Educational trajectories are associated with a variety of factors embedded in school and out-of- conditions providing a broad educational context. The individual abilities, characteristics of the learners, social relations in school, as well as outside school, and resources are described as complex defining factors for educational processes and as a condition for school achievements (Scheerens; 1992; 2016). Stevenson and Baker (1992) go a step further because they link the family context to social dimensions. They assume that extra-curricular learning, such as tutoring, is increasingly used when final examinations are centrally administered and when competition for jobs is strong and there is a strong link between formal qualifications and job offers (Stevenson & Baker, 1992). From this perspective, outside-school tutoring is a means for achieving this goal and is an indication that, through institutional mechanisms, it is desirable for students and their families to attain a certain level of achievement or achieve an institutionally recognized school leaving certificate despite additional expenses. In Austria, the school reform of Lower Secondary Schools, which consists of the introduction of the New Middle School (NMS) as a novel school type, contributes to school being the central learning place for students and emphasizes the demand by means of educational within-school measures to reduce the extracurricular learning efforts. This is also to achieve a higher degree of equality of opportunity for all students and to reduce the need for parental support (Landesschulrat, 2009, 2011, BMB, 2016). In this context, the paper addresses students' external resources and the question of how far school reforms, using the example of the Austrian school reform of the Lower Secondary School, can minimize the need for parental support and private tutoring. It also addresses how aspects of the out-of-school context are linked to the development of students’ educational aspirations. Current research shows that parents’ attitudes to school, their own educational background, and highest educational attainment, but also the collaboration between school and parents are aspects that contribute to the success of students’ educational pathways and support students to develop educational aspirations. Sacher (2014) points out that successful parental work also entails perceptible changes for students. For example, positive changes in school satisfaction, school performance or personality development of students can be linked to successful cooperation between parents and school. Since the introduction of the New Middle School in 2012, the Parents-Teacher Conference (KEL-Gespräche) has been offered as an additional exchange between school, parents and students. The aim is to help students, their parents and teachers to reflect together on school learning and its conditions, and to improve the relationship between parents, teachers and students (Knapp & Kilian, 2016; Westfall-Greiter, 2012). In addition to consideration of the relationship between parents and school, as well as parents and children, family activities, the educational expectation of parents and the willingness to invest in additional learning support for their children seem to be linked to learning by the students (Klein & Biedinger, 2009; Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2001). In this context the paper addresses the external resources students of the New Middle School receive from their families and external institutions, how useful students see this support and to what extent their perceptions change in the course of the New Middle School. The answers will help to discuss the pros and cons of school reforms aimed at limiting extra-curricular learning efforts through within-school components.
