In the theoretical part, the master´s thesis points out the results of the international researches, which show that school un/success is related to socio-economic status of individual pupil. Therefore, for example the results of the international research PISA from 2012 show a high correlation among socio-economic status and academic achievements of children in reading, mathematical, and science literacy, of which also numerous other foreign and local experts write. Parents play an important role in education of children, they also affect the academic achievement with their help in school work. With all this, a question of how can parents, especially those with lower socio-economic status, help in teaching children with special needs is raised. The fact is that for a successful educational progress of children, an active partnership cooperation among teachers and parents, which cannot be based on unrealistic expectations to parents, is necessary. In our space, there are only a few researches that analyse a connection of socio-economic status and academic achievement of children with special needs or children with disabilities in specific areas of learning. And exactly this is the topic of the subject master´s thesis, within which we pointed out the following objectives: to establish whether the majority of children in the Savinja region, as pupils with disabilities in specific learning areas, is related to socio-economic status; to establish whether parents feel they are competent enough to help children in learning, and what are parents´ opinions on teachers´ expectations in regard to their help to a child in learning; to obtain opinions of parents from various socio-economic statuses in regard to the previously set problems, and to establish whether there are statistically important differences in their opinions in regard to the socio-economic status of the family. The findings of the research, which was carried out between November 2015 and January 2016, in which 86 parents of children with disabilities in specific areas of learning were involved attending primary schools in the Savinja region, are that most of the children are from lower socio-economic status regarding the household monthly income. Final grades of these children in Slovene language and Maths are statistically importantly related to socio-economic status using the criterion of family monthly income, namely the lower the household monthly income, the lower the child’s final grade in Slovene language and Maths. Final grades of those pupils in Slovene language are also statistically significantly related to socio-economic status regarding the parent’s education, namely the lower the parent’s education, the lower the final grade in Slovene language. The results indicated that most of the parents believe that teachers’ expectations for parents’ involvement in the school work (homework checking, homework writing, school bag and notebooks check, study management, subject matter explanation, subject matter questioning, listening to child’s reading, discussion on reading material, subject matter revision, parents presence during child’s studying) are great.
The key findings represented in the empirical part can be an important foundation for further understanding of the socio-economic status issues, reflecting the academic achievements of children. Simultaneously, it can represent the foundation for more efficient cooperation with parents, the encouragement and guidance of children with disabilities in specific areas of learning.
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