The Impact of Family Background on the Academic Performance of Primary School Pupils
Chapter One
Purpose of the Study
Generally, the purpose of the study was to find out the influence of family background on pupils’ academic achievement among primary school pupils in AMAC, Abuja.
Specifically, the purpose of the study is to find out:
- The influence of parental level of education on academic achievement of primary school pupils.
- The influence of parental occupation on pupils’ academic achievement,
- The influence of parental income on pupils academic achievement.
- The influence of family size on pupils’ academic achievement
- The influence of parental motivation on pupils’ academic achievement.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Conceptual Framework
Concept of Family
Family has been described at the smallest, most personal and not intimate of social groups. It is the most important primary group and the smallest social unit in the society. Odo (1990:10) defined family as “a social group sharing a common residence and co- operating economically”. The author went further to assert that the institutions of the family is usually based on the marriage of one or more sexually co-habiting couples and usually there is the expectation of having children for whom the adults of the family accept responsibility. Alio (1995) observed that the family is also the most personal social organization, for nothing is more personal than the interaction and relationship between members of a family. He further said that married couple without children, though bound by the strongest personal ties do not constitute a family for such ties can conceivably exist among couples who are not married. For him, what gives a family its character are children, for only in such a family can that intimate, personal relationship be established by which the family can perform its functions of rearing, protecting and educating the children, transmitting to them the social values it has inherited and a special bond between all the members. This kind of family setting is similar to the Nigerian traditional idea of family. Traditionally, it is believed that it is the children that cement the union of a man and a woman together and makes it a lasting and a intimate one. The primary aim of this union is procreation.
Family can be classified into nuclear and extended form. Nuclear family is basic form of family organization. It is made up of the father (husband), mother (wife) and children. The children may be the biological offspring; of the couple or/and the adopted members of the family. According to Okafor (1992), the adoption of a child into the family is a common culture in the British society, but less so in Nigerian society. He added that nuclear family is found common among the urban city elites in Nigerian society or as a component in both extended, nuclear and compound family in Nigerian rural areas. The author maintained that one of the characteristics of the nuclear family is that is tends to break up when the children marry, when the parents die or at any point in human cycle. According to him, the male raised in a nuclear family usually begins his life in house hold headed by his parents and concluded his life in a family that he himself heads.
Extended family is the type of family that comprises of the father (husband) his wife (mother), their children, the husbands and the wife’s relations etc. Alio (1995) pointed out that the extended system is a dispersal version of the joint family and the members of the constituent groups do not all live together in one dwelling. To him, the extended kin-group includes a span of three or four generations within the total household or closely adjacent households. The extended family system is commonly a characteristics of most African society. Many Nigerian societies do not believe in nuclear family but in modern times, urbanization and economic pressures are discouraging extended family ties. However, extended family system is the popular and most common type of family arrangement in the Nigerian society. Anybody who fails to practice or show interest in the extended relations is regarded as a wicked and hopeless human being by members of the society.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHOD
This chapter discusses the procedure that is adopted in carrying out this study. It focuses on the research design, area of the study, population of the study, sample and sampling technique, instrument for data collection, validation of the instrument, reliability of the instrument, method of data collection and method of data analysis.
Research Design
The study was carried out using ex-post facto method in examining the influence of family background on student’s academic achievement in primary schools in AMAC, Abuja. Ex-post facto research design according Ngwagu (2005) is a systematic empirical inquiry in which the researcher does not have direct control on independent variables because they are inherently not easy to manipulate. The purpose of ex-post facto research design is to find out factors that seem to be closely associated with certain behaviours, occurrences, prevalence or conditions. Ex-post facto design is considered suitable for this study because it is practical and versatile. The design enables the researcher to collect original data from the respondents themselves and describes the present conditions as they exist in their natural family settings.
Population of the Study
The population of the study consists of all the primary 1-6 pupils in fifty three public primary schoolss in AMAC, Abuja.
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS
In this chapter, data were presented on the basis of the research questions and hypotheses that guided the study.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY OF THE STUDY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Summary of the Study
The problem of this research is whether there is influence of family background on pupils’ academic achievement among primary schools pupils in AMAC, Abuja. Although many think that pupils perform poorly in academic because the teachers did not teach well, some other people believe that this problem is not caused by teachers. They traced the problem to the family background of pupils which has the capacity to promote or retard pupils’ achievement.
Bearing this problem in mind, the focus of this study is to find out whether there is any influence of family background on pupils’ academic achievement by examining the influence family background variables like parental education level, parental occupation, parental income level, family size and parental motivation on pupils’ academic achievement.
To Achieve the Objectives: This study was carried out on AMAC, Abuja. with a total population of one hundred and twenty pupils.
Five research questions and five research hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance were used. The instrument for data collection was questionnaire designed by the researcher through the review of related literature and validated by experts. The questionnaire contained twenty six (26) items. Likert-type of scale was used to rate the responses. The reliability of the instrument was established using trial test method.
The data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research question and t-test statistics to test the null hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The results showed that: pupils’ academic achievement is influenced by parental level of education, parental level of income and parental motivation while parental occupation and family size are not significant determinants of pupils’ academic achievement.
conclusion
There is also the need for teachers to be more motivational in their teaching. This is possible when they vary their method of teaching and teaching aids to take cognizance of the individual differences inherent in the pupils from their different family backgrounds. Teachers can ameliorate through filling the parental motivational needs by individualizing instruction and taking special interest in the slow learners who suffer from deficient parental motivational pattern.
Another vital implication from this study is that school authorities should try to avoid grouping or streaming the school children especially according to ability and intelligence. Since the student come from different family background, there is every tendency that they differ in many respects. To have balanced and competitive class, the pupils should be randomly distributed, avoiding grouping intelligent ones one side and dull ones the other side.
This study equally implies that there is a greater need for more literacy and awareness campaign than before to awaken illiterate parents and instill awareness in literate parents who seem to attach much importance to education. The programme should be extended to rural areas where it is needed most.
Recommendations
Education is an important instrument of change in modern societies. Provision of adequate and relevant education is the best thing a nation can do for its citizens. This is more so, because education is a virile weapon against ignorance, disease, poverty and as a means of producing enlightened, responsible and industrious citizenry and prosperous nation.
Based on this background, the researcher makes the following recommendations:
1) One of the major findings of this study is that parental income level has a great influence on pupils’ academic achievement. For example, most cases, parental income is proportional to pupils finding which also determine to a large extent, the level of academic achievement of pupils. In this case, it is recommended that parents as a matter of importance should diversify their sources of income so that they can be able to provide fund their children in school for better academic achievement.
2) Parents should be made to realize the importance of motivation in determining their children academic achievement in schools, especially the realization that most of the male pupils are abandoning school for business. Parents should be actively involved in encouraging pupils to learn and also in supervising pupils academic work at home
3) pupils’ should give serious attention to studies at home, in addition to other various works done, since the amount of effort they put in their studies influence their academic achievement.
4) Teachers should understand that teaching is a job of conscience. Teachers should handle the pupils as their own children; try by all means to meet the pupils’ academic social and psychological needs. They should be motivational in their teaching and use different teaching methods so as to go along with all categories of pupils. This will help bridge deficiencies from negative family background.
5) The state and Federal Governments should legislate against examination malpractices. Such situation will force pupils to sit up and take their studies serious. Again, the various governments should create employment opportunities for the graduate of various institutions of higher learning. Lack of job opportunities contributes to the loss of interest and zeal for education by pupils. The current situation in Nigeria where graduates are left with little or no hope of employment gives no encouragement to the primary schools pupils for further education. Rather, the pupils see going to school is a waste of time.
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