Children whose fathers read, play, sing and draw with them show a “small but significant” increase in their educational attainment at primary school, according to research that suggests just 10 minutes a day could make a difference.
While it has long been recognised that parental engagement is critical for a child’s education and development, a study led by the University of Leeds claims fathers have “a unique and important effect” on children’s educational outcomes.
It found that greater involvement by fathers before their child attends primary school gives an educational advantage to children in their first year, while greater involvement at the age of five helps increase attainment in key stage 1 assessments at seven. The effect is slightly more pronounced in maths.
The study, which was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, drew a distinction between the impact of mothers and fathers. While fathers’ involvement had an impact on educational attainment, mothers had more of an impact on emotional and social behaviours.
The study recommends that fathers should carve out as much time as they can to engage in playful and educational activities with their children each week. “Engaging in multiple types of structured activities several times a week – even if just for short periods of time – helps to enrich a child’s cognitive and language development,” the study concludes. “Just 10 minutes a day could have beneficial impacts.”
It also recommends that schools and early years education providers should routinely take both parents’ contact details where possible and develop positive strategies to engage fathers. It suggests that the schools inspectorate, Ofsted, should consider father engagement in inspections.
Dr Helen Norman, a research fellow at Leeds University business school, who led the research, said: “Mothers still tend to assume the primary carer role and therefore tend to do the most childcare, but if fathers actively engage in childcare too, it significantly increases the likelihood of children getting better grades in primary school. This is why encouraging and supporting fathers to share childcare with the mother, from an early stage in the child’s life, is critical.”
