THE EFFECTS OF PARENTAL STATUS ON STUDENT ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN A SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOL

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background of the study

 Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, morals, beliefs, habits, and personal development. Education originated as transmission of cultural heritage from one generation to the next. Importantly, Children spend only a fraction of their lives in school from birth to the age of eighteen. As a result, it's not surprising that many factors outside of the classroom can have a significant impact on students' chances of academic success in school. This factor (parental status) affects children both before they start formal schooling and while they are enrolled in elementary and secondary school. Family status variables such as socioeconomic status and parents' level of education have traditionally been considered predictors of children's academic performance. More and more research suggests that, rather than having a direct relationship with children's academic achievement, socioeconomic status and parents' educational level are part of a larger constellation of psychological and sociological variables influencing children's school outcomes (Joan, 2009). Attendance at a traditional secondary school may provide parents with resources such as income, time, energy, and community connections, allowing for greater parental involvement in their children's education. As a result, the impact of socioeconomic status and parental education on student outcomes could be best described as a relationship mediated by interactions among status and process variables (Joan, 2009).

There is evidence that parents' education has an impact on their children's school performance. According to Grissmer (2003), the level of education of parents has the greatest impact on their children's academic achievement. According to Taiwo (2002), parents' educational backgrounds have an impact on their children's academic performance in secondary school. This, he claims, is because parents would be in a good position to serve as the child's second teachers, guiding and counseling the child on the best ways to succeed in school and providing the necessary materials. This was supported by Musgrave (2000), who stated that a child who comes from an educated home will want to follow in his or her family's footsteps and, as a result, will work actively in his or her studies. He went on to say that parents with a higher level of education are expected to have a positive attitude toward their children's education and to encourage and assist them with schoolwork. They provide library services to encourage children to engage in intellectual activities such as reading newspapers, magazines, and journals. They are more likely to have a larger vocabulary, which will benefit the children and help them develop language fluency.

According to Onocha (2005), a child who comes from a well-educated family with a high socioeconomic status is more likely to succeed than a child who comes from an illiterate family. This is because a child from an educated family benefits from a variety of resources, including a suitable and conducive environment for academic work, parental support and guidance, adequate textual and academic materials, and adequate nutrition. He or she will most likely be sent to good schools where he or she will be taught by experienced teachers.

1.2       Statement of the Problem

Although everyone is born with certain potentials which could be developed under favorable condition for the growth of one’s personality students may be expose to the same curriculum and taught by the teachers, yet they may not attain the same level of success. Some students make good grades one may wonder why they are remarkable difference among students performance in secondary school.

One of the factors that contribute to this difference in students’ attainment is parental status (level of education and socio-economic status).Various family processes were discovered to have an impact on children's academic achievement. The home environment and family processes, according to Campbell and Wu (2004), provide a network of physical, social, and intellectual forces and factors that influence students' learning. According to them, the level of encouragement, expectations, and education activities in the home are related to socioeconomic status, while Song and Hattie (2004) agreed that families from various socioeconomic groups create different learning environments that affect the child's academic performance. There is no doubt that parents' attitudes influence the attitudes of their children. A parent who places a high value on education may have an impact on his or her children's educational progress.

Consequently, there has been several studies on factors affecting student academic achievement, specific attentioan is required on the area of parental status including attitude, level of income and level of education. Therefore it is  upon this premise that this study seeks to examine the effect of parental status on student academic achievement.

1.3       Objective of the Study

The broad objective of this study is to examine the effects of parental status on student academic performance in a selected secondary school. Specifically, the study seeks to:

1. Investigate whether parental educational level enhances students’ academic performance.

2. Find out whether parental attitude and motivating incentives improve students’ academic performance.

3. Examine whether the parental economic background determines students’ academic performance.

4. Determine if  the social status of parents affects the educational performance of students.

1.4       Research Hypothesis

HO1: Parental economic background does not determines students’ academic performance.

HO2:  Parent social status does not have any effect on  the educational performance of students.

HO3: Parental attitude and motivating incentives does not improve students’ academic performance

1.5       Significance of the study

Findings of this study will serve as a reading text to knowledge about how parental status affects the performance of students. The study  will serve as veritable tools for seminars, public lecturers as well as a medium of awareness campaign on the role of parental status. It will serve as an expository literature, on parents’ involvement irrespective of the occupational status not only to secondary students but to all and sundry. Also it will help in exposing the teacher to the influence of parental status in the academic performance of the students. It also helps planners to know that children are from different family background. Above all, this piece of work will offer very useful suggestion on the implication and role of family and teacher play to prevent low parental engagements in the student’s academic performance of Makurdi Locality and the need to rehabilitate the PTA (parents, teachers association) meeting.

1.6   SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study concentrates on the influence of parental status in the academic performance of the students in Akure  metropolis in Ondo State. Some of the public and private schools will be sampled in Akure metroplolis

1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Like in every human endeavour, the researchers encountered slight constraints while carrying out the study. The significant constraint was the scanty literature on the subject owing that it is a new discourse thus the researcher incurred more financial expenses and much time was required in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature, or information and in the process of data collection, which is why the researcher resorted to a limited choice of sample size covering only  secondary schools in Akure  metropolis in Ondo State. Thus findings of this study cannot be generalized for other  secondary schools in other states within Nigeria. Additionally, the researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. Despite the constraint  encountered during the  research, all factors were downplayed in other to give the best and make the research successful.

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