Parents' Educational Expectations: Does It Matter for Academic Success?

Previous studies showed that high parental expectations are linked to student motivation to achieve in school, social resilience, aspirations to attend college, high grades, to achieve high scores on standardized tests, and persist longer in school. Adding to these direct effects, parent expectations have been stated as affecting student outcomes indirectly through parental beliefs and perceived efficacy in providing academic support to their children. In this study, it was aimed to examine the parental expectations of their youths’ academic success and future educational career. Thirty-five mothers and 15 fathers whose children were in the eighth grade were interviewed. In the semi-structured interview, fifty parents were asked the factors affecting their expectations, if they share their expectations with their youths, if there are any differences between parents’ and youths’ own expectations. Thematic analysis technique was applied to the transcribed data. The results showed that although there were differences between expected and current situation of academic success of youths, parents mentioned their expectation that their youths’ academic success will be good because of the youths’ own ability or effort. On the other hand, parents’ expectation is not based on the current situation of the youth’s academic success but based on the parents’ aspiration.


INTRODUCTION
In literature, academic achievement is often related to variables such as school grades and exam results (Neuenschwander, Vida, Garret, & Eccles, 2007;Phillipson & Phillipson 2007), level of education to be graduated (Jacobs & Harvey, 2005;Phillipson & Phillipson 2007), and the child's performance in the classroom. Besides, intelligence (Rohde & Thompson, 2007), intrinsic motivation for success (Steinmayr & Spinath, 2009), students' own goals or expectations for the future (Walkey, McClure, Meyer, Weir, 2013), and contextual factors including family, teachers, and peers have an impact on academic achievement. In addition, the importance of variables related to parents in the academic achievement of students in all levels of education is indisputable. For example, PISA 2015 results suggest that the most important variables related to success are the ones related to family (MNE, 2016). The socio-economic level of the family (Dandy & Nettelbeck, 2002;Davis-Kean, 2005), parents' level of education (Davis-Kean, 2005), parenting styles (Murray, 2012), the level of parental participation (Davis & Sexton, 2009;Jeynes, 2007), their role activity and self efficacy beliefs about involvement (Hoover-Dempsey, Walker, Sandler, Whetsel, Green, Wilkins, & Clossen, 2005) are also important in academic success. The role of parental expectations for the children academic success is considered as one of the important variables in today (Baofeng Wang, 2004;Davis-Kean 2005;Neuenschwander et al., 2007;Patrikakou, 2008;Pearce 2006;Phillipson & Phillipson 2007;Rutchick, Smyth, Lopoo, & Dusek, 2009;Yan & Lin, 2005).
Academic expectation is defined as parents' realistic beliefs or judgments for their children's future success, such as school grades, attending a university (Goldenberg, Gallimore, Reese & Garnier, 2001). However, some researchers explain it based on expectations for the children's current academic performance and also predictions about the children's abilities (Carpenter, 2008;Yamamoto & Holloway, 2010). Carpenter (2008) defines parental expectation as parents' views on their children's future success. He also notes that it is different from parental aspiration. Accordingly, parental expectation reflects the parents' own aspiration for the level of future success rather than their expectations for potential future success of the child. Parental expectations can be affected by parents' ethnicity (Yamamoto & Holloway, 2010), socioeconomic status (Mistry et al., 2009;Stull, 2013), educational status (Daymaz, 2012;Räty, Leinonen, & Snellman, 2002), the child's gender (Jacobs et al., 2005) and previous success of the child (Neuenshwander et al., 2007). Fan and Chen (2001) and Jeynes (2007) reported that parental expectation was the greatest impacting parenting variable for academic achievement. Besides, the literature suggests that children whose parents have higher expectations secure higher grades than those in the other group. They also perform better on standardized tests and are more likely to pursue higher education (Baofeng Wang, 2004;Davis-Kean 2005;Patrikakou, 2008;Pearce 2006;Rutchick et al., 2009;Yan & Lin, 2005). High parental expectations also positively influence children's motivation for success at school, social resilience, and the willingness to continue to university (Jacobs, Davis-Kean, Bleeker, Eccles, & Malachuk, 2005;Kirk, Lewis-Moss, Nilsen, & Colvin, 2011). Literature explain the effect of parental expectation on academic success in relation with parental participation and their education-oriented communication with the child. Accordingly, parental expectations influence parental participation in home-based activities such as homework and in school-based activities such as their support for classroom and school activities, their willingness and attitudes toward creating a home environment and conditions that support school work, and whether they communicate with their children on their expectations and goals regarding the future (Fan & Chen 2001;Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005;Jeynes 2003;Mistry et al., 2009). Parental participation is important because they enable communication and sharing that help both the child and the parents to create more realistic expectations about the child's future. Sharing aspirations and expectations influence positively the child's motivation toward learning and studying as well as their career plans (Davis-Kean 2005;Jacobs et al., 2005;Kirk et al., 2011). However, Hao and Bonstead-Bruns (1998) suggest that the most important factor is the harmony between parents and children's expectations. The harmony implies a realistic mutual understanding shared by parents and the child, which is formed on the basis of the academic achievements. They indicate that behaviors such as offering financial resources to support higher academic goals, being a role model for success, supporting the child's individual goals, and rewarding the child's efforts for success positively influence the harmony between parents' expectation and the child. The parental involvement through such interactions will positively contribute to the relationship between the child and the parent as well as the parental participation (Epstein, 2016). As it was mentioned above, such a relationship based on effective sharing will support both the likelihood of harmony between and increase in parents' and children's expectations about the child's future academic carreer (Hao & Bonstead-Bruns, 1998). As it is shown below, parent expectations have been stated as affecting student outcomes both directly through interactions with their children and indirectly through parental beliefs and perceived efficacy in providing academic support to their children. Although parental effect on academic achievement was examined through variables such as parents' educational and/or socioeconomic status, parenting styles, parental involvement, there are relatively few studies addressing the factors exhibiting parents' expectations. On the other hand, it was not encountered any study on the subject in Turkish literature. Lindberg, Yıldırım, Elvan, Öztürk & Recepoğlu SDU IJES (SDU International Journal of Educational Studies)

Aims of the Study
The study examines the parental expectations of their youths' future education in general. The research questions are as follows: 1-What are the parental aspiration and expectations about their children's education for current year and for the future? 2-What is the matter of sharing of these academic expectations of parents with the children? 3-What are the similarities and differences between the expectations of parents and children about the academic future?

METHOD
A qualitative phenomenological approach which focused on the "meaning" of the observable characteristics, rather than the characteristics themselves was adopted in this study. Thus, it deals with how the meaning of an observed reality evolves and changes, how and when subjective evaluations can be described as "objective meanings," and how people adapt these into their own reality (Flick, Kardorff, & Steinke, 2004).

Participants
It was aimed to reach as much and various participants as possible. On the other hand, to obtain better understanding on the variables, it was reached participants living in socially and culturally more traditional societies. Therefore, the participants are from different cities at middle Anatolian and Southern part of the country. Fifty parents whose children were in the eighth grade were interviewed. The gender of the participants' children was matched due to the likelihood of changing expectations based on the child's gender. Further, the mean age of the participants was 40.56. The mean number of children in the families was 3.08. Other demographic information of participants was presented in Table 1. Housewife 21 42 Teacher 10 20 Academics 6 12 Farmer 5 10 Craftmen 3 6 Civil Servant 5 10

Measures
The data was gathered through a semi-structured interview form. After defining the variables of the study, as many questions as possible linked to the variables was written. The questions were examined whether they have direct relation with the aim, support the conceptual structure of the form or they are researchable. Further, the form was structurally examined in terms of order of the questions and their grammatical features. Finally, the form was delivered to five professionals who have a Doctorate degree at Psychological Counseling and Guidance, Educational Psychology or Social Sciences Education. Some questions were modified to enhance or strengthen the form or new questions were added in this process. As a result, a five-item interview form was obtained. In the form, parents were asked about their children's academic achievement, their aspiration and expectation for their children' education, whether they share their expectations with their children, and, if they did so, whether there was a difference between children's own expectation and theirs. The year-end school grade point of children was obtained from their school. The interviews were conducted by four interviewers. To avoid possible researcher biases, the aim of each question in the form was discussed to reach a common understanding. Besides, each interviewer conducted and recorded a pilot interview because of ensuring that the form works properly and creating a common sense among interviewers for data gathering process of the study.

Data Analysis and Reliability
Thematic analysis technique was used to analyze the data. The technique is used to describe, analyze, and report themes within the data. The aim of the method is to discover the data by organizing rich details into the smallest details (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Initially, the records were read by the coders in order to become familiar with the data. Then, remarkable descriptions related to the aims in the data set were coded under general themes by coders separately. Each themes were discussed in order to reach a common definition for them. After an agreement on them, the data was read on question basis to reach in-vivos. In -vivo codes are based on interviewees' use of words. The in-vivos defined by coders separately were reviewed in four group session in order to reach an agreement. Then they were redefined within their own context and named to be summarized in the findings. The coefficient for reliability between coders was used in order to exhibit the validity of the coding process. In calculation of the consistency percentage between four coders, the formula defined by Miles and Huberman (1994;pp. 64) was applied and the reliability coefficient between the coders was calculated as 0.81.

RESULTS and DISCUSSION
The data was analyzed under three general themes, "the expectations about academic success," "the aspirations and expectations about the maximum level of education to be attained," and "the status of sharing those expectations with the child."

Expectations about Academic Success
The parents' responses on their children's previous year success and their expectations for year-end success were analyzed under four subcategories. The category of "very good" is created for the responses such as "close to 100 % success" and "high mean grades" by the participants. The category of "good" includes factors such as receiving a "B-grade certificate," and "70 % success." The category of "bad" includes descriptions such as "low mean grades." Final category is named as "I don't know" which means participants do not have any opinion about the question. The results are given below. Total 50 100 50 100 50 100 As in Table 2, most of the participants (66%) stated their children's success in the previous year as "good." In addition, they indicated the expectation for children's GPA will be "good." However, 43% of the children reached a "very good" GPA of 85-100 points. This result indicates that the parental expectations were relatively lower than the children' year-end success. There are some possible explanations of this result such as inadequate or limited information that parents' have about the grading system at school, the knowledge and skills each child should acquire to be successful in the courses. Literature revealed that parents specifically who has children at primary education have lack of information about what their children learn or will learn at school; moreover, at times information requests in this regard by parents were seen to have been rejected by teachers (Erdoğan & Demirkasımoğlu, 2010;Lindberg, 2013;Ünal, Yıldırım, & Çelik, 2010). However, Epstein (2016) and Hoower-Dempsey and Sandler (2005) stated that informing parents about the curriculum, the knowledge and skills required for each courses increases parental participation. As mentioned earlier, parental participation is influential on developing more realistic expectations and influence children' academic success. The participants were also asked their casual explanations for the success or failure of their children. The responses were analyzed separately for success and failure. The category of "child-related reasons" includes reasons, such as the failure to do the homework, to attend the courses, reaching puberty. The category of "family-related reasons" includes definitions about the socio-economic level of the family, their living environment, parental attitudes. The "schooland courses -related reasons" category is about the specific characteristics of the school/teachers/courses, the educational methods applied in the school. Final category was for the answer "I don't know". The results are in Table 3. Most of the parents explained the success of their children with school-and course-related reasons (65.6%) but the failure with child-related reasons (58.9%). One of the participants explained the reason of success as follows; "He loves his teacher and he studies hard because he does not want to disappoint him" (Mother,Housewife,39). In addition to literature highlighting the importance of the family-related variables in student achievement (Daymaz, 2012;Mistry et al., 2009;Räty et al., 2002;Stull, 2013), the result show that children' academic success will increase in parallel with the psychological, social, and academic support provided by the school and teachers. This result can also be explained by the level of parental education. Majority of the participants was the primary school graduates (n = 17). Combined with the middle school and high school graduates, the number of parents in the non-university graduate group increased. Hoover-Dempsey et al. (2005) argued that parents' perceptions of self-competence as related to contributing to their children's education decreases as their levels of education decrease. Therefore, they tend to transfer all responsibility for school activities to the teachers and schools (Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2007;Kaya & Bacanlı, 2016). Moreover, literature revealed that parents with lower education levels consider teachers as the most important authority and so give the responsibilty of children' education to the teachers (Lindberg, 2013;Ünal et al., 2010). Majority of parents who participated in this study explained the reasons for their children's failure with child-related reasons. One of the participants said "the previous year was better than this year. This year his grades are dropping because he reached puberty, and he thinks he knows everything… He watches himself in the mirror, tries to make girlfriends." (Father,Academic,45). It is considered that there might be two reasons for the results. The main reason is that the participants' children developmental stage. Literature shows that developmental features such as searching identity and seeking independence accompanied by rapid bodily changes during adolescence may negatively affect academic success together with the family, school and peer group related other factors (Wang & Fredricks, 2014). Another explanation is related to the respect for authority, which is specific to traditional Asian cultures. Accordingly, it seems safer and more acceptable to hold the child's individual factors accountable for the child's failure, rather than the teacher, school, or environmental factors (Fleischmann & de Haas, 2016).

Parental Aspirations and Expectations about the Highest Level of Education to be Attained by the Child
The results of the analysis on parental aspiration and expectation for their children are remarkably similar. The results is shown in Table 4. Accordingly, the majority of parents aspire their children to complete at least higher education, and their expectations support their aspirations. A mother expressed her determination in this regard saying, "I mean, it's not a matter of if…He will graduate from a university… I say, university! If I cannot do anything else, I will take him there myself and leave him at the gate… He must go to the university!" (Mother, Teacher, 39). The results support the idea that expectations from individuals participating in today's business life are different from those of the past (Chu, Reynolds, Tavares, Notari, and Lee, 2017). Accordingly, having a university degree is considered to be necessary for individuals to have a respectable job and a prosperous future. In fact, the central point emphasized by the media and employers alike is that the first condition for a decent job at any level is having a good educational background. The parents were also asked about their casual explanation for the responses above. The responses were analyzed under six subcategories. The category of "child-related reasons" includes the aspirations to be successful, the child's aspirations to continue with higher education, regular studying habit, and clear and precise goals for the future. The category of "finding a job" consists of causal answers such as having difficulty in finding a job without a university degree, having to gain financial independence, and having a decent job. The category of "family characteristics" is based on causal explanations including the family's belief that the child will be successful, the family's socioeconomic level, parents' regrets about their own education, and their failures. The category of "socio-cultural environment" includes the socio cultural values regarding with achieving a status that is accepted and respected by the society. The category of "educational system" includes causal explanations such as exams, evaluation criteria, and the duration of compulsory education in the educational system. Final category is "I do not know". The results are below. As noted earlier, majority of the participants (64%) stated that they expect their children to attain at least university-level education. The reason for this expectation is mostly explained by child-related reasons. In this respect, because children are willing to continue higher education, they study in a planned manner and set clear goals for the future. Literature suggests that higher involved parents have higher expectations about their children's success (Hao & Bonstead-Bruns, 1998). In the case of adolescent students, home-based parental involvement is argued to have more significant effects (Hill & Tyson, 2009). Home-based involvement implies setting up relationships based on the principle that the child's willingness to become independent is satisfied without compromising his or her need for guidance, as well as the relationship between the parent and the child with regard to the child's school activities and support for schoolwork. Such relationships are important because they offer information to parents about the child's needs, aspirations, anticipations, strengths, and weaknesses (Hao & Bonstead-Bruns, 1998). This study claims that parents' expectations about their children's future may be affected by such interactions. In this study, parents stated that the most important determinant of academic achievement was the school the child was educated in, the teacher, and the courses (65.62%); although, they explained their aspirations and expectations regarding the highest level of education to be attained as an important factor in academic success through child-related reasons (48.28%). In a sense, while the factor that determines the level of education parents aspire the child to attain is the child himself; the determinants of the academic achievement required for the child to continue or complete the current level of education are explained by factors related to the school. The result can be explained in different ways. First, parents' expectations about their children's education may vary in relation to the near and distant future. Thus, while parents in this study mostly used external variables when expressing their expectations about their children's success at the current level, which is a close target, they are more likely to use child-related factors (such as the current success level, attitudes toward the courses, learning, and school) when describing expectations about a more distant target (such as the highest level of education). The second possible explanation is related to the success of the participants' children at the educational level they are currently attending. Majority of parents in this study defined their children's year-end success in the previous and current year as good. Research indicates that expectations of those parents whose children who get high grades are also high (Baofeng Wang, 2004;Davis-Kean, 2005). Therefore, parents of children with good and very good achievement scores at the current level of education may believe current levels of success as a basis while expressing their expectations that their children will at least be a university graduate in the future. However, it is considered that parents' reasons for taking the factors related to the school, teachers, and courses can be explained by a different set of variables, such as their children developmental stage. Participants children were approximately 12-13 years old. Although some physical changes may have begun by this age, they are still considered as child rather than adolescent. Thus, parents may take variables related to school, teachers, and courses, which are important resources for the education and success of children, as basis for children's success rather than their characteristics. The literature suggests that parents visit schools of primary and secondary school children more often and frequently interact with teachers on issues related to their children's education, but this decreases noticeably during high school (Epstein, 2016). Supporting this finding, parents may have emphasized the variables related to school, teachers, and courses in this study as well.

Sharing Expectations with the Children
The last theme was about sharing expectations with children. Majority of parents (94%) stated that they shared their expectations with their children whereas only three participants did not. Studies have suggested that parents' realistic aspirations and expectations about their children's education and future positively influence their learning and academic success as well as help them set future goals (Hao & Bonstead-Bruns, 1998;Jacobs et al., 2005;Kirk, et al., 2011). In addition, parents' sharing their expectations with their children contributes to the relationship between the child and parents, and to the creation of an environment that allows the child to be motivated to meet these expectations (Hao & Bonstead-Bruns, 1998). One of the participants attributed "reasons specific to the educational system" for her reason for not sharing her expectations and aspirations with her child. She stated that "Uncertainty… You tell me how I should guide my child in such uncertainty! Should I ask him what she wants to be, set goals and then give him anxiety? Cause him stress? I did not say anything because I was afraid of misguiding him. This is the reality in Turkey." (Mother,Teacher,45) The participants sharing their expectations and aspirations with their children were also asked about their children's reaction to this. The results are showed in Table 6. Children's most common reaction expressed by the parents was to talk about their own academic goals (30.5%) or their general attitudes toward school and learning (30.5%). One of the mothers described it as follows: "He said that I always want to go him higher. He told that he had his own goal and accused me not to ask his goal. He said that he will be an emergency medical technician, not a doctor as I want." (Mother,Civil Servant,37). Another parent described as follows: "He says that I should be more thoughtful of him, that I don't know how difficult it is to study now. He says they are always racing from the school to private courses and he is tired and bored of racing. That's all he says." (Mother,Civil Servant,40). Finally, we asked parents whether there was any difference between the child's future academic expectations and aspirations from theirs. There were 52% parents who stated that there was no difference between their expectations while 48% said that there was a difference. When asked about the difference, 83.3% of the parents stated that their expectations and aspirations were higher than those of the child's. One of the participant described the difference between the child's expectations and hers as follows: "I can not tell you how many things I expect from Emre… How many positions I think are fit for him! I want to see him in the chair of the Prime Minister. I can see him there… But he wants to be a hotel manager or a hairdresser." (Mother,Housewife,42). Hao and Bonstead-Bruns (1998) have stated that the mismatches between the child and parents have a great impact in the decline of success, even if the socio-economic level of the family is under control. It was stated that the main reason for the incompatibility between parents and the child's expectations was the inadequacy of the interactions between them. Accordingly, the interaction between the parent and the child contributes to the child's success by providing more parental involvement (Fan & Chen 2001;Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005;Jeynes, 2003;Mistry et al., 2009). Besides, there are two possible reasons as to why the expectation of parents could be higher than the expectations of the child. The first is that parents want their children to reach the social and economic status through education that they have could not. Literature has suggested that parents' own educational background is also one of the important predictors for their children's future prospects (Daymaz, 2012;Räty et al., 2002). Majority of parents in this study were primary school graduates. Some studies have suggested that the expectations of less educated parents may also be low. However, other studies have yielded opposite results, meaning parents with low levels of education have high expectations for their children. The possible explanations of such findings, which will also support the outcomes of this study, may be the economic, social and cultural structures, values, and beliefs that change with modernization. As mentioned earlier, presently, the most important criteria for success are achieving a high quality of life with a high professional and social status. Some studies (Dandy & Nettelbeck, 2002;Hao & Bonstead-Bruns, 1998) which focus on immigrant families indicate that the expectations of Asian parents are higher than other immigrants in USA and they consider education as a means of salvation from the family's current socio-economic status or a means for gaining a higher one. Although parents' levels of education in this study are low, it is considered that there may be elevated expectations on the basis of a similar acceptance.

CONCLUSION and RECOMMENDATIONS
The results of this study imply that the expectations and aspirations of the parents for their children are highly parallel to each other. Nevertheless, it was shown that, children's year-end grades are higher than their parents' expectation at the beginning of the year. It may be related to the level of parental participation. However, since particularly limited literature regarding with the effects of parental participation and parental expectations on success make difficult to draw detailed conclusions on this issue. For this reason, studies are required to be conducted in this area. Moreover, studies done in this area will not only contribute to those related to academic success, but also ones that aim to identify and prevent reasons behind the high number of school drop-outs in Turkey in recent years, which is more than twice as compared to those across the European Union (Eurostat, 2016). In this study, parents stated that they aspired and also expected their children to receive a university degree and it appeared that children's are similar. However, the research also indicated that parents' and children's aspirations and expectations were not always matching and that parental expectations were higher than children's own expectations and aspirations for their future. This result was obtained through data collection from a small group and through indirect parental inquiry without any data collected directly from children. Therefore, as it is underscored in literature, there is a need to conduct further studies to determine parents' and children's expectations regarding their future in Turkey, and to investigate factors influencing these expectations in a basic and detailed manner.
The study did not question how and at to what extent parental support, assistance or participation of their children to help them fulfill their expectations. In addition, the study did not examine the variables such as personal experiences of their own education and expectations of their parents about their education. These variables are known to affect parents' expectations about their children. Therefore, it is deemed important to examine these issues in further studies for obtaining information that can contribute to preventive family measures related to current problematic areas such as increasing academic achievement and preventing school drop-outs. Besides, a qualitative research method based on in-depth interviews was used in this study. As mentioned earlier, studies investigating the direct and indirect effects of parental expectations on academic achievement are very limited. Therefore, quantitative research is needed to measure the effects in the indicated direction.