THE ROLE OF PARENTING ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPIL
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to examine role of parenting on the academic performance of primary school pupil. A sample of 120 purposively randomly selected respondents including primary school teachers, head teachers, parents and pupils. This study was intended to address three specific research objectives namely to; explore the school modalities through which parents are involved in supporting primary school children academic development; investigate the contribution of parents involvement in children academic performance in primary schools; and finally, to examine the difference in academic performance between primary school pupils who receive parental support from pupils who completely do not receive it. A Case study design was used to collect data from the respondents using questionnaires, interviews and documentary reviews that were administered to school committees’ chairpersons, parents and teachers and pupils. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to tape respondents’ subjective views and simple percentages from the frequent responses for descriptive purposes. The SPSS 22.0 version was used for data analysis of simple for descriptive statistics and content analysis for qualitative data. The study indicated that there were several methods used in public schools to involve parents and guardians into education processes of their school children in supporting primary school pupils’ academic achievement. The study recommended conducting a quantitative study in order to test hypotheses by comparing results from public and private schools for comparative and generalisation purposes.
CHAPTER ONE/INTRODUCTION
This study examined role of parenting on the academic performance of primary school pupil. This sub-section presents the background information to the problem, statement of the problem, main objective and specific objectives of the study, and significance of the study. The study also involves limitation, scope of the study and organization of the study. Pupils’ academic performance in schools has been in crisis for a long time because school processes have been wrongly considered to be teachers’ responsibility. The question might be what could be the role of the parents’ involvement in school processes that can facilitate school children academic performance in public primary schools.
Background to the Problem
Education is both a human right in itself and indispensable means of realizing other human rights.This is why the government of Nigeria has been struggling to improve educational access, equity and equality in her various educational reforms. It is globally comprehended that parental involvement contributes significantly to academic activities in schools. Such parental involvement takes many forms including good parenting in the home, including the provision of a secure and stable environment, intellectual stimulation, parent-child discussion, good models of constructive social and educational values and high aspirations relating to personal fulfilment and good citizenship; contact with schools to share information; participation in school events; participation in the work of the school; and participation in school governance (Desforges & Abouchaar, 2003). Such studies describe how parental involvement as a model of parenting works and influence indirectly through shaping the child’s self concept as a learner and through setting their aspirations. Such studies require local made investigation to describe their applicability and differences.
In Nigeria, the importance of parental involvement in school activities cannot be overemphasized. Twaweza (2013) reports that parental involvement entails many things including creating a home environment that encourage learning and to express high expectations for their children’s achievement and future careers. It is important for this reason through the current study to investigate the role of parents’ involvement towards students’ academic performance in Nigerian public primary schools.
Schools have shifted from restricted professionalism to open a debate on actual parental involvement in school life, which has enabled closer ties to be developed between the home and the school, translating into enhanced attendance and higher academic achievement (Bridgemohan, 2002). The involvement of parents on children school achievement is well documented in numerous studies. It has also been showed that greater parental involvement at early stage in children’s learning, positively affects the child’s school performance including higher academic achievement (Gadsden, 2003). Thus, the families whose children are doing well in school exhibit the following characters (Harderves, 1998): to establish a daily family routine by providing time and a quite place to study with the children and assigning responsibility for house hold chores: to monitor out-of-school activities, for example setting limits on television watching, reduce time of playing, monitor the groups of friends the pupils walk with; and therefore encourage children’s development and progress in school; that is maintaining a warm and supportive home, showing interest in children’s progress at school, helping him or her with home work, discussing the value of a good education and future career with children.
Parental involvement appears to be a democratic concern in terms of individual rights and as a way of making the educational system more self-governing and developing more power at the local level, allowing for greater accountability by schools to the society (Hung, 2007). This suggests that in general, society needs to increase its level of educational involvement, and that this starts with the support by the parents.
The endeavor of schools to realize higher standards and greater accountability requires the commitment from the school staff, families and communities (Machen, Wilson & Notar, 2005). In this regard, parent-teacher relationship can be enhanced through the teacher-parent relationship. Since teachers work closely with parents on the school matters, the teacher-parent relationship is critical to pupils’ success and school development in general.
Thus, there is a needed to support teachers and convince both parents and schools of the value of mutual cooperation. If there is positive contact between parents and teachers initially, future negative incidents are not likely to change the initial positive notion (Mirons, 2004). Moreover, research findings suggest that parents’ attitudes, along with their behaviour and activities with regard to their children’s education, do affect academic achievement in a positive way (Hui-Chen Huang & Mason, 2008). It is evident that parents have vital roles to play in the life of a child and thus the involvement of a parent on a child determines the future of such child because parents in the home are children’s first teachers source (Desforges & Abouchaar, 2003). Therefore, there is a need to conduct a study in Nigeria to explore the role of parents’ involvement on improving students’ academic performance in primary schools.
Statement of the Problem
It is widely recognized that if pupils are to maximize their academic performance from schooling they would need the full support of their parents. Thus, the degree of parental participation is a significant indicator of the quality of schooling (Desforges & Abouchaar, 2003). When parents support teachers on pupils’ academic studies, children tend to do better in their academic activities. However little is known about the parental involvement and extent to which it has influenced the academic achievement of the pre-primary children in Nigeria. As a result, especially in urban areas, parents’ involvement in school processes has been given little considerations. Unfortunately, what specific role should parents involvements play in facilitating school processes particularly in promoting academic achievement in primary schools in Nigeria?
Objectives of the Study
Main Objective of the Study
The main objective of this study was to investigate role of parenting on the academic performance of primary school pupil in Ebonyi,
Specific Objectives of the Study
- To explore the school methods through which parents are involved in supporting primary school children academic
- To investigate the contribution of parents involvement in children academic performance in primary schools
- To examine the difference in academic performance between primary school pupils who receive parental support from pupils who completely do not receive it
Research Questions
- What are the school’s methods through which parents’ are involved in supporting primary school children in academic development?
- What is the contribution of parental involvement in school children academic performance in primary schools
- Is there any difference in academic performance between primary school pupils who receive parental support from pupils who completely do not receive it?
Significance of the Study
The study is expected to contribute significantly to the knowledge base on the specific the role of the parents’ involvement in educational processes for the improvement of pupils’ academic achievement. It may help the schools and communities to analyze the need to improve parents’ involvement and the need to improve home environment and determine best strategy for the school and the parents to improve parents’ involvement in educational processes and their academic performance. Briefly, the study is expected to Firstly, the study is expected to reveal appropriate school methods or ways through which parents could be involved in supporting primary school children academic development. Secondly, the study is also expected to contribute to the growing literature on the contribution of parents’ involvement in children academic performance in primary schools, the successes and challenges associated. Thirdly, the study is expected to indicate the difference in academic performance between primary school pupils who receive parental support from pupils who completely do not receive it. This would finally raise public awareness on the importance of parents’ involvements in educational processes. Fourthly, it may inspire other researchers in similar topic to carry out further studies related to the effectiveness of primary school committees in Nigeria.
This in turn may contribute to the raising of community awareness concerning the role the parents can play in enhancing school academic through parents’ involvement.
Download Full Material-N5000