The role of student motivation in the formation of parental expectations at the end of primary school

There is empirical and theoretical evidence that parental expectation of success plays an important role in explaining educational and transitionary decisions. As little is known about the decision-making process at the transition from elementary to secondary schooling, this article aims to identify potential motivational and socio-cognitive influencing factors in an analysis of longitudinal data from N = 77 German primary school classes. Using Eccles' et al. expectancy-value-model, we examine the extent to which students' motivation and factors of parents' perception and interpretation mediate the effect of socio-economical background factors on parents' expectation of success. Findings from repeated-measure ANOVAs and linear regressions are presented, suggesting aspects of parental perception and interpretation are independent predictors of their expectation of success. Data indicate further a decrease in students' motivation from 3th to 4th grade and different development depending on parents' educational qualification, children's subsequent school achievement and parents' subsequent expectation of success.