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• Information and Trust in Parent-Teacher Cooperation – Connections with Educational Inequality

  19-28

  Markus P. Neuenschwander

  Views:

  1189

  There is an ongoing debate on how parents and the cooperation between parents and teachers contribute to educational inequality. In this study, the assumption that information and trust in parent–teacher cooperation mediate the effects of parent socioeconomic status (SES) on student achievement in mathematics and instruction language (German) was examined. The effects of information and trust on achievement were assumed to be mediated by parent self-efficacy expectation in German. The hypotheses were tested using a sample with 1001 students from 4th to 6th grade and their parents in Swiss primary schools using questionnaires and achievement tests at the beginning and the end of a school year. Results from structural equation models with longitudinal data showed that parent trust and parent self-efficacy expectation fully mediated the effect of SES and student achievement in language instruction but not in mathematics. Information did not correlate with SES nor with student achievement, but with trust. Parental trust in the cooperation with teachers affected achievement in both mathematics and German. The model combines the research on parental involvement with the research on educational inequality in school. Teachers need to establish trust in cooperation with low-SES parents to reduce educational inequality in school.

• Happiness, trust, and social relationships: The social dimensions of urban quality of life in Debrecen

  51-62

  Ibolya Czibere

  Views:

  6

  The study of happiness and quality of life in urban settings has become increasingly prominent in both international and domestic social science research. The quality of social relationships and the level of trust are among the key determinants of subjective well-being. This study aims to explore the relationships between happiness, trust, and social ties among the urban population of Debrecen, and to examine how these vary across different demographic groups. The analysis is based on a representative sample of 500 respondents from the “Debrecen 2025” survey, using questionnaire-based data collection. The findings indicate that the subjective well-being of Debrecen’s residents is generally favourable and closely associated with the quality of their social relationships. In particular, family and friendship ties, as well as levels of trust, show consistent associations with life satisfaction. At the same time, it is not the quantity of social ties, but their quality, that proves to be decisive. No significant gender differences were found, whereas notable variations emerge across age groups and levels of educational attainment: older individuals and those with higher levels of education tend to report higher levels of well-being and trust. The results confirm the importance of social capital in shaping urban quality of life and suggest that strengthening social relationships and fostering trust may play a key role in improving overall well-being.

• The role of higher education socialization in shaping students' future-oriented work ethic

  111–118

  Zsuzsanna Sütő

  Ágnes Réka Dusa

  Ilona Dóra Dabney-Fekete

  Zsuzsanna Demeter-Karászi

  Views:

  8

  Research on higher education clearly indicates that the institutional environment, as well as the relationships formed with faculty and peers, not only influence academic achievement and the risk of dropout, but also have a significant long-term effect on students' life trajectories, future outlook, future orientation, and even their decisions to remain in a given geographic location (Pusztai, 2011; Bess & Dee, 2012; Sütő, 2021; Sütő, 2025; Demeter-Karászi, 2025). This suggests that higher education institutions do not operate merely as knowledge-transfer organizations, but also as socializing environments that shape students' relationship with work, achievement, and long-term goals. The theoretical framework of our research is therefore grounded in approaches that interpret future-oriented work ethic not exclusively as an individual psychological trait, but as a phenomenon embedded in social relationships and institutional contexts (Berger, 2001; Kuh & Umbach, 2004). Our research seeks to answer what associations can be identified between the characteristics of the social and institutional environment of higher education institutions — in particular, institutional culture, relationships with faculty and peers, and institutional trust — and students' future-oriented work ethic. Our empirical data are drawn from the 2023–2024 survey of the MTA–DE Public Education Development Research Program, a large-scale international database comprising 1,336 respondents. The results indicate that trust-based relationships with both faculty and peers, as well as the perception of a transparent and fair institutional atmosphere, are significantly associated with higher levels of future-oriented work ethic, with perceived supportive institutional culture emerging as the strongest predictor (β = 0.252; p < 0.001). It is particularly noteworthy that the effect of institutional and relational factors persisted even after controlling for social background variables. Our findings thereby corroborate the theoretical stance that future-oriented work ethic is not solely derived from individual attributes, but can be understood as an orientation shaped during higher education socialization through institutional and social environments. This is an especially important finding in light of the growing heterogeneity of the student body, as it suggests that a supportive institutional culture may contribute to strengthening the future orientation and long-term academic success of students from diverse social backgrounds.