Family-school relationship and school success: comparison between families of cape-verdian origin, indian origin and natives

The explanation for the inequality of school performances given by education professionals is often associated with the amplitude of the family support to the offspring’s education. In order to explore this relationship we analyze the results of part of a survey questionnaire applied to children in the 5th and 6th grade, where it was possible to identify the trajectory school of each student and the representations and practices of their parents in relation with the school. This is a total of 837 students spread over 8 schools in the municipalities of Lisbon and Loures with different national origins. We compared the information to indigenous students, for those who have Cape Verdean origin and those of Indian origin. We conclude that family support for education (index built on the way to school meetings, the control they exert over their homework, the dialogue about school life and the support given by the families to the difficulties) contributes to school performance and that the two variables vary in a direct relationship. But this is not, in any way, a sufficient condition for success or failure in school as it is not unreasonable to conclude the decisive effect of the practices of family support for education about the results students get in school. There was also a stronger relationship with the results when it comes to the students of Cape Verdean origin and more fragile with those of Indian origin