Parental Status and Student Academic Performance
CHAPTER ONE
Objectives of the Study
The general objective of the study is to investigate the influence of parents’ status on the academic performance of students in secondary schools in Lagos State, Nigeria.
The specific objectives are to determine the influence of parents’:
- Educational level on the academic performance of secondary school students in Lagos state.
- Occupational status on the academic performance of secondary school students in Lagos state.
- Income level on the academic performance of secondary school students in Lagos state.
- Residential location on the academic performance of secondary school students in Lagos state.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Theoretical Framework
The present study was guided by cause and effect theory. The cause and effect theory describes and analyzes how something happens, examines cause, describes effect or both. It links situations and events together in time, with cause preceding effect (Epp, 2004). Sometimes, many different causes may be responsible for one effect, and similarly, many different effects could be produced by a single cause. In this case, causes are often distinguished into two types: necessary and sufficient. If x is a necessary cause of y, then the presence of y necessarily implies the presence of x. The presence of x, however, does not imply that y will occur. If x is a sufficient cause of y, then the presence of x necessarily implies the presence of y.
Cause and effect is established through intervention trial in which two or more groups undergo the same experience except for a single facet. The single facet in this study is socio-economic status of parents and the cause is the academic performance of students. This theory guides the study on how parent‟s statuses comprising of occupation, education levels, income and residence influence academic performance of students in at the secondary school level. For instance, on the aspect of parents’ economic status, income and occupation determine the ability of the parents to provide necessary facilities or materials that can help their children in making the learning of school subjects easy for the students. This involves the provision of basic needs such as feeding, shelter and textbooks. This theory therefore guides the researcher in examining the direct influence of parents’ socio-economic status on the academic performance of students in secondary schools in Lagos State.
Conceptual Framework
Conceptual framework in the opinion of Anyakoha (2009) is a schematic description and illustration of the causative mechanisms and relationship deducible from the research problems. The author explained that conceptual framework can be in the form of a diagrammatic representation of the testable argument of the research; it spells out the context and forms of relationship or interaction between phenomena as well as the process or flow associated with the interactions. In the opinion of Elsevier (2009), conceptual frame work is a group of concepts that are broadly defined and systemically organized to provide a focus, a rationale and a tool for the integration of information usually expressed abstractly through words and models. The author explained that conceptual framework enables the researcher to find links between the existing literature and his research goals.
Conceptual frameworks in this study consist of rules that hold together the ideas, comprising a broad concept which are systematically arranged or organized to provide a focus for the study as illustrated below:
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Design
Descriptive survey research design was suitable for this study because data were collected from the respondents with the use of socio economic and demographic data and scores of the students in their area of the study for determining the influence of parents’ status on the academic performance of students in selected secondary schools in Lagos State.
Population for the Study
The population for the study is comprised of SSS 2 and 3 students across the senior secondary schools in Lagos State. Five Senior Secondary Schools were selected each from the three areas in Lagos. The population of students from the selected schools is 9008 considered as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
Analysis of Demographic Variables of Respondents.
The demographic variables of the respondents analyzed in the study were related to parents socio-economic as shown in Table 1.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE, CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary
The study was conducted to ascertain the influence of parents‟ status on academic performance in secondary schools in Lagos State, Nigeria. Four specific objectives and four research questions were raised. In order to meet these objectives and answer research hypotheses, four null hypotheses were formulated and tested at an alpha value of 0.05 level of significance. Literature related to the study was reviewed. Data were collected from 368 students. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions and independent t-test analysis was used to test the null hypotheses.
The four research questions were answered and these showed that parents‟ status had influence on the academic performance of students in secondary schools in Lagos State, Nigeria. Of the four null hypotheses formulated, hypothesis, one, two, three and four had their r-calculated value greater than r-critical value of 1.960 at 366 degree of freedom and p>0.05. The result revealed that parents‟ educational level had a significant influence on the performance of students, parents‟ occupational status had significant influence on the performance of students, parents‟ income level had significant influence on the performance of students and parents‟ residential location also had significant influence on the performance of students in secondary schools in Lagos State, Nigeria.
Contribution to Knowledge
The study established that:
- Parents‟ educational level had significant influence on students‟ in secondary schools in Lagos State, Nigeria with calculated tvalue of 14.17 at P <000.
- Parents‟ occupational status had significant influence on students‟ performance in secondary schools in Lagos State, Nigeria with calculated tvalue 12.61 at P <000.
- Parents‟ Income level had significant influence on students‟ performance in secondary schools in Lagos State, Nigeria with calculated value of 17.21 at P <000.
- Parents residential location had significant influence on students‟ performance in secondary schools in Lagos State, Nigeria with calculated value of 15.25 at P <000.
Conclusion
Based on the findings from this study, parents‟ socio economic status has relationship with students‟ academic performance in secondary schools. Parents who provide healthy, peaceful and conducive environment for the educational growth, development and progress of their wards both at home and in school generally enhance the academic performance of their children.
Recommendations
Based on the findings and conclusion drawn, the researcher recommends the
following:
- Parents should provide educational facilities to their children in order to enhance educational outcomes of students.
- Lagos State Government should mount enlightenment campaign and public awareness programme parents on the importance of adult education. Alternatively, adult literacy classes should be encouraged among parents in Lagos State.
- There is the need to improve the current poverty perceptive measures by the Lagos State Government in order to improve the living standard of parents by increasing their income level from which they meet up with the school needs of their children.
References
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- Adedeji, B. (2008). Influence of Parent Socio-Economic Status on Students‟ Academic Performance in Economics: Unpublished B. Ed. Project, University of Ibadan.
- Adewale, A.M. (2002). Implication of Parasitic Infections on School Performance Among School-age Children. Ilorin Journal of Science Education. 2: 78-81.
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- Ainley, J. Brian G, Michael L. & Margaret B. (1995), Socio-economic Status and School Education, DEET/ACER, Canberra.
- Akinsanya, O.O., Ajayi, K.O., & Salomi, M.O. (2011). Relative influence of Parents’ Occupation, Qualification and Academic Motivation of Wards on Students Achievement in Senior Secondary School mathematics in Ogun State. British Journal of Arts and Social Science 3 (2):242-252. ISBN: 2046-9578.
- Akomolafe, M.J., and Olorunfemi-Olabisi, F.A. (2011). Impact of family type on Secondary school students academic performance in Ondo State, Nigeria. Europe Journal of Educational Studies, 3 (3): 481-487.