices, and parental school involvement. More specifically, parental reading habits were measured by items asking about parents’ attitudes toward reading and their reading habits. Parental involvement when the child was starting primary school was measured by items measuring parents doing various activities with their children. Parental involvement when the child was 15 years old comprised parents having conversations with their children on a variety of topics. Considerations informing parental school choices were measured by items asking parents about social/pastoral and academic factors that influenced their decisions. Parental school involvement was measured by items asking whether parents participated in their children’s school.

Regression results showed that the cultural capital variables had different levels of influence on parental literacy support of their children, accounting for a total of 84% of the variance. The top three predictors were parent–child conversations, parental literacy support at primary school, and parental reading habits. The other predictors (parental education, home educational resources, social/pastoral considerations, academic considerations, and parental school involvement) were less influential. These results indicated that cultural capital is a complex construct comprising different aspects (parental educational qualifications, availability of home educational resources, parental reading habits, parental involvement with children’s learning at start of primary school and when children were fifteen years old, and parental school involvement) and that some aspects are more influential than others. They also suggested that some aspects of cultural capital (parent–child conversations, parental literacy support at primary school, and parental reading habits) are more proximal than others in facilitating students’ learning.

Tan’s (2017) study provided further evidence that cultural capital can be measured in different ways and that different indicators vary in their relative effects on students’ learning. Additionally, it demonstrated that cultural capital can transcend the traditional conceptualization of highbrow cultural consumption to include parental familiarity with school evaluation standards and future job requirements.

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