Parental Involvement and School Choice in Hungarian Primary Schools

Figures & data

Figure 1. Number of students attending church run schools (2001–2020).

Source. KSH (2020).

Table 1. Estimates from linear regression analysis for parental involvement at home (N = 702).

	B(SE)	B(SE)	B(SE)	B(SE)
Traditionally church-run school	0.213 (0.17)	0.187 (0.171)	0.146 (0.168)	0.185 (0.177)
New church-run school	0.017 (0.106)	−0.033 (0.108)	−0.033 (0.106)	0.000 (0.109)
Respondent is religious		0.220 (0.075)**	0.162 (0.075)*	0.171 (0.077)*
Number of children		−0.11 (0.038)**	−0.095 (0.038)*	−0.09 (0.039)*
Single parent		0.009 (0.123)	0.030 (0.122)	0.038 (0.128)
Place of residence		−0.009 (0.076)	−0.034 (0.077)	0.012 (0.097)
Respondent is the mother			0.515 (0.114)***	0.534 (0.119)***
Respondent’s age			−0.014 (0.007)#	−0.012 (0.008)
Homogeneous graduate background			0.121 (0.096)	0.152 (0.104)
Heterogeneous graduate background			0.198 (0.092)*	0.216 (0.094)*
Social composition index				−0.014 (0.01)
Small school				0.208 (0.128)
Large school				−0.005 (0.097)
Adjusted R-squared	0.000	0.016	0.056	0.062

*** p < 0.001, ** p < 0.01, * p < 0.05, #p <0 .1

Table 2. Estimates from linear regression analysis for parental involvement in school (N = 760).

	B(SE)	B(SE)	B(SE)	B(SE)
Traditionally church-run school	−0.262 (0.174)	−0.341 (0.175)#	−0.363 (0.175)*	−0.309 (0.181)#
New church-run school	0.168 (0.101)#	0.082 (0.104)	0.078 (0.104)	0.107 (0.105)
Respondent is religious		0.162 (0.071)*	0.141 (0.073)#	0.152 (0.074)*
Number of children		0.014 (0.035)	0.012 (0.036)	0.018 (0.036)
Single parent		−0.084 (0.116)	−0.101 (0.117)	−0.146 (0.12)
Place of residence		0.182 (0.073)*	0.155 (0.075)*	0.129 (0.093)
Respondent is the mother			0.149 (0.114)	0.232 (0.117)*
Respondent’s age			0.012 (0.007)#	0.017 (0.007)*
Homogeneous graduate background			−0.007 (0.095)	−0.022 (0.103)
Heterogeneous graduate background			0.12 (0.091)	0.140 (0.092)
Social composition index				−0.018 (0.009)*
Small school				−0.108 (0.119)
Large school				0.02 (0.094)
Adjusted R-squared	0.005	0.015	0.018	0.033

*** p < 0.001, ** p < 0.01, * p < 0.05, #p < 0.1

Table A1. Descriptive statistics (row percentages) and factor loadings of items of parental involvement at home (N = 988).

In the past month, the respondent …	Never	Once or twice	Often	Daily	Factor loadings
Activities assisting child in learning
discussed school experiences with the child	0.2%	2.6%	11%	86.3%	0.531
studied together with the child	2.2%	15%	34%	48.8%	0.543
read tales, literature, or popular science texts together with the child	8.8%	34.7%	34.5%	22%	0.579
General parental tasks
discussed experiences from the Internet with the child	9.8%	29.9%	42.5%	17.9%	0.626
discussed general topics of life and the world with the child	3.3%	14.3%	48.5%	33.9%	0.667
discussed topics of religion and psychology with the child	9%	29.6%	39.6%	21.7%	0.605
planned common leisure activities with the child	2.3%	20.8%	62.9%	14%	0.672
played together with the child	2.6%	21.2%	54.2%	22%	0.671
and the whole family dined together	4.4%	10.6%	32.5%	52.5%	0.359
Building a supportive network for the child
talked with the parents of the child’s friends and peers	11.1%	42%	38%	8.9%	0.591
invited the child’s friends and peers	17.3%	46.9%	31.2%	4.7%	0.489
taken part in an extended family event or visit with the child	13.6%	34.9%	42.8%	8.8%	0.531

Note. The principal component measure had a minimum of −4.1, a maximum of 2.42, a mean of 0, and standard deviation of 1, explained 33.5% of the variance of the input variables, and had an eigenvalue of 4.02.

Table A2. Descriptive statistics (row percentages) and factor loadings of items of parental involvement at school (N = 1090).

In the past month, the respondent …	Never	Once or twice	Often	Daily	Proportion of affirmative responses (%)	Factor loadings
talked with the child’s teachers (personally, on the phone, electronically)	9.3%	43.9%	38.3%	8.4%		0.266
The respondent contacts the child’s teacher …
if the child’s behavior has changed					67%	0.585
if the child complains about school matters					70.8%	0.504
when picking up the child from school, almost always					24.5%	0.215
if deemed necessary based on discussions with other parents					36.9%	0.414
if problems arise in the child’s academic progress or the electronic administration system					63.3%	0.539
to show interest in new activities and events					40.6%	0.584
when teachers specifically ask to					78.5%	0.561
to offer parental help					58.2%	0.648
to say thank you for something					66.9%	0.675
to ask for the teacher’s help before a major event (e.g., moving house, birth of a sibling)					31.5%	0.522
to discuss a newly discovered ability of the child					27.7%	0.580

The principal component measure had a minimum of −2.36, a maximum of 1.8, a mean of 0, a standard deviation of 1, explained 27.6% of the variance of the input variables, and had an eigenvalue of 3.32.

KSH. (2020). Educational Data 2019/20. Hungarian Central Statistical Office. https://www.ksh.hu

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