One-Parent Families and Educational Disadvantage. Working Paper No. 4.

This paper presents data and discussions based on two Australian studies of the possible educational problems suffered by children from one-parent homes. The first section describes anticipated problem areas for these children, i.e., financial burden, health problems, change in life style, and the emotional effects of disruption. Data from other countries are reviewed and demographic tables for Australia are given. The second section presents teachers' responses from the two studies, including illustrative quotes, concerning the one-parent child's educational performance, aspirations and emotional stability. The paper notes that while most teachers viewed one-parent children as the same as two-parent children in these areas, a significant minority saw them as worse. The third section describes more fully the differences that teachers perceived between these groups of children. The fourth section reports data on the one-parent family and single-parent views on such issues as child-school relationship, parent-child relationship, and labeling. The concluding section reports ongoing concerns highlighted by the two studies. A bibliography is included. (WAS)