PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT AND TEACHER’S ATTITUDE AS PREDICTOR OF STUDENTS ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

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PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT AND TEACHER’S ATTITUDE AS PREDICTOR OF STUDENTS ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

CHAPTER ONE

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Teaching is both an art and a science. According to Anyanwu (2000), it is an instrumental, practical art rather than a fine-art. That is teaching “requires an improvisation, spontaneity, the handling of a vast array of considerations of form, style, pace, rhythm and appropriateness in ways, so complex that even computers must lose the way” (Anyanwu, 2000).

Tumble (2003) states that teaching process is too complex, with a nearly infinite variety of circumstances, subjects, student groups, and age groups to be reduced to simple, how-to-do-it recipes.

Gage (2004) opines that teaching can and should have a scientific basis. Science deals with relationships between both input (independent) variables and output (dependent) variables. According to Ernest (1990), a sizeable amount of good research has been carried out that relates teaching and administrative practices to students’ achievement as well as motivation, attitudes and self-esteem.

Ideally, with emphasis on ideal, an effective, successful teacher would create a good academic atmosphere and good school attitudes, maintain high academic engagement and successfully manage the classroom to prevent inattentive, off-task and disruptive behaviour. Realistically, however, misbehaviour will occur and the teacher must plan in advance for handling it (Berliner 2001). Children must be oriented to learn new material such as orientation by the teacher, often includes a review of home work, a review of previous materials and skills, an explanation of the purposes and objectives of the new material, and a statement of the relationship of the current lesson to previous material. Asubel (2005) says that such orientation or comments serve as advance organizers that help the children, easier to relate to what children already know and therefore more learnable.

There are many teacher characteristics and teaching patterns that correlate with higher children achievement and or improved school attitudes, that is, with effective teaching. Most relate to improvement of classroom climate, management and feedback and reinforcement practices, involvement in self improvement and improvement of other teaching practices that increase pupils’ engagement and content courage and improve organisation, structuring and clarity, expectations or children interest and motivation (Ayo, 2000).

The personality of the teacher matters a lot in the classroom. According to Musson (2004), personality of the teacher includes his emotion, motivation, values, goals and general ways of perceiving his environment, have become molded up and processed through training that he can be relied upon as a teacher. This also includes method of conducting oneself that is, what one should do and what one should not do as a member of teaching professions.

According to Akande (1999), other qualities of the teacher that can affect his performance at work and pupils’ academic achievement includes: Scholarship, cheerfulness, firmness, tolerance, democratic attitude, impartiality, loyalty, having the knowledge of the child’s psychology, honest, self discipline, sociability, creativity, resourcefulness, neatness, good sense of humor, simplicity, adaptability etc. Beside all these, the teachers should have a command of theoretical knowledge about learning and human behaviour. He should possess the technical skills of teaching that facilitate students’ learning achievement (Adeleke, 2002).

Furthermore, a teacher ought to display such attitudes that promote learning and good human relationship, and should have perfect mastery of facts of his subject matter as this will enhance his/her teaching and pupils’ academic achievement.

Education is essential for the development of society. The more educated the people of a society are, the more civilized and well-disciplined the society might be. Mainly, family has responsibility to socialize children for making them productive members of society. The more the parents involve in the process of imparting education to their children, the more the children might excel in their academic career and to become the productive and responsible members of society. 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 parental involvement has vital role to play in academic achievement of their kids. The focus of this study is to examine a relationship (if any) between the extent of parental involvement in academic activities of their children and the level of their children’s academic achievement. The transition from middle school to secondary school may be an overwhelming and stressful experience for young adolescents. Developmentally, students are entering a period in their lives when their physical, cognitive, psychological, and social characteristics are beginning to evolve. Secondary school students experience both a contextual change and a personal change during this transition. It may often a confusing time for students, their families, and the other adults in their lives who seek to support their healthy development and learning. The secondary school learning environment may be more complex than elementary school and academic achievement expectations increase. children are more likely to have higher academic achievement levels and improved behavior when families are involved in their education (Bryan, 2005). Learning begins at home through interaction with one’s family.

Parental involvement in a child’s education along with environmental and economic factors may affect child development in areas such as cognition, language, and social skills. Numerous studies in this area have demonstrated the importance of family interaction and involvement in the years prior to entering school (Bergsten, 1998; Hill, 2001; Wynn, 2002). Research findings have also shown that a continued effort of parental involvement throughout the child’s education can improve academic achievement (Driessen, Smit & Sleegers, 2005; Fan, 2001; Hong & Ho, 2005). Academic failure has been linked with risk behaviors and negative outcomes such as; substance abuse, delinquency, and emotional and behavioral problems (Annunziata, Houge, Faw, & Liddle, 2006). There is little research available on the relationship between parental involvement and academic achievement of secondary school students. A majority of the research in this area has been conducted solely with elementary school students (Baily, Silvern, Brabham, & Ross, 2004; Marjoribanks, 2005). This study may provides an in-depth look at one aspect of parental involvement, involvement in academic activities of their children, and academic achievement of secondary school students. Results of the Boards of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education in Nigeria revealed that almost half of the students failed in secondary level examinations (Punjab Statistics Bureau, 2008). Besides, of the passing students a significant majority secured less than 50 per cent marks. Parental involvement in school has been linked with academic achievement. Although little research has been done in the area of parental involvement and secondary school students, the literature review examines the many factors that may contribute to the level of parental involvement and academic achievement in secondary school. This Master’s research project sought to identify the different levels of parental involvement in academic activities and how parental involvement affects academic achievement of secondary school students.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

i. To see the extent of parental involvement and teachers’ attitude in academic activities of their children studying in secondary level classes;

ii. To see the extent of academic achievement of children studying in secondary level classes;

iii. To see the relationship, if any between the parental involvement, and attitude of teachers in the academic activities of their children and academic achievement of their children; and,

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Parental involvement may be different from culture to culture and society to society. Parental involvement may have different types, which might have differential influence on academic performance of their children. Parental expectations have a greater impact on student’s educational outcomes. Parental involvement may include activities like helping children in reading, encouraging them to do their homework independently, monitoring their activities inside the house and outside the four walls of their house, and providing coaching services for improving their learning in different subjects. The role of parental involvement in children’s education has become a central issue in educational policy and research. Research findings support the existence of a positive relationship between parental involvement and educational success, especially in the secondary school years. However, current knowledge regarding the nature and magnitude of the effects of parental involvement in secondary education is inconsistent and limited in scope (Singh, Bickley, et al., 1995). Most of the existing research has investigated parental involvement in the primary and middle grades. Less is known about successful parental involvement in secondary school. The current project seeks to expand knowledge of the different parental practices in secondary education, as well as their effects on the academic success of secondary school students. Parents play a crucial role in both the home and school environments. In general, parental involvement is associated with children’s higher achievements in language and mathematics, enrolment in more challenging programs, greater academic persistence, better behavior, better social skills and adaptation to school, better attendance and lower drop-out rates (Henderson & Mapp, 200

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY:

The purpose of the study is assess the influence of parental involvement on the academic performance of students. The purpose is to come up with possible ways to enhance parental involvement in the academic performance of students.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Are Nigeria parents more involved in the academic performance of students
Are Nigeria parents less involved in the academic performance of students
Does parental involvement have a strong impact on students’ academic performance
Does parental involvement have a weak impact on students’ academic performance
There is a strong relationship between parental involvement and students’ academic performance
There is a weak relationship between parental involvement and students’ academic performance.

HYPOTHESIS

H01: Parental involvement, and teachers’ attitude have a significant impact on the academic performance of students

H1: Parental involvement, and teachers attitude does not have a significant impact on the academic performance of students

H02: There is a strong relationship between parental involvement, attitude of teachers and students’ academic performance

H2: There is a weak relationship between parental involvement, attitude of teachers and students’ academic performance

DEFINITION OF TERMS