Family and Continued Education of Primary School Students

Brane Mikanović, Vesna Trifunović and Gordana Budimir Ninković

Summary:  This paper examines the correlation of family characteristics (material family status, parents’ educational status) and the plans of primary school students to continue their education. This paper identifies the degree of correlation between individual characteristics of students’ families and students’ educational aspirations towards inclusion at the highest levels of education, i. e. tertiary education. This paper starts from the basic assumption that the family plays a significant role in choosing the future educational direction of primary school students. This study uses a descriptive and analytical method and implements a survey as a research technique. The obtained data were statistically processed and are presented as frequencies and percentages. The survey included 198 students in the final grade of elementary schools in the Jagodina municipality, located in central Serbia. The research was conducted in 2017 and the questionnaire examined (a) the social matrix of the students’ families, (b) the students’ views on continuing their education and (c) the students’ views of their parents’ expectations that they would continue their education. The χ2 test was used as a measure of statistical inference. The main findings of the study showed that (a) most of the primary school students plan to continue their education by enrolling in the tertiary level of education and (b) students’ educational aspirations are not significantly related to the material status of the family.