PARENTAL VARIABLES AND STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN ECONOMICS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

PARENTAL VARIABLES AND STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN ECONOMICS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Abstract

This study was to examine the relationship between Parental variables and students academic achievement in Economics in Secondary school in Onna Local Government Area. Three research questions and three null hypotheses were formulated in line with specific objectives to guide the study. A survey research design was adopted for the study.

The population of the study comprised of all the one thousand one hundred and four (1104) Senior Secondary Two (SS2) Students in the nine (9) Public Secondary Schools in the Area. A simple random sampling technique was used to select one hundred and twenty (120) Economics students drawn from six (6) selected public secondary schools in the study area. “Parental Variables and Students Academic Achievement Test (PVSAAT) was the main instruments for data collection.

The data generated from the study was analyzed using Pearson’s product moment correlation (PPMC) statistical method. The result from the findings revealed that there is a significant relationship between parental level of education and students academic achievement in Economics. Also it was indicated that there is a significant relationship between parental occupation and students academic achievement in Economics.

Accordingly, it was find out that there is a significant relationship between parental incomes and students academic achievement in Economics. It was recommended among others that parents should endeavour to be academically sound if they have to improve their children’s academic performance and that for children to attain academic achievement, the parents should have stable income from whatever source.

PARENTAL VARIABLES AND STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN ECONOMICS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• Background to the Study

Education is the best legacy a nation can give to her citizens especially the youth. This is because education is very important in the development of any nation or Community. Every parent want his or her child to do well in school and in the society. Parents expect their children to imbibe acceptable norms, value and attitude of the society. No parent is happy to see his/her child live contrary to the norms of the society. Education is the process of transmitting what is worthwhile to members of the society. The way of child is raised has an adverse impact not only to oneself but to the whole society while growing up, the child spend most of his/her time at home and the type of environment he or she is brought in also hampered their cognitive development.

It is with the parent that the child learns to play appropriate roles and acquires abilities, attitudes and modes of response that enable him to participate in social life outside their parent. Parents can provide emotional support, be good models, cooperate with the school and provide all the necessary educational needs to enhance their children’s achievement at school. Parents goes a long way in influencing the academic achievement of every child. Each child has a different parent, which reflects in his/her behavior and achievement at school. Most of the child’s abilities depends to a large extent on his or her parental influence.

The economic status of the parents also tends to affect the academic achievement of the child in school. This is because a child whose parents is unable to carter for his/her necessary educational needs such as provision of various textbooks and other materials as well as employing, the services of a private teacher, cannot do well like those children whose parents can provide their educational needs.

However, the level of education of the parents has a lot to do with student’s academic achievement. It can either hinder or foster the child’s progress in school. A person who passed through the school system will be able to prepare the children effectively for their roles as students. For example, a mother who had attended school and considers that doing well at school is an important aspect of the child’s life, with be able to make the child be aware that being punctual, paying attention in class and in general, responding to teacher’s demands and expectations are important in improving his/her academic performance.

It is therefore not supervising to discover that many studies have shown that, the most important contributors to a child’s academic achievement is in fact parental attitudes towards school. Some uneducated parents have a nonchalant attitude towards education in general. They are of the option that education has little to offer their children. They pay little or no attention to their children’s educational achievement at school, not necessarily because they are for but rather because of carefree attitude towards the education of their children.

PARENTAL VARIABLES AND STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN ECONOMICS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

However the children who came from low income households, having divorced or separated parents, would actually perform better than average scores of they came from the parents that had positive attitudes and that strongly supported their children.

It is noted that parents occupation is an important factor that affect a child’s academic achievement in the school subject for example, a trader or a business man who spends most of his time away from children may not have enough time to supervise the academic achievement of the children. Since the parents is primary agent of socialization and the initial education of the child begins with the parent, the success or failure of any child depends on the encouragement of the parents.

Parental variables have been of great important in shaping the performance of children in school worldwide. This is because; academic achievement is usually as a result of motivation that children get from the people they interact with in their initial stages of life. a study revealed that years of schooling, completed and educational achievement of students varied widely by parental variables. The authors found out that students who came from less disadvantaged parents had higher average test scores and were more likely to have never been held back a grade as compared to students from the more disadvantaged parents.

However, they highlighted that it was not clear to reflect the causal effect of parental variables on the child’s educational achievement which creates a gap that is study sought to fill by finding out the influence of parental variables and students academic achievement in Economics in Secondary school in Onna Local Government Area.

PARENTAL VARIABLES AND STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN ECONOMICS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

• Statement of the Problem

Societies all over the world strive to achieve quantitative education for their citizenry. In order to achievement education course so many factors came into consideration. Among them was the parental variables of the child. The family has a great role to play on the overall development of the child and his educational upbringing in particular. The gap in student’s achievement and academic excellence constitute a great source of worry and serious concern as well as discomfort to parents, schools administrators, policy makers and various governments responsible for the student’s academic welfare.

Research conducted by Scholars on academic achievement has consistently shown that parental variables is important in predicting children’s educational achievement. However, the mechanism for understanding this have not been well studied. This is because in general, parental process models have been examined how parenting behaviours, such as the structure of the home environment influence students’ achievement outcomes. Others have focused on specific behaviours such as harsh parenting, nurturing and warmth.

Hence, there has been less work on how factors like parental level of education, occupation and level of income influence students’ motivation and achievement outcome. It is therefore based on this study that the researcher deems it necessary to examine the parental variables and students academic achievement in Economics in secondary school in Onna Local government Area.

PARENTAL VARIABLES AND STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN ECONOMICS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

• Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study was to examine parental variables and students academic achievement in Economics in secondary schools in Onna Local Government Area. Specifically, the study sought to:

1. Assess the relationship between parent level of education and students’ academic achievement in Economics in Onna Local Government Area.
2. Ascertain the relationship between parental occupation and students academic achievement in Economics in Onna Local Government Area.

• Establish the relationship between parent income and students academic achievement in Economics in Onna Local Government Area.

Significance of the Study

The findings of this study will be great benefits to students teachers, school, government, curriculum designers and future researchers.

The outcome of this study may enhance students self-discipline from parent. It will also provide useful information to students from different parents to enable them adapt and cope in any situation they find themselves.

It will enable teachers to inculcate the Primary objectives of the National Policy on education on the students not minding their Parental background. It will also provide the classroom teachers with useful information on how to guide students from different parents in solving the specific classroom problems.-

It will also be helpful to school in ensuring that they have a good relationship with the students parents and set up association that will bring the parents closer to the school. For example, the Parents Teachers Association (P.T.A).

The study will provide useful information that will make the various levels of government see reasons to allocate fund to ministries of education and other educational agencies to enable them procure materials that will be distributed freely to students so that students from different parental background can s participate fully in the teaching-learning process.

It will also help the curriculum designers in the area of curriculum designing and development, so that the effect of parent variables on students’ achievement at school can be re-activated.

The study will benefit other future researchers in the same filed with the literature to support their augments and hence improve knowledge.

• Research Questions

To guide the study, the following research questions were raised.

1. To what extent does parental level of education relates with students’ academic achievement in Economics in Onna Local Government Area?
2. To what extent does parental occupation relates with students’ students’ academic achievement in Economics in Onna Local Government Area?

• To what extent does parental income relates with students’ academic achievement in Economics in Onna Local Government Area.

PARENTAL VARIABLES AND STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN ECONOMICS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

• Research Hypotheses

The following research hypotheses were postulated to guide the study.

1. There is no significant relationship between parental level of education and students’ academic achievement in Economics in Onna Local Government Area.
2. There is no significant relationship between parental occupation and students’ academic achievement in Economics in Onna Local Government Area.

• There is no significant relationship between parental income and students’ academic achievement in Economics in Onna Local Government Area.

Limitation of the Study

The study was limited by time this implies that the time allocated for the study was short to cover all the areas. Financial constraint was also a formidable challenge to the conduct of the study.

1.8   Delimitation of the Study

This study on parental variables and students academic achievement in Economics was delimited to selected public secondary school students in Onna Local Government Area.

• Definition of Terms

The following terms were operationally defined by the researcher as they were used in the study.

1. Parental variables: This is a term that describes the characteristics of the parents which are capable of improving the academic achievement of students.
2. Parental level of Education: This means the rank of a person’s formal education attainment.

• Parental Occupation: This refers as the main work under-taken by the parent/guardian.

1. Parental income: This is the money that a person received, especially on a regular basis, for work or through investment/business.
2. Academic Achievement: This is the outcome or result of the students’ learning ability in school. It is the measure of ability of the students based on their cognitive, affective and psychomotor domain.
3. Economics: This is defined as a science which students human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses. 

For More Research Work, Visit: https://researchkings.com.ng/