ABSTRACT: The main purpose of this study was to investigate the Influence of Parental Support and Pupil’s Academic Performance In Social Studies. To achieve the purpose of the study, three research questions were posed, subsequent three null hypotheses were formulated from the research questions to direct the study, they are as follows: there is no significant influence of parental reward and pupils’ academic performance in Social Studies, there is no significant influence of home-based tutoring and pupils’ academic performance in Social Studies, there is no significant relationship between parental aspirations and expectations for their children and their Academic Performance in Social Studies. Literature was reviewed on the hypotheses directing the study- survey research design was adopted for the study. The essence of this design was to allow researchers take information and generalization of the population by selection and studying the sample chosen for the study. A total sample of two hundred (200) respondents were? Randomly selected for the study. The selection was done through the sample random sample random sampling techniques this was to give every member of the population area equal and independent opportunity of being selected for the study.
As a rentable tool for data collection four point questionnaires was the instrument used. It was constructed by the researcher under the supervisor’s guide that gave it face and content validity. The questionnaire was successfully administered by the researcher and collected upon completing to test the hypotheses and to ascertain whether to accept or reject them, the independent t-test analysis, and Pearson product moment correlation analysis were considered the most appropriate statistical technique employed to test the hypotheses, because of one nature of analysis involved in the hypotheses directing the study. All hypotheses were subjected to testing at 0.05 level of significance with critical values and degree of freedom. The result of the analysis indicates that parental reward, home-based tutoring, and parental aspiration and expectation significantly influence pupils’ academic performance in social studies. Based on the findings of the study, recommendations and suggestions for further studies were made.
Influence Of Parental Support And Pupil’s Academic Performance In Social Studies
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
In an age of momentous changes and stiffer competitions, the old views regarding parents’ role in the upbringing of children demand appropriate alterations as the circumstances, in which children grow up, have undergone drastic changes. With the embarrassing influences of the cine world, TV channels and the internet, the responsibilities of parents towards children with regard to transmission of culture, inculcation of values, shaping of proper attitudes and outlooks etc. need a serious consideration. It is widely recognised that if pupils are to maximise their potential from schooling they will need the full support of their parents. Therefore, attempts to enhance parental support in education occupy governments, administrators, educators and even parents’ concern.
Over the past several decades, scholars are concerned with the poor academic performance of pupils. The research studies revealed that various factors are responsible for scholastic failure of students, such as poor parental support system, poor family learning (home torturing) poor parental aspirations and expectation of their child’s academic progress, low socio-economic background, student’s cognitive abilities, school related factors, environment of the home, or the support given by the parents and other family members (Khan & Malik, 1999; Fan, 2001; Gonzalez- Pienda, Nunez, Gonzalez- Pumariega, Alvarez, Roces and Garcia, 2002). Generally, schools are considered as places which provide appropriate learning environment for a child, but importance of parents and community cannot be ignored. Parents, adult family members, and siblings contribute significantly to various components of personality of the child particularly and in improving his/her academic performance.
Parental support is used to observe its impact on the academic performance of students; it is closely associated with financial, emotional and educational support provided by parents and other family members at home. Academic performance is therefore not merely based on the educational processes within school, it depends on the circumstances that young live in, on the encouragement and support teenage receive at home, the atmosphere in the peer group, and lifestyles of adolescents in different places (Pong, et al. 2005). Academic support is defined as the provision of the facilities needed by the child and the resources needed for their socialization. Emotional support in the form of encouragement and assistance in homework of the child (Birch and Ladd, 1996).
The pivotal role of parents still continues as it has been recognized by the teachers and parents themselves that they are essential for complete development of the personality and career of their children. Gonzalez- Pienda, et al.,(2002) indicated that “without the children’s parental support, it is hard for teachers to devise academic experiences to help students learn meaningful content” (p.281). In home settings, the learning processes occur explicitly or consciously, often in an informal way. Parents teach and train children early in their lives, the fundamental skills, attitudes and values necessary for day-to-day living (UNESCO, 1992). The unwritten knowledge being conveyed by parents to their children is specific and to a certain degree, specialized, i.e. that which would enable the children to cope successfully with the requirements of the immediate confines of homes and the community. Social Studies is one of the core subjects in the curriculum of primary school in Nigeria.
Steel (2000) explained that Social Studied is intended to aid the child in understanding man as he relates to himself, groups or institutions and to the resolution between his wants and available resources. This is an important subject that has a link with the Social Sciences. Social Studies involve great interventions from the home (family) level to school. Apart from the linkage with other subjects, the study of Social Studies has its own real value by exposing the child to great events and people of the past and by improving the intellectual development of a child. This could be achieved when schools, families, and community groups work together to support learning and upbringing of such a child. When such a support is given by parent/caregivers at home, children tend to do better in school, and when parents are involved in school affairs, children move further and further towards their goal. (Fan 2001).
Parents are the primary educators of children. Because modern education being child centered, emphasizes on the all round development of the child, it is made feasible in a suitable environment at home, having right parent child relationship. Parents’ behaviour towards the children is important to the educational foundation on which children formal school learning is built. Parent’s desire is that their children should achieve in the educational level. Gonzalez-Pienda et al. (2002) stated that parental support criteria are developed according to six dimensions that are strongly associated to students’ behavior at school and the attitude towards learning. The six dimensions are; Parents’ expectations about their children’s achievement; Parents’ expectations about their children’s capacity to achieve important goals; Parents’ behaviors that reveal interest in their children’s school work; Parents’ degree of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with their children’s level of school achievement; Parents’ level and type of help provided when their children do homework; Parents’ reinforcement of behaviors of their children’s achievements.
A parent is the child’s first and most important teacher in life and he or she is expected to play an active role in the child’s preschool journey because it is believed a parent and child should grow together and have a rewarding preschool experience. This follows subsequently by school life where academic performance is expected to be high. The parent is supposed to be supportive to the child in all aspects which include socially, physically, mentally and also emotionally (Epstein, 2001).
Studies have indicated that children whose parents and/or other significant adults share in their formal education tend to do better in school. Some benefits that have been identified that measure parental support in education include; higher grades and test scores, long term academic achievement, positive attitudes and behaviors and more successful progress (Epstein, 2001). Hence, this study is drawn to examine the influence of Parental support and Pupils academic Performance in Social Studies in Nsit Ubuim Local Government Area.
Influence Of Parental Support And Pupil’s Academic Performance In Social Studies
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Parents of primary schools are often faced with unique challenges that hinder them from meeting the children’s learning needs. They include; insufficient time, career or job type, level of education, order of priority, set home environment, opinion to voluntary work at school, time taken to respond to school activities for example buying instruction materials, attending parents meetings, conferences, sports ,academic clinic day, disciplinary cases and also discussing the academic progress of the child. If the above needs are not attended to, there is a likelihood of child not performing well because he or she is not adequately supported. Poor parental support may lead to poor performance of the child academically (K.N.E.C Report, 2006). Parents from private primary schools have been found to be more involved than parents from public primary schools in areas such as rewarding their children on their academic achievement, giving them private tutoring (family learning) and having high aspirations and expectations for their children.
Again, parents from public schools tend to be reluctant and therefore, the primary school children are not exposed to varied earning opportunities. This affects their acquisition of learning skills such as numeracy and literacy skills as compared to children from private preschools. Underachievement at school or failure to reach a satisfactory level of literacy and numeracy is a national problem and it’s caused by various factors such as poor parental support as reported by research done by Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC, 2009) on learners’ achievement. A difference in performance has also been noted among the public and private preschools in Nsit Ubium Local Government Area whereby public schools record lower mean grade compared to private schools. Academic performance in Nsit Ubium Local Government Area has remained very low for a very long time. Hence, there is need to examine the influence of Parental Support and Pupil’s academic performance in Social Studies.
