Evaluating the participation of the father from different socio-economic level in the education of their children at the age of six, ten, fourteen

This study was made to ascertain whether the parents in the lower and upper socio-economic levels contribute to the education of their children in the age groups of six, ten and fourteen years. The population of the study were 382 parents of 191 children in lower and upper SELs as per the State Institute of Statistics data in Mamak and Çankaya Sub-prefectures of Ankara Province. In the implementation of the study, the survey form developed by the researcher was applied to the parents in individual face-to-face inquiries. Analyses of data were made through Chi-square, Cohens and Kappa methods and using the Fisher reliability coefficient. According to the results derived from the straight tables subsequent to the statistical work, the difference is significant between the parents in the upper and lower SELs (p<0,05). The importance of this difference is noticeable also according to the children's ages and sexes, parents' ages and education levels (p<0,05). Participation of parents to their children's education varies according to the SELs. Though the children's ages were not found to be significant in the paternal contribution to the education, this relationship is unfavourable in the lower SEL for the critical statements regarding the development periods and age and favourable in the upper SEL. It was found also that the children's ages did not generally exert an effect in the maternal381 contribution to the education in the lower SEL though an unfavourable effect is found in the critical statements on the age and development periods whereas the children's ages does not exert an influence in the participation of upper SEL mothers. Participation of mothers in the latter group was found to be more or less similar in all age categories. Paternal contribution to education in the lower and upper SELs shows a variation according to the children's age categories. The situation is in favour of male children in the lower SEL and of females in the upper one. Difference indicated in the participation appears to be insignificant (p<0,05) in both SELs while the material contribution to education again in both SELs changes according to the children's sexes. Ages of parents in the lower and upper SELs generally influence their contribution of their children according to the tatter's ages. This influence appears, however, divergences in the statements rather than being consistent for each age category. The difference in participation in the graduates of senior high schools and their equivalents is found to be insignificant (p>0,05). The maternal participation to the education differs according to the education level in both SELs. The results extracted from the cross tables show that around one half of the replies to the questions regarding the parental contribution to the children's education in the lower SEL is convergent and the remaining half is found to be divergent and fathers do not contribute to the education in both the divergence and convergence situations while the parental contribution in the upper SEL is somewhat in the convergence direction, meaning a partial contribution. It should not be forgotten, however, that replies suggesting a divergence may not be minimised.382 Children's ages and sexes do not influence the paternal contribution to the education in the lower SEL whereas an opposite tendency is noted in the upper SEL. Paternal age does not exert an effect on their contribution to the education while their education level is ascertained to exert such an influence. The parental age factor in the upper SEL is immaterial for their contribution, with a partial correlation with the education level. The greatest contribution was found to be given by the group of graduates of senior high schools and their equivalents, versus a partial correlation in the upper SEL with a shift toward partial confluence. Paternal education levels in the lower and upper SELs influence their contribution to the children's education. This participation is generally concurrent with the paternal education level in the lower SEL, and opposite in the upper one. As a general rule, the participation diminishes in the higher education levels.