Influence of parental involvement on the choice of technical subjects in secondary schools
INTRODUCTION
One of the most important functions of education in our society today is to assist the learners make different career choices including subject selection by the students that will match their individual interest, abilities, personalities etc. needed to their development. It is a known fact that most young students have challenges of selecting subject at the secondary schools. The senior secondary education (SSS) represents the third stage in the current educational system known as 6-3-3-4. This system of education that was designed by the National Policy on Education exposes the learners to as many disciplines as possible in the junior secondary school (J.S.S.) and then allows them to make choices of subjects in the senior secondary school levels (SSS). Making choices from such array of options becomes a herculean task to the students. It is one of the many important choices students will make in determining their future plans and this decision will impact them throughout their lives. In terms of career and subjects selection, Okeke (2000) posits that parents and guardians have a significant effect on their children, that parents’ characteristics played a vital role in students’ choice of technical subjects. Parents have a crucial task of preparing their children for education. In their task of career guidance, Mabunda (2002) stated that parents have a greater influence on the child’s development and future career choices. That is why Ozioma (2011) observed that the level of interest in students and the position of the parents in the society sometimes influenced student’s interest in the study of vocational subjects, which this current study attributes as subject selection by parents for their children. According to Jordan, Orozco and Averett in Odiriamatari (2015), research have also indicated that the degree the family of the child is able to create a home environment that encourages learning, expresses high and realistic expectation for the child’s achievement and future career; as well as being involved in the child’s education at school and in the home predicts the child’s success in school and in the future. That, parental involvement in education as investigated in this study refers to the various activities parents engage in both at home and in school intended to assist with the children’s overall learning experiences
The influence by parents/guardians on subject selection as well as career choice for their children have been observed to have some negative impacts on the performances of some of these children. The negative impact on the performances of some of these children has lead many research indications on the dropping of students’ academic achievement in our educational system. This dropping was also supported by Tenibaje (2009) who asserts that, students’ academic performance in Nigeria is declining at a disturbing rate. Although, academic performance is seen as a very significant instrument with which the success as well as ability of a student contribution to the societal development are measured. To Olaitan (2017) the implication of this, is that students that perform beyond average of the standard set by the society are not only seen as brilliant but as well probable to contribute meaningfully to the growth, development and sustenance of that society in the near future. With this result, the society constantly has eyes on the academic performance of its students at all levels of educational institutions be it primary secondary or tertiary (Olaitan, 2017).
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