Attitudes and Practices of Parents: Disadvantage and Access to Education

This article focuses on different ways in which socially disadvantaged parents engage with their children’s educational experiences, and provides evidence of the role they play in opening or narrowing their children’s access to education. Disadvantaged parents are usually associated with weak or difficult educational trajectories for their children, because of their lower level of economic, cultural, and social capital. Nevertheless, this association does not operate as an automatic mechanism. Indeed, against a backdrop of persisting inequalities, research data show a plurality of intraclass and intragroup dynamics, with disadvantaged parents having diverse ways of avoiding blaming processes, saving dignity, and acting as proactive agents for their children’s educational career.