Influence of parental attitude towards education on academic performance of day secondary school students in Uasin Gishu county, Kenya

Table of Contents

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION OF RESEARCH FINDINGS

CONCLUSIONS

REFERENCES

ABSTRACT

Parental attitude towards education is consistently found to be positively associated with a student's academic performance. However, there has been little investigation about mechanisms that explain this association. This study attempts to test this association. The main objective of the study was to establish the relationship between parental attitude towards education and academic performance of day secondary students. The specific research objectives were: to establish the relationship between parents’ attitude towards educational involvement and academic performance of day secondary school students; to examine the relationship between parents’ attitude towards absenteeism and academic performance of day secondary school students; to establish the relationship between parents’ attitude towards provision of basic educational needs and academic performance of day secondary students in Uasin Gishu. The theoretical framework of this study was derived from functionalist and learning theories. The Data for this study was collected from primary and secondary sources. The research instruments were questionnaires for students and parents, interview schedules for parents and teachers and parent-child relationship scale for students. The study population comprised of 1804 students, 80 parents representatives and 51 teachers. A correlation research design was adopted based on a sample drawn from five secondary schools in the study area. Purposive sampling was used to select a sample 18 teachers and 36 parents while stratified random sampling was used in the selection of 180 students. Spearman Brown Prophesy coefficient formula was used to test the internal consistency of questionnaires and interview schedules after piloting had been done. Parent-child relationship scale reliability was established by use of Cronbach’s alpha coefficients. The reliability coefficients of 0.70 at 0.05 level of significance were obtained. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. Inferential statistics such as (ANOVA) was used with the help of SPSS. Descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, means and percentages were used in analyzing data. The findings of the study show that parental attitude towards education affects academic performance of day secondary school students in Uasin Gishu. The study concluded and recommended that school administrators and policy makers find ways of enhancing parental involvement towards education. The study may help to raise awareness amongst all education stakeholders on matters concerning parental attitude towards education and also assist in formulating healthy educational policies which will change parent’s attitude towards education.

Key words: Absenteeism; functionality; Parental; Performance; Educational needs

INTRODUCTION

In developed countries, attitude towards almost every conceivable product, politician and points of view have been studied intensively, mainly in the course of market research. Little is known about attitude of people in developing countries towards institutions; therefore, policies are often imposed upon recipients’ views and perceptions. Thurstone and Clave (1929) based in USA, define attitude as the sum total of man’s inclinations, feelings, prejudices, bias, preconceived notions, ideas, fears, threats and convictions about any specific topic which exerts a compulsive influence upon an individual’s behavior.

Parents’ attitude towards education influences their involvement in education matters. Parental involvement in education is the participation of parents in regular meaningful communication that involves student academic learning and other school activities including ensuring that parents play an integral role in assisting their child’s learning at home and at school (Starkey & Kleir, 2000). According to Rao (1991), there is need to investigate aspects of poor parental involvement that affects academic performance since day students spent significant time with parents as well as teachers. The input of parent’s involvement on the individual student is of great significance because students benefit a great deal if school and home complement each other in their education and socialization.

The study sought to establish whether there existed a relationship between parents’ attitude towards education and academic performance of day secondary students. The academic performance of day secondary students has remained dismal for a long time. Records at the District Education Office confirm the magnitude of the problem. Records show that less than 4% of students who sit for Kenya National Examination Council Exams manage to get mean grade (B+) which is a qualifying grade of secondary school students to join public universities under government sponsorship (District Education Office, 2013). Against this background, three very important questions can be asked:

What are the effects of parents’ attitude towards educational involvement and academic performance of day secondary school students? What is the relationship between parents’ attitude towards absenteeism and academic performance of day secondary school students? what are the extent at which parents’ attitude towards provision of basic educational needs affect academic performance of day secondary students in Uasin Gishu County Possible answers to these questions are discussed in the rest of this study. . The rest of this paper presents the statement of problem that sets out the purpose of the study. The research methodology is presented in the subsequent section. Results and discussion followed by conclusion and recommendations.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Parents seem carefree on matters concerning education and less effort has been put in, to change the apparent negative attitude of parents towards education. Indeed, parental attitude could be responsible for the poor academic performance of day students. These schools record perennial poor Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exam results; consequently, a handful of students meet the Joint Admission Board (JAB) requirements of joining public universities regular programmes (District Education Office, 2013). This ultimately means that the community remains disadvantaged when it fails to take its students to universities.

Almost all students join day secondary schools with 250 marks and above in (K.C.P.E) which is an equivalent of mean grade C and above. Primary schools in Uasin Gishu County post good results in (K.C.P.E). Uasin Gishu County was ranked amount the best in (K.C.P.E) in 2013 results in rift valley Province (District Education Office, 2013). Pupils from primary schools join day secondary schools in Uasin Gishu County only to end up with (K.C.S.E) grades which are below mean grade C. Most students’ results in (K.C.S.E) depict a negative index in value added progress (V.A.P). This is a pointer to the fact that most students fail to add value to the grades they get in (K.C.P.E) when they join Uasin Gishu County day secondary schools. From the above explanation, the performance has been on decline with many schools in the County posting negative index in their mean grades over the last three years (District Education Office, 2013).

There are unanswered questions, addressing scope used in measuring the relationship between parental attitude towards education and academic performance of day secondary school students. An investigative is needed to address the gap between theoretical problems and practical solutions.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The main objective was to establish the relationship between parental attitude towards education and academic performance of day secondary school students in Uasin Gishu County. In order to achieve the purpose of this study, three specific research objectives were addressed;

i. To establish the relationship between parents’ attitude towards educational involvement and academic performance of day secondary school students in Uasin Gishu County
ii. To find out the relationship between parents’ attitude towards students’ absenteeism and academic performance of day secondary school students in Uasin Gishu County.
iii. To establish the relationship between parents’ attitude towards provision of basic education needs and academic performance of day secondary students in Uasin Gishu County.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This study utilized a cross –sectional survey design based on a sample drawn from secondary schools that cut across the Uasin Gishu County. Descriptive research design was chosen because it is efficient in collecting large amounts of information within a short time. The study population comprised of 18 teachers, 36 parents and 180 students. The instrument used to collect data for the study was both questionnaire and personal interview based on research objectives. The content validity was determined by multiple sources of information, chain of evidence and key informants review the report. The reliability of instrument was determined using the test-retest reliability techniques. The data collected from were analyzed using ANOVA statistical technique was utilized to establish the association between the study variables and to find out if there were significant differences in the mean responses as well to answer the research questions. The One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was chosen because the researcher wished to analyze the variations within and between groups (Fraenkel and Wallen 2000).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION OF RESEARCH FINDINGS

In order to establish the relationship between parent’s attitude towards educational involvement and academic performance of day secondary students in Uasin Gishu County, ANOVA statistical technique was utilized to find out if there were significant differences in the mean responses. Basing on this objective of the study, the researcher formed three groups: those that expressed parental attitude towards educational involvement as positive, those that expressed parental attitude towards involvement as neutral and those that expressed parental attitude towards educational involvement as negative. The academic performance of each respondent was sought. The results of this test are presented in table 1.

Table 1 Results of the ANOVA showing differences in student’s scores between those who expressed parental attitude as negative, neutral and positive towards educational involvement.

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Results of the ANOVA test showing differences in students scores between those who expressed parental attitude towards educational involvement as negative, neutral and positive towards educational involvement is provided in Table 1. Basing on the table 1, the calculated F. value is greater than the tabled F value at 0.05 level of significance. This meant that we had significant differences in the sample means of the three groups of student’s respondents. The findings imply there were significant differences in the scores of students who expressed that their parental attitudes towards educational involvement to be either negative, neutral or positive. It was calculated that parental attitude towards educational involvement affected student’s performance The findings of parents involvement in a child's education are consistently found to be positively associated with a child's academic performance (Hara & Burke, 1998; Hill & Craft, 2003). Specifically, children whose parents are more involved in their education have higher levels of academic performance than children whose parents are involved to a lesser degree. The influence of parent involvement on academic success has not only been noted among researchers, but also among policy makers who have integrated efforts aimed at increasing parent involvement into broader educational policy initiatives.

The findings suggest that parental involvement will have positive effects on students’ academic performance of day secondary school students in Uasin Gishu County. These findings concur with those of (Epstein, 1994) that suggest that successful students come from a nurturing and supportive home environment.

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