The Impact of Non Parental Involvement Among KG 1 Pupils
Chapter One
The study’s purpose
The study’s goal was to determine the impact of non-parental involvement on pupil’s academic achievements in the Ashanti Region, Ghana.
Broad Objective
The overall goal was to determine the impact of non-parental involvement on pupil’s academic achievements in Ashanti Region.
Objectives Specific
The following precise objectives were addressed in the research study:
I To see if the family environment has an impact on pupils’ academic performance.
- To see if communication between parents and schools has an impact on students’ academic performance.
- To see if parents’ non involvement in educational activities at home has an impact on pre-school kids’ academic progress.
- Determine if parents’ engagement in school-related educational activities has an impact on pre-school kids’ academic progress.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE RREVIEW
Introduction
This chapter examines the relevant literature for the subject. The theoretical literature review, parents’ or guardians’ level of education and its effects on their children’s academic achievements, the relationship between parents’ income and pupils’ academic achievements, communication between teachers and parents to pupils’ academic achievements, learning at home and pupils’ academic achievements, and the research gap are all included in this section.
Parental Involvement
Parental engagement is described as a parent’s level of involvement in their child’s education and school. Many parents are quite interested in their children’s education, frequently offering to assist in classroom activities, interacting effectively with their children’s instructors, aiding with homework, and recognizing their children’s unique academic strengths and limitations. Unfortunately, many parents are not actively involved in their children’s education. Many schools provide activities such as games and athletics, home activities, and volunteer opportunities to increase parental participation. Home environment, parent-school communication, and education activities both at home and at school are some of the variables that will be examined in this study. This has been researched in the United States and African nations such as Ghana and Uganda. (UNESCO, 2000).
When schools, families, and community groups work together to promote learning, children do better in school, stay in school longer, and like school, according to the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) (Kurdek, Fine & Sinclair, 1995). The report also discovered that, regardless of family income or background, students with involved parents are more likely to: earn higher grades and test scores, enroll in higher-level programs, be promoted, pass their classes, and earn credits, attend school regularly, have better social skills, demonstrate improved behavior, and adapt well to school (SEDL, 2002).
Parent-school communication
Schools and parents in today’s society are reacting to rising expectations, economic challenges, and time constraints. Effective collaborations between teachers and parents are becoming increasingly more important in these changing times to satisfy the needs of children. One of the six key types of parent engagement activities essential to developing healthy working connections between teachers and parents is communicating with them (Epstein, 1995).
The development of the teacher-parent connection is also essential to the success of the development team (Schuster, 2003). Unfortunately, many instructors do not receive specialized training in the skills required to effectively engage with parents (Hradecky, 2004). Because effective school communication is so important for incorporating families in the educational process, teacher preparation and professional development programs should actively encourage teachers to improve communication skills (Caspe, 2003).
Teachers attempt to form partnerships with parents in order to promote their children’s learning. Strong communication between home and school is essential to this relationship and the development of a feeling of community. Teachers must continue to grow and enhance their abilities in order to optimize successful communication with parents in these changing times. There are several advantages to good communication between parents and instructors. Children learn better when parents and teachers exchange information, and parents and teachers feel more supported. Positive attitudes between instructors and parents may be fostered via effective communication.
Schools and instructors are well aware that effective communication with parents is critical to their success. Teachers must be aware of the children’s families, languages, and cultures in order to assist them in their learning. Parents benefit because they have a better understanding of what happens at school and may encourage their children to learn at home. Above all, greater communication benefits children since contact between home and school helps children learn and achieve. However, communication between parents and teachers may be difficult, especially when parents are uncomfortable in school, don’t speak English well, or come from different cultural backgrounds than the teachers. Fortunately, both parents and teachers have devised methods for improving communication. Some parents may have had a negative school experience as children. Other parents have expressed dissatisfaction with the school or their child’s instructor. Fortunately, there are steps that may be taken to assist in the removal of these impediments. Here are some instances of how some parents have gained confidence and comfort. Parents and instructors should confer beforehand to ensure that they are both happy with the following arrangements:
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This chapter describes the methodology that was followed in carrying out the study. This includes research design, target population, sample and sampling procedures, research instruments, validity and reliability, procedures of collecting data and data analysis.
Research Design
The study adopted descriptive survey design. The design is considered suitable for the study as it involves gathering data from members of the population in order to determine its current status in regard to one or more variables (Mugenda & Mugenda, 1999). Moreover, a survey reports things the way they are. A survey study serves the following purposes: to obtain information that describes the existing phenomena by asking individuals about their perceptions, attitudes and values. Surveys are used to explain/explore the existence of two or more variables at a given point and they are useful where the study involves population which is too large for direct observation (Mugenda & Mugenda, 1999). More still, descriptive studies are concerned with gathering facts rather than manipulation of variables (Koul, 1984). In this regard, the descriptive design was considered appropriate as a means of achieving the main objective of the study which was to establish the influence of parental involvement on academic performance of pupil in Ashanti Region, Centre Ghana.
Target population
The study was carried out in Centre (Ashanti Region). The target population was teachers, children and parents of Ashanti Region. Ashanti Region area has forty two pre- schools (twenty six public and sixteen private preschools), forty two head teachers, sixty five teachers, one thousand school pupil and one thousand parents (Ashanti Region education office, 2012).
CHAPTER FOUR
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
Influence of Home environment on Academic Performance of school pupil.
The first objective sought to establish whether the home environment had an influence on academic performance of school pupil. The study sought to find out from the school pupil whether there were rules at their homes governing their bed time, study time and television watching among others. The school pupil responses on home rules are presented on Table 4.1.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
This chapter presents the summary of the study, conclusions, recommendations and suggestions for further research.
Summary
The study adopted descriptive survey design to establish the influence of parental involvement on academic performance of school pupil in Ashanti Region, Centre, Ghana. Stratified sampling technique was used for selecting schools; random sampling for teachers, purposive sampling for parents and simple random sampling for learners. Questionnaires, documentary analysis and interview schedule were the instruments of the study. Data was collected from one hundred and sixty six (166) respondents who included; parents, teachers and school pupil.
The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0.Descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages) was used for close ended questions. Qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis. Responses were grouped into common themes and analyzed as guided by the research objectives.
Influence of home environment on academic performance was the first objective which guided the researcher in the study. The study noted that, majority (78%) of parents had set study rooms for their school pupil. These school pupil got a high mean score because they could do their homework effectively and in time while 22% indicated their children were not provided with study room, hence poor academic performance. School pupil who used study rooms got the best mean score (79%) compared to others (20%). The study noted that in a home environment, set study rooms are ideal areas for home study. The study also noted that there were other places where school pupil used to do their homework. The information acquired indicated that, majority (49.5%) of school pupil did their homework in the table rooms, 6.3% in the kitchen, while 3.2% did their home work in the bedrooms. The listed four venues where home work was done from influenced the children’s academic performance. School pupil who did their home work in the bedroom lived with their parents in single houses hence they only did their homework in the same rooms which were used for other household purposes like watching television. Home environment where there was mixed up of numerous events did not provide conducive environment for homework to be completed.
The study also noted that homes rules were important to control home study. Majority 68 (85%) of school pupil indicated that their parents had set home rules while 12 (15%) indicated that their parents had not done so. The findings show that, school pupil who came from homes with home rules had a high mean score of 75% while those from homes without rules had lower a mean score of 20%. The results revealed that school pupil who had home rules set performed better academically than those children who came from homes without.
The study noted that watching TV impacts positively on academic performance of school pupil. Majority 43(53.75%) of school pupil took a maximum of one hour watching television and these children had a mean score of 90%, followed by 6 (7.5%) who indicated they watched TV programmes between one hour to two hours and who had a mean score of 30%, followed by 3(3.75%) of the children who indicated that they took three hours and had a mean score 10%. The school pupil 28(35%) who said watching TV was not applicable had a mean score of 8%. However, watching TV by school pupil should be controlled to allow time for home study. Children who did not watch TV were denied opportunity for language development hence poor academic performance. The results revealed that children who spend less time watching television and more time on school-related activities, shows a positive relationship with academic achievement.
Parents –school communication was the second objective which guided the researcher in the study. From the findings of the study, it was noted that communication between the teachers and the parents influenced academic performance of school pupil. Majority (94.7%) of the parents showed teacher-parent communication influenced children academic performance while 5.3% of parents indicated that it did not have any influence. The mode of communication used between the teachers and the parents included verbal and written. Majority (65.3%) of parents who preferred written methods had their school pupil getting the highest mean score compared to parents who used verbal (31.6%) and mobile phone (3.2%). The results showed that communication between the parents and the teachers of school pupil was formal and it influenced positively the outcome of academic performance. The formal methods used included use of report cards which were used to show analysis of academic performance. The results revealed that, teachers invited parents for discussion of their children’s performance through telephone. The results revealed that effective communication between the school and parents led to improved academic performances of their children.
Conclusions
One of the reasons cited for influence of parental involvement on the academic performance of school pupil was the home environment. Study room was found to be the most effective venue for homework to be done as it created conducive home study environment. School pupil using this facility were found to get a higher mean score compared to those without. There were other areas where children were found to do their homework that included; the table room, the kitchen and the bed room. The areas used as study rooms influenced children academic performance differently. When studying in the table room, school pupil were tempted to watch television longer than they should. This affected their study habits negatively. Controlled TV was found necessary since it had positive effect especially in language development where listening as a skill is highly developed.
The study established that, parents-school communication was one of the major parental involvement practices critical to establishing strong working relationships between teachers and parents. Although a small percentage of respondents indicated that communication between teacher and parents was not influential, most respondents indicated communication was influential on learners’ academic performance. This forms the basis of cultivating the teacher-parent relationship which is vital to the development of team work. Parent school communication had a great role to play on academic performance of preschool and should be encouraged to facilitate smooth learning of the learners. Communication between the teacher and parents enhanced their relationship hence developed team work which promoted the academic performance of the school pupil.
The study established various forms of parental participation in educational activities at home which were found to have an influence on the academic performance of school pupil. Parental supervision and guidance on home work e.g. reading together, playing maths and computer games with their children are important activities that parents use to help their children improve in their academic performance.
Finally, the study established the influence of parental participation in educational activities at school on the academic performance of school pupil. These activities included; visiting schools to find out academic welfare of their school pupil, responsibility of preschool parents at school, school- parent meeting/ conferences, sport days, academic clinic days. When parents are involved in children’s schools and education, children acquire higher grades and standardized test scores. This results to improved behavior at home and school, better social skills and adaptation to school, hence improved academic performance.
Recommendations
The following recommendations are based on the conclusions of the study:
- Parents should set study rooms which provide conducive home environment for doing home study. The conducive home environment enhances thorough concentration during study.
- Parents should set home rules to govern their children home study behavior. E.g. time to bed and time to watch TV. This will enables the children to develop good study habits at home.
- Teachers should establish effective partnerships with parents to support learners learning. This enhances academic performance due to the attention given to the feedback from either party on the child’s support.
- Parents and teachers should adopt modern method of communication such as mobile phone to enhance communication. Parents and teachers should embrace parents’ school communication for improved academic performance.
- Parents involvement in schools’ activities should be encouraged and the government should consider developing and implementing policies that support this. The collaborative effort enhances children learning.
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