Influence of Parental Background on the Academic Performance of Children
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 Benin city Education zone.
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
The chapter presents a review of related literature under the following subheadings.
Conceptual Framework
- Concept of family
- Concept of family background
- Concept of achievement
- Concept of academic achievement
Theoretical Framework
- Parental attachment theory
- Self-determination theory
- Maslow’s motivational theory
- Empirical Studies on family background and academic achievement
- Summary of related 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 cooperating 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.
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
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 pupil’s academic achievement in primary schools in Benin city education zone. 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.
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
RESULTS
In this chapter, data were presented on the basis of the research questions and hypotheses that guided the study.
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
CONCLUSION
From the findings of the study, it was concluded that family background factor influence academic achievement of pupils in schools. Prominent among the family background factors include parental educational level, parental income and parental motivation. sEducational statuses of the parents and pupils’ academic achievement have a close relationship between them. This is because parents themselves having being to school realized the importance of being educated. They stand better chance to support their children for better academic achievement.
On parental motivation, it was found that pupils who received encouragement and motivation from the family perform better in schools than their counterparts from non encouraging families. The major reasons for the observed difference in performance are the motivation and positive attitude of the parents towards their children’s academic progress.
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:
- 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.
- 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
Summary of the Study
The problem of this research is whether there is influence of family background on pupils’ academic achievement among primary school pupils in Benin city education zone of Edo state. 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.
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