Forum 1 Module 1
The amount of research available in the field of education appears to be endless. It can
range from the home life of a student and its effect on a student’s academic performance, to the
quality of education being provided based on teachers’ cultural knowledge. An educational issue
that I found interesting while reading the text is that of the relationship between working mothers
and the effects of maternal employment on school readiness. It was found in a study of 900
European Americans that school readiness was lower in students with working mothers (Check
& Schutt, 2012). While there was a large quantity of children studied (900), there was a lack of
acknowledgement of other factors that may impact the school readiness for children.
One area that I would have liked to be acknowledged is the quality parental involvement
from the mother. In a more recent study, it was found that the quality of parental involvement
had more of an effect on a student’s academic performance compared to the effect of the
mother’s employment status (Augustine, 2014). Therefore, the earlier study mentioned neglects
to acknowledge the true impact maternal employment may have on a child’s education.
A second factor to have focused on within the study is that amount of resources provided
or accessible to the student. Resources could include quality child care, support groups, and
other areas for social involvement. Augustine’s study found that while anticipated that those
mothers that work would have access to quality resources, it was found that it was dependent on
both the education level of the mother and the prestige of the occupation (2014). This could then
show that while a mother is working, it does not assume neglect on the focus of education for the
child.
Thirdly, an area of focus related to the employment of a child’s mother would be
focusing on cultural background. The study proposed in the text solely focused on European
Americans, one negative factor of the study (Check & Schutt, 2012). This neglects the cultural
impact on a child’s education, as it does not consider how additional family members may step
in to assist the mother, as well as if there is an additional parent in the home.
Lastly, it would be interesting to see if there is a difference related to one parent working
and both parents working. While the one parent in the home working is the mother, it does not
consider if the father stays at home. Non-traditional family structures have been found to have a
different impact on children, and factors that should be noted (Augustine, 2012). Therefore, non-
traditional family structures could easily play an impactful role into school readiness of the child.
References
Augustine, J. M. (2014). Mothers’ employment, education, and parenting. Work and
occupations, 41(2), 237–270. https://doi.org/10.1177/0730888413501342
Check, J., & Schutt, R. (2012). Research methods in education. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Publishing.