The Effects of Parents Socio-economic Status on Academic Performance of Students in Jama’a Local Government Area of Kaduna State
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The main objective of the study is to examine the effects of parents socio-economic status on academic performance of students in Jama’a Local Government Area of Kaduna State. Specific objectives of the study include:
- To investigate into the effect of socio-economic status of parents on the educational performance of students’.
- To find out if social-economic status of parents influence their students’ academic performance.
- To find out whether educational attainment of parent affect their students’ academic performance.
- To find out the influence of family size on educational upbringing of the students.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Traditionally, family status variables such as socio-economic status and parents’ level of education have been regarded as predictors of children’s academic achievement. Increasingly, research has suggested that, rather than having a direct association with children’s academic achievement, socio-economic status and parents’ level of education is part of a larger constellation of psychological and sociological variables influencing children’s school outcomes (Joan, 2009). Attendant on higher levels of education may be access to resources, such as income, time, energy, and community contacts, that allow for greater parental involvement in a child’s education. Thus, the influence of socio-economic status and parents’ level of education on student outcomes might best be represented as a relationship mediated by interactions among status and process variables (Joan, 2009).
The literature also suggests that level of education influences parents’ knowledge, beliefs, values, and goals about would like to follow the steps of his or her family and by this, work actively in his or her studies. He said further that parents who have more than a minimum level of education are expected to have a favored attitude to the child’s education and to encourage and help him or her with school work. They provide library facilities to encourage the child to show examples in activities of intellectual type such as reading of newspapers, magazines and journals. They are likely to have wider vocabulary by which the children can benefit and develop language fluency.
Onocha (1985) concludes that a child from a well educated family with high socio-economic status is more likely to perform better than a child from an illiterate family. This is because the child from an educated family has a lot of support such as a decent and good environment for academic work, parental support and guidance, enough textual and academic materials and decent feeding. He or she is likely to be sent to good schools where well seasoned teachers will handle his or her subjects. Children’s academic achievement was found to be affected by varying family processes. Campbell and Wu (1994) said that the home environment and family processes provide a network of physical, social and intellectual forces and factors which affect the students‟ learning. According to them, the family’s level of encouragement, expectations, and education activities in the home are related to socio-economic status, while Song and Hattie (2004) agreed that families from different socio-economic groups create different learning environments that affect the child’s academic achievement. There is no doubt that parents‟ attitudes help to condition their children’s attitudes. A parent who shows complete regard for education might have some effect upon his or her children’s education progress. Many studies have examined the relationships among those constructs and students‟ achievement. Schunk, Pintrich and Meece (2008) affirm the fact that there is a consistent finding of motivation being related to achievement behaviors. In a nutshell the influence of socio-economic and educational background of the parents on their children education cannot be undermined.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter deals with the research design, area of study, population, sample and samplings instrumentation, validation of instruments, method of data collection as well as method data analysis.
RESEARCH DESIGN
The research design adopted for this study was the survey method. According to Kerhinger in Agbe (1999) defines a research design as the planed structure and strategy of investigating conceived so as to obtain answers to research questions and control of variances are the basic tasks of a research design.
Survey design required that data are typically collected through questionnaires, interview or observation of a particular time, from a sample for the purpose of describing the population represented by the sample of that particular point in time.
Thus, the researcher used the survey design to ascertain whether the selected variables have any significant relationship on educational performance on students. By using this design, the researcher will sample from the population that can allow inferences from generalization to the total population.
POPULATION
The study population of the local government comprise of 42 secondary schools with a total number of 1,600 SSI physics students. Hence, the study population involved senior secondary schools (SSI) students from five selected schools in the area. A total of 80 students were drawn from the list of the five schools, with 16 students from each school. The selected schools were chosen on the basis of their location (urban or rural), mixed or single sexed and whether they are boarding or day schools.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
This chapter is presentation of data, information collected from the questionnaire issued to the respondent; it will be presented and analyzed through frequency table.
The instrument for data collection was a 20- items questionnaire made up of two sections, section ‘A’ was based on the personal data of the respondents while section ‘B’ addressed the research questions on the questionnaire title ”the effect of socio-economic status of parents on the academic performance of secondary school student in Lagos metropolis. Four scale will be used and the weighting will be Strongly Agree(SA)= 4, Agree(A) = 3, Strongly Disagree(SD) = 2, Disagree(D)=1. The average of the point will be (4+3+2+1) = 10/4= 2.5
However, a total of two hundred questionnaires were distributed to students, teachers of four selected secondary schools in Lagos metropolis as well as teachers. The researchers distributed the questionnaires at fifty (50) per schools. The researchers reached the schools and areas and collected the filled questionnaires from the respondents. Moreover, for the purpose of this research the analysis aimed at by the researchers, that is analysis base on the statistical table and analysis of the promotional will no longer be adopted. This was a result of inability of the researchers to the promotion result examination for the fact that the number of student living with their parent supersedes the one from single Socio-Economic status.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This chapter summarizes the entire project work while conclusions are drawn. In relation to the present findings, in this chapter useful recommendations are also made.
SUMMARY
A study of influence of family background and academic performance of students in five secondary schools. In Jema’a Local Government. As related to its implication for psychological counseling was carried out by the researcher. The analysis was presented and discussed while some important observations as evident from the tables and statistically computed values are of interest in explaining the influence of family background of students. The study generally observed that home background has a significant influence on the academic performance of the child. The study revealed that differences still exist in the performance between the children of wealthy parents and vice versa. The socio-economic status of parents provide enabling environment for conducive learning. In other words, socio-economic status of parents necessitates the assistance provided to the children as well as the basic needs of the children and the facilities available for learning. All these have great influence on the academic performance of the students in school.
Other factors or variables such as size of the family, home situation have statistically been proven that academic performance of students in school is highly dependent on them.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The investigation of family background as it affects academic performance of students was carried out though limited by several factors such as time constraint for field works, unavailability of money to cover the cost. It is based on this backdrop, therefore, that further research is required. Some of which have been suggested below:
- A comparative study of family background in rural areas and that of urban areas as it affects academic performance of the students, be carried out with larger sample size.
- A study of the perceptions of parents of different home background as related to educational development be undertaken to ascertain the level of failing standard of education.
CONCLUSION
From the study carried out and presented above these observations were made from which conclusions were derived. Differences in academic performance of children are a function of differences in educational background of the parents. Due to inadequate resources, children are not provided with academic needs that could facilitate conducive learning because of poor socio-economic status of some parents. This has some effects on student’s performance. Based on the above observations the following conclusions were reached:
- There exists a difference between the academic performance of students from educated and non-educated parents.
- The socio-economic status (wealth) of parents influence the academic performance of the children
- Family size and home situation are determining factors for children development and as such they affect the academic performance of the students also.
SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER STUDY
The following suggestions have been made:
- Parents should shun the temptation of giving all their time to their jobs and other activities to the detriment of their children. They should rather put attention to their children’s welfare and academic progress to encourage them to perform better in school.
- To policy makers, findings of researches on educational development are able to achieve desired goals. More so, efforts be made to educate our populace on the relevance of educating their children so as to improve on the number as well as performance of their children.
- School administrators should encourage the establishment of Parent’s Teachers association (PTA), as a forum for both parents’ and Teachers to discuss the academic progress of their children. Another forum should also be created for parents, students and teachers to further enhance interactions.
REFERENCES
- Adetunde, I., Akensina, A., & Peter, A. (2008). Factors affecting the standard of female education: A case study of Senior Secondary Schools in Kssena- Nankana District. A Journal of Social Sciences. 3(2):45
- Ampiah, J. G., & Yebeah, C. A. (2009). Mapping the incidence of School dropout a case study of communities in Northern Ghana, Comparative Education 45: 2, 219-232
- Anastasia, N. T. A. (2011). Socio-cultural and economic factors affecting primary education of Masai girls in Loitokitok Distric, Kenya Western Journal of Black Studies, The Winter.
- Ann, Benjamin L. (1993). Parents’ Literacy and their Children’s Success in School: Recent Research, Promising Practices, and Research Implications. Education Research Report, August.
- Bada, R. (2003). Girls Drop-out in Schools in Sokoto State: Causes and solution: A paper presented at a seminar organized by Association of concerned Youth (A CY ) Sokoto in collaboration with Nana Asma‟u Foundation on Girl-child Education Awareness.
- Barry J. (2005). The effect of socio-economic status on academic Achievement– A Thesis submitted to the Department of Sociology and the faculty of the Graduate School of Wichita State University in partial fulfulment of the requirements for the Master of Arts.
- Bettelheim, B (1987). A Good Enough Parent: A Book on Child Rearing. New York: Alfred A. Knoff, Inc., 1987: 55-69.
- Carole L. K., & Almut G. Stein, W. (2008). Validity and Reliability of Measurement instruments used in research. American Journal of Health- System Pharmacy.
- Castillo, J. J. (2009). Research Population: Retrieved 17 Jun, 2012 from Experiment Resourceshttp:/www. Experiment resources.com/research-population.html
- Charles, A., & Alberto, A. (2003). The impact of Parental Involvement, Parental Support and Family Education on Pupil Achievement and Adjustment: A Review of Literature. DfES Report no. 433.
