Full Project – IMPACT OF FAMILY EDUCATION AND SOCIAL BACKGROUND ON THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Education is the best legacy a nation can give to her citizens especially the youths. This is because education is very important in the development of any nation or community. Education is the process of transmitting what is worthwhile to members of the society. According to Okafor (1981). Education embraces all those experiences of the individual through which knowledge is acquired and intellect enlightened. For Nwabachili and Egbue (1993) education is what goes on from one generation to another generation. In this context, education is the process of socializing the child to grow up as a fulfilled member of the society through informal, formal and non-formal process. Informal education is the process of acquiring knowledge about the environment and beyond through living with one another. According to Nwabachili and Egbue (1993) formal education is a consciously planned form of socialization in a formal setting such as school. They stressed that non-formal education involve all those systematic programmes and processes of education and training that is done outside formal education setting. All these forms of education cannot be achieved without the impact of the family.

Family is the first social environment the child finds itself. According to Clifford (1981) family remains the primary environment of the child. The author emphasized that family environment has more chances of increasing or decreasing the intellectual achievement of the child. Akubue and Okolo (2008), defined family as a small kinship structural group with the key function of natural socialization of the new born. Similarly, in Okunniyi (2004), family is defined as a primary social group of parents, offspring and possibly other members of the household.

Family education and social background refers to all the conditions and circumstances in the family which impact the child physically, intellectually and emotionally Muola (2010). Children coming from different family education and social backgrounds are affected different by such family conditions, that is why some children have good family education and social background while some have poor background. Citing fleege, Eke (1999) noted that with some families, the background way vary from time to time for the same individuals.

Status is often determined by the individuals economic attainment, though it is sometimes ascribed on the individual. Okunniyi (2004), identified three distinct socio-economic groups or status which are common in many countries. They are: upper class- which is made up of rich business men and top government officials among others; middle class-which consists of skilled workers, professionals and middle ranked government workers and the lower class- which is made up of manual workers, petty traders and low income government officials.

Francis (2007) opines that the lower income families may be aware of the importance of education in the society, but at the same time, they are also aware of their limited resources to measure up with such educational demands. According to the author, a family that can scarcely provide for the basic needs of the family which include food, shelters and clothing will hardly motivate the academic excellence of their children, instead they will pressurize their children so seek for job opportunities with the little education they acquired so far to support the family. The implication of the agreement is that for families are likely to give their children poor academic background because of lack of financial support.

The socio-economic status of a family is capable of affecting the behaviour of the children and determine their aspiration. Families with high socio-economic status often have more success in preparing their children for school because they typically have access to wide range of providing their young children with high quality child-care, books and encourage children in various learning activities at home. They also have easy access to information regarding their children’s health, as well as social, emotional and cognitive development (Ojo and Yilma 2010),

Ojo and Yilma also noted that in all socio-economic groups, parents face major challenges when it comes to providing optimal care and education for their children and these challenges are more pronounced in poor families. This, according to them, is because sometimes, when the basic necessities are lacking, parents must place top priority on housing, food, clothing and health care, regarding education materials and books as luxuries. They added that poor families may also have inadequate or limited access to community resources that promote and support children’s development and school readiness. They further asserted that these disadvantages can negatively affect families decisions regarding their children development and learning. This situation, according to Ojo and Yilma, may also expose the infants in poor families to a greater risk of entering kindergarten schools unprepared, unlike their peers from rich families.

Parents’ motivation is another family education and social background factor which impact the academic achievement of students. Students under motivated condition, exhibits purposeful behaviour aimed at achieving academic set goals. The achievement of these goals determines the motive. Hickey and Lindsey (1995) clearly distinguished two perspectives of motivation; these are situational and dispositional perspectives. According to them, disposition perspective asks questions about students’ general orientation to learning which relates the students’ priority and students’ nature. The situational perspective according to the scholars focuses on learning context. These scholars further identified to factors that greatly impact students’ motivation. These are: interpersonal factors such as curiosity, perseverance, and autonomy (intrinsic-factors) and environmental factors such as parents, peers and sibling (extrinsic factors).

Research shows that supportive and attentive parenting practices positively affect academic achievement (Eamon, 2005). In addition, high parental aspirations have been associated with increasing students’ interest in education (Majoribanks, 2005). The effect of parental motivation and involvement in their children’s school has on academic achievement is less clear (Domina 2005), parental motivation and involvement in school has been linked to both positive and negative impacts on academic achievement (McNeal, 2001, Domina, 2005). Explanations for this discrepancy are not conclusive. It is thought that the type of involvement and motivation may make a difference and that in some cases parents become involved after their child has already had academic difficulties (Domina, 2005, McNeal, 2001). Other recent research has found more conclusively that while parental motivation may not help academic achievement, it does help prevent behaviorual problems (Domina, 2005).

Specifically, the purpose of the study is to find out:

1. The impact of parental level of education on academic achievement of senior secondary school students.
2. The impact of parental occupation on students’ academic achievement.
3. The impact of parental income on students’ academic achievement.
4. The impact of family size on students’ academic achievement.
5. The impact of parental motivation on students’ academic achievement.

Significance of the study

Theoretically, the findings of this study are considered significant because it can help in providing empirical information in identifying and explaining the various family education and social background variables and the impact of the variables on students’ academic achievement. This will help in better understanding of the phenomenon. Moreover, it is expected that the findings will help to explain the functionality of the theoretical postulations Maslow’s motivational theory. According to Maslow, motivation is very important in learning, and a learner under motivated condition, exhibits purposeful behaivour aimed to achieving the set goal. The students is motivated to learn when their physiological need like shelter, food, water, rest and safety needs like love and belonging. The satisfaction of these needs leads to the quest to satisfy higher needs which boarder on self esteem and self actualization. The understanding of this theory especially as it relates to students teachers and parents would be of particular significance to researchers in the field of education and family studies. Practically, the finding of this study will be useful to the following: the teachers, students, parents, school guidance counselors, Parents Teachers Association (PTA), educational administrators and the society at large.

The finding of the study will be of immense help to the teachers. The teachers will realize the necessity of individualizing their teaching by structuring their teaching methods and instructional resources to take care of the divergent parental backgrounds of the students. This method may yield more positive result than the traditional system which assumes that all children have similar family education and social background. The findings of the study will also help teachers to exercise patience with slow-learners as they vary methods of instruction to accommodate divergent family education and social background.

The findings will be of immense importance to students. The students will realize that their poor performance might not necessarily be their fault alone, especially those from low status families. Such knowledge will go a long way to reduce frustration in the students and also reduce drop-outs which occur as a result of frustration. Rather, the students should be made to adjust and help themselves by studying hard at home and also make proper of the books and materials that are provided for them at the school library.

Through the findings of this study, parents will realize the importance of improving their educational standard so as to impact their children’s academic performance. Parents will also understand the need for them to improve their socio-economic status so as to be able to provide the necessary motivation in form of learning materials and other things which will enhance their children’s learning and their academic performance. They will equally acknowledge the importance of positive motivations and encouragement and provide some, by making the family environment more conducive for their children.

The school guidance counselors will also benefit from the findings of this study. They will be in position to guide and counsel students in the area of personal social interactions, academic performance and career choice.

The findings of the study will help Parents Teacher Associations (PTA) of schools in promoting the academic performance of student. This is because at PTA meetings, parents know their functions and responsibilities at home, to help solve their children’s problems both home and school environment.

The findings of the study will be of immense help to educational administrators. They will use the findings in the formulation of policy that will regulate equal educational opportunities for all children irrespective of their family education and social background in the distribution of equipment, facilities and amenities to schools.

The findings of this study will help the society at large in identifying how family environmental variables such as what parents’ level of education, parents’ income, parents’ occupation, parents’ motivation and family size on student’s academic performance. This will act as a check on increasing low academic performance among students, occasioned by the fact that some parents, teachers and counselors do not have adequate knowledge/input required of them.

Scope of Study

The study is limited to secondary schools in Nsukka education Zone of Enugu state. The context scope of this study is limited to finding the impact of family education and social background on academic achievement of students with particular regards to parental level of education; parental occupation, parental income, family size and parental motivation.

Research Questions

The study will provide answers to the following research questions:

1. What is the impact of parental level of education on students’ academic achievement?
2. What impact does parental occupation have on students’ academic achievement?
3. What is the impact of parents’ income on students’ academic achievement?
4. What is the impact of family size on students’ academic achievement?
5. What impact does parental motivation have on students’ academic achievement?

Research Hypotheses

The following hypotheses will guide the studying and will be tested at 0.5 level of significance.

1. There is no significant difference in the mean ratings of students in Urban and Rural Schools on the impact of parental level of education on students’ academic achievement
2. There is no significant difference in the mean ratings of Students in Urban and Rural Schools on the impact of parental occupation on students’ academic achievement.
3.  There is no significant difference in the mean ratings of Students in Urban and Rural Schools on the impact of parents’ income on student’s academic achievement.
4. There is no significant difference in the mean ratings of Students in Urban and Rural Schools on the impact of family size on students’ academic achievement.
5. There is no significant difference in the mean ratings of Students in Urban and Rural Schools on the impact of parental motivation on students’ academic achievement.

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Full Project – IMPACT OF FAMILY EDUCATION AND SOCIAL BACKGROUND ON THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS