The study explored Finnish parents' intention in making school choices and the relationship of those intentions to demographic and attitudinal factors. It was found that the great majority of parents had not seriously considered choosing a school other than the neighbouring one. Parents living in urban areas, or those supporting a selective…

In the course of their child's school years, a group of parents were asked to assess their child's mathematical competence and indicate whether they endorsed the gender stereotype pertaining to it. Once the child had entered upper primary school, the consistent stereotypic parents tended to rate their boys' mathematical competence higher than the…

The study set out to explore parents' experiences of their child's upper primary schooling. Academically and vocationally educated mothers and fathers (N = 326) were prompted to give positive and negative comments on their child's school years at the end of his/her 7th and 9th grade. It was found that a great majority of the comments were positive…

This study set out to examine parents' perceptions of the malleability of their child's academic competencies. A total of 97 mothers and fathers were asked to rate their child's potential for improving her/his competencies in mathematics and Finnish, using both intrapersonal and interpersonal criteria in their ratings. These two criteria were…

Parents (N = 97) and their child's class-teachers were instructed to rate the child's potential for improvement in mathematics and Finnish. The results showed that there was a moderate correlation between the parents' and teachers' ratings. The parents rated their child's potential more optimistically than the teachers did. Views of malleability…

The present study set out to survey Finnish parents' participation in their child's schooling and related experiences. The subjects were a nationally representative group of academically and vocationally educated fathers and mothers (N = 391) who had a child on the fifth grade. A great majority of the parents reported that they attended the parent…

This longitudinal study set out to examine, in the light of the parents' education and gender and the child's gender, the changes that occurred in the course of five years in parents' satisfaction with the functioning of their child's school. Academically and vocationally educated mothers and fathers (N = 391) were asked to indicate their…

Presents a study that used a Finland-wide sample of parents, both mothers and fathers, who have a child either 9- to 10-years-old or 12- to 13-years-old. Focuses on the parents' views of their children's abilities and how social positions organize their assessments. (CMK)