Assessment Of The Effect Of Parental Status On Academic Performance Of Business Studies Students In Ogbomoso, Oyo State

Assessment Of The Effect Of Parental Status On Academic Performance Of Business Studies Students In Ogbomoso, Oyo State

Abstract

This study examined the effects of parental socio-economic status on the academic performance of mathematics students in some selected secondary schools in Ibarapa East Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria. The descriptive research design was adopted for this study, this is because the variables studied were not manipulated but studied retrospectively the way they occur naturally. The population of the study covered the entire secondary schools mathematics students (both males and females) in the area of study. Out of this population sixty (60) students used as sample was selected from the senior secondary schools (SSS) mathematics students for the study; using the random sampling techniques. The instrument used to collect data for the study was a twenty-two items self-structured questionnaire. Four hypotheses were formulated and tested during the study using the Chi-square statistical tool. Each of the results obtained from the tests was compared with its critical value at 5% level of significance. On the basis of the findings made in the study, we conclude that parental socio-economic status influences the secondary school students ‘academic performance in Mathematics. Based on the findings made in this study, we recommend that non-governmental organizations should reach out more to children from low/poor socio-economic backgrounds by providing scholarships opportunities for them as well as through offering of direct financial assistance to homes in order to empower them and sustain them economically as these homes are the immediate environment of the children. Consequently, we suggest that further research be conducted in areas like “Family issues and its effects that affects Mathematics students ‘academic performance in secondary school” and “Effects of parental involvement in Mathematics in Secondary school”.

Chapter One

Introduction

1.1 Background to the Study

Education is a fundamental human right, the key to sustainable development, a crucial tool for effective participation in societies and it enhances peace and stability among countries (Ninomiya, 2003). Posse and Melgosa (2002) identified three environments that must come into play in the educational process which include; the family, the school and the community. The researchers opined that for a successful educational process to be realized the objectives of these three environments must be harmonized. Ford and Harris (2007) examined parental influences on African-American students’ school achievements. They focused on parents’ level of education, marital status and family income and found that children from high and middle socio-economic families are exposed to a better learning environment at home.

According to Gabriel (2005) the main beneficiaries of TRLF are: Orphans, children of subsistence farmers, nomadic pastoralists and single parent families without any regular source of income. Despite all incentives and efforts by the Government and NGOs to enhance quality and participations in education, this region still perform dismally in academics. Harris (2006) posited that for proper social and emotional development, students require a strong and reliable primary care giver who provides unconditional love, guidance and general support. They also require safe, predictable, and stable environment. Children raised from arid regions like Tana River County are much less likely to have these vital needs met than their counterparts from regions with favorable climatic conditions. Most families in these regions tend to practice pastoralism. This occupation entails moving from place to place in search of greener pastures and water for animals. Parents tend to be overworked; they are overstressed and authoritarian with children and fail to form solid, healthy relationship with their children leading to emotional and social challenges which may translate to poor academic performance (Ahnert & Pinquart, 2006).

Considine and Zappala (2002) agree that social economic status is determined by an individual’s achievements in education, employment, occupational status and income. Onsomu (2006) found that students from homes with better quality houses, who always speak English at home, had most learning materials, who ate at least three meals per day, who had many possessions and more educated parents achieved better in school. Muola (2010) while doing study in Machakos District observed that student’s motivation to do well in academic work is dependent on the nature of their home environment.

According to a study conducted by Kunje (2009) there is a significant relationship between parental level of education and the students’ education aspirations. Evidence that the largest of education casualties come from the lower social classes is overwhelming (Kunje, 2009). Poor children come from home environments that are educationally impoverished and the conditions nearly affect every aspect of life. The low background status perpetuates educational deprivation. Poor families will certainly find it difficult to pay fees. Moreover, poor families on average tend to have more school-age children at home than higher income families. Wealthier and better educated parents utilize basic education and deploy resources in a manner that creates preschool conditions which are conducive to a successful school performance. Families set the lifestyle and influences life chances for the child. The life which a family attaches to school determines the motivation with which its children pursue basic education.

A study conducted in Mombasa by Ogoye (2007) showed that illiterate parents were unable to assist their students in doing homework. The importance of parental involvement in children’s academic success is an unquestionable assumption. Independent of the parents’ type of involvement in education or schooling, in general, hundreds of studies have demonstrated a predominance of positive correlations between this variable and students’ academic achievement (Muola 2010). According to Mwoma (2010) education usually entails expenses such as buying reading materials, stationery among others. This introduces the element of family economic status into question. As a result studies have noted that economic status determines the extent of parental involvement in their children’s education. Parents who are illiterate and poor and cannot afford to buy supplementary learning materials are less likely to be actively involved in their children’s education. They are preoccupied with different chores to fend for their families and, paradoxically, children are expected to engage in some form of child labor that can contribute towards family provisioning and sustenance.

Ogoye (2007) noted that socio-economic status is a critical issue in many African communities where illiteracy and poverty levels are high, thus limiting parental involvement in homework. In some cases learning and reference materials have to be shared among students, and not all parents are able to buy for their children personal subject-specific text copies. More important is the fact that some parents expect the children to help them after school, during the time the children are expected to undertake their homework assignments. Child rearing practices vary with socio-economic background and parental level of education.

A study by Muola (2010) has revealed that the achievement motivation of students whose fathers have attained high educational level and are in high income occupations tend to be high. Achievement motivation has been shown to be higher in the working than middle class. Parent’s educational level has direct impact on their student’s educational aspirations (Okantey, 2008). Children schooling is positively related to their parents because students tend to imitate their parents and also aspire to be highly educated as their parents. Children are more disadvantaged when their parents have low education level; forming a cycle of uneducated family members and making every generation of the family not to go higher than their parents. Children from highly educated families are more ambitious and attain higher levels of education. Jeyne (2005) examined five different variables including, mother’s education, father’s education, father’s occupation, mother’s occupation, and family income.

It has been assumed that academic achievement of students may not only depend on the quality of schools and the teachers, rather the extent of home-based factors has vital role to play in academic achievement of their students. The focus of this study is to examine parental status factors influence on academic performance of business studies students in Ogbomoso, Oyo State. Secondary school learning environment may be more complex than elementary school and academic achievement expectations increase. Students are more likely to have higher academic achievement levels and improved behavior when the parental status factors are favourable (Bryan, 2005).

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Good education does not happen by chance. It is a product of effective teaching and learning coupled with the effort of the teacher, the school, the students, parents and their various home environments. Often a time the blames on the poor performance of students in school are shifted to the teachers and the school authorities. Most families in our society seem not to give adequate attention to the education of their children. It appears some of the parents have erroneous notion about the performance of their children, they do not know and seem to fulfill their role of guidance and encouragement in the child’s performance in schools. Some people also have the notion that the mass failure or success in schools could be traced back to the teachers and the school authorities. While other people see socio-economic status of the family as an influence to the student’s academic performance. Most students in Nigerian secondary schools are in greater risk of poor academic achievement in both internal and external examinations (WAEC and NECO). For instance, the available records of 2015-2017 of Basic examination of junior secondary school show a continuous decline in students overall performance in school certificate examinations. Government, parents, teachers and students blame one another for students’ poor performance in schools. Parents blame teachers for lack of dedication to duties. The teachers blame government for poor salaries hence they are poorly motivated, parents also accuse government for not equipping the schools with learning materials, government blame parents for not doing good home work and the students are blamed for lack of discipline and dedication to their studies. In light of the above issues, the outstanding and relevant question is: what is the effect of parental status on academic performance of business studies students?

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to find out the influence of effect of parental status on the academic performance of junior secondary school students in Ogbomoso Oyo state, Nigeria.

Specifically, the study seeks to:

1. Find out whether parental level of education will influence academic performance of business studies students in Ogbomoso, Oyo State;
2. Determine whether parent socio-economic status will influence academic performance of business studies students in Ogbomoso, Oyo State;
3. Examine whether parents’ occupation will influence academic performance of business studies students in Ogbomoso, Oyo State;
4. Investigate whether family size will influence academic performance of business studies students in Ogbomoso, Oyo State;

1.4 Research Questions

The following research question will be raised to guide the study:

1. Will parental level of education influence academic performance of business studies students in Ogbomoso, Oyo State?
2. Will parent socio-economic status influence academic performance of business studies students in Ogbomoso, Oyo State?
3. Will parents’ occupation influence academic performance of business studies students in Ogbomoso, Oyo State?
4. Will family size influence academic performance of business studies students in Ogbomoso, Oyo State?

1.5 Research Hypotheses

The following research hypotheses will be formulated for the study:

H01 There is no significant relationship between parental level of education and academic performance of business studies students in Ogbomoso, Oyo State.

H02 There is no significant relationship between socio-economic status and academic performance of business studies students in Ogbomoso, Oyo State.

H03 There is no significant relationship between parents’ occupation and academic performance of business studies students in Ogbomoso, Oyo State.

H04 There is no significant relationship between family size and academic performance of business studies students in Ogbomoso, Oyo State.

1.6 Significance of the Study

It is hoped that the findings of this study will help to understand the effects of parental status on academic performance of students in Ogbomoso.

Hopefully, 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.

Parents will also understand the need for them to improve their socioeconomic 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.

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 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.

1.7 Scope of the study

This study will be carry out in some selected secondary schools in Ogbomoso, Oyo State. Although, many factors affecting the academic performance of students in business studies, but this study only investigated the parental status as a major factors that affecting them while other factors will be intact in the study area.

1.8 Definition of Significant Terms

Socio- Economic Status:

This refers to individual’s/group’s demographic, social and economic position in relation to others. In this study, socio-economic status was measured in terms of parents’ level of income, level of education, and occupational status.

Occupation:

Is an activity that serves as one’s regular source of livelihood. In this study, occupation was measured in terms of parents’ work content, occupational prestige (formal or informal occupation), occupational class and occupation as an indicator of education/skills and income.

Level of education:

This means the stage one reached educationally from primary level, secondary level, tertiary level/ college or university stage.

Education:

Is the act or process of imparting or acquiring particular knowledge or skills, especially at a school, college, or university. In this study education was measured through the analysis of data such as scores/grades obtained from educational assessments to infer the abilities and proficiencies of students.

Family Size:

Family size in this context refers to the total number of children in the child’s family in addition to the child himself.

Overpopulation:

This occurs when the number of occupants in a family exceeds the ability of financial income of the family that can cater for.

Poor Results:

Refers to the examination outcomes in which the mean grade or individual subject performance curtails the learner from higher education or further training.

Academic Performance:

Is the outcome of the students after assessments. This study measured academic performance basing on the average grades scored by students in exams (whether A, B, C, D or grade E).

Chapter Five

Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations

This chapter provides a summary and conclusion of the findings on the study. Recommendations will be drawn as well as suggestions which will be highlighted for the purpose of further studies.

5.1 Summary

This study examined the assessment of the effect of parental status on academic performance of business studies students in Ogbomoso, Oyo State. Base on the findings of this study, it was observed that parent’s level of education, socio-economic status as well as family size plays significant roles in academic performance of business studies students, this means that parental background can determine the outcome of academic achievement of business studies students in the study area.

5.2 Conclusion

In view of the above, it is evident that education levels of parents have a positive influence on the level of participation in preschool education of their children. The higher the level of education the parent has the more he or she participates in the preschool education of his/her child. Thus, parental level of education has direct effect on parental level of participation in their preschool education. The study also concludes that wealth differentials of parents have association with their participation in preschool education of their children. Therefore, this study concludes that parental level of education; occupation and; income have influence on their participation of their children’s preschool education. In addition, it is clear that parents who create a home environment that encourage learning and normally they expect high expectation in education for future careers of their children. Those who participate in their children’s preschool education are motivated by the careers and academic performance of their children. It was concluded that family background factor influence academic achievement of students in schools. Prominent among the family background factors include parental educational level, parental income and parental motivation. Educational statuses of the parents and students’ 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 students 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. The acceptance of hypotheses two and four was based on the result of statistical data from the field. Personal observation equally showed that parental occupation cannot determine student academic achievement. This is because education which is the major determinant of occupation may not be the same in the parents and children. Again, a child from large family size, who has strong determination can compete favorably with another child from small family size. Moreover, most children from small families are over pampered and undetermined.

5.3 Recommendations

Based on the findings and conclusions of the study, the researcher made recommendations for further research:

1. Enhance the education levels of parents to have a positive influence on the level of participation in preschool education of their children. This can be advocated by improving adult education for parents for those who have low levels of education and/or keep adolescent in girls to boost education level for youth before getting married.
2. There is need to increase income levels for parents in areas by engaging them through meaningful economic activities.
3. Because there is an association between income and occupation of parents which also contribute to their children’s education, there is need to create for employment opportunities for parents to boost their income and this will boost their level of participation in preschool education of their children.
4. In order to encourage parents to participate in preschool education of their children, schools and teachers including the management should create conducive school environment that parental participation in their children’s preschool education.
5. 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 students are abandoning school for business.
6. 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.

5.4 Suggestion for Further Study

1. This study carried out in junior secondary school only, so it can be carry out in large extensively in senior secondary schools.
2. Since this study investigated in Ogbomoso metropolis thus, survey need to be carried out in the entire nation to find out the influence of parents’ socio-economic status on their participation in children’s pre-school education
3. For furthers studies, research should be carried out to involve other variables that are not mention in this study.

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