Social correlates of parental attitudes toward education in the city of St. John's

Moss, Lawrence G. (1973) Social correlates of parental attitudes toward education in the city of St. John's. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether the attitudes of St. John's parents toward education were related to the social variables of religion, sex, family size, socio-economic level, and mother's education. -- The study was carried out among a sample of parents of grade six students in St. John's. Information was collected from the parents by means of a self-administered questionnaire and attitude scale. Socio-economic level was found by referring the occupation of the father of the family to the Blishen Occupational Scale. -- The attitude of the spouse was found to be the independent variable most closely related to the attitude of parents toward education. Socio-economic level was also found to be a reliable predictor of educational attitude. Both these variables were stronger predictors of attitude for Protestant than for Catholic parents. -- The number of children in the family was found to be inversely related to the attitudes of the mothers but not to those of the fathers. Mothers' level of education was also found to be related to their attitudes toward education. The implication here is not that attempts should be made to change parental attitudes toward education. This may be too big a task for the school. Rather it is suggested that the school, through its administration, should relate to the parents of its students in terms of the expectations which they hold for the school. Inasmuch as these expectations have been found to differ according to social class, religion, sex, and family size, the schools' relationships with parents should vary along these lines as well.

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