Children with pushy parents are likely to do better at school, research has suggested.

The effort a parent puts into their child’s education has a bigger impact on the youngster’s achievement than the effort the pupil or the school makes, according to a study by Leicester and Leeds Universities.

Using the National Child Development Study, which follows a group of individuals born in a particular week in 1958 throughout their lives, the researchers looked at the effort pupils, parents and schools made towards a child’s schooling.

It looked at pupils’ attitudes, such as whether, at age 16, they thought school was a waste of time and teachers’ views about pupils’ laziness.

The study also measured how interested parents were in their child’s education, such as whether they read to the child or attended parents’ meetings, as well as looking at parental involvement initiated by schools, what disciplinary methods schools use, and whether 16-year-olds were offered career advice.

The findings show that parents encourage their children to make more of an effort, and in turn parents make more effort when their child tries harder.

The background of a family affects the schools’ effort, the study found.

“If the parents have a better socio-economic background then the school exerts more effort,” report author Gianni De Fraja, said.

But the effort that the parents themselves make has little effect on a school’s behaviour, he added.

Prof. De Fraja, head of economics at Leicester University, said: “Parents from a more advantaged environment exert more effort, and this influences positively the educational attainment of their children.

“By the same token, the parents’ background also increases the school’s effort, which increases the school achievement. Why schools work harder where parents are from a more privileged background we do not know.”