A child’s community is made up of the immediate members, relatives, friends and neighbors. The role of parents in the education of their children is very crucial. Obonyo (2018), defined Parents’ involvement as a combination of commitment and regular participation of parents in school and learning activities. In West Indies Pakistan, Perriel (2015), indicated that the presence of parents in schools contributed to pupils’ academic achievement. Mtaragwi (2012) in a study in Africa stated that many parents spend more time at work or away from their children leaving them with very little time to acquaint themselves with their children’s education progress.
Homework is the task assigned by a teacher for the pupils to perform at non-school hours which in most cases is done at home. Portier, Stagg, Tavares and Rambaran (2013), from Canada stated that homework is an important way for the school to communicate with the parents. The learning activities given as homework provide the parent with the content and skills their children learn in school. It is therefore the role of the parent to monitor and assist their children with the homework. In America, Patall, Cooper and Robinson (2008), indicated that involvement of parents in pupil’s homework positively impact on the completion and reduction of problems that pupils may have with assignments.
In South Africa, Abrahams (2013), indicated that parental non - involvement in homework is not a deliberate act but occurs due to challenges like uneducated parents, poverty, unemployment, and drug abuse. In Kenya, Chemagosi (2012), found out that parents who supervised homework realized better performance from their children as opposed to those who do not. In Kisumu County, Odawo (2013), strongly agrees with the fact that most of the parents who were keen on their children’s assignment were those having a high educational background. This is because they could comprehend what the children were learning in school. From the above studies it can be said that parent’s involvement in supervising pupils’ homework is core in their academic performance and lack of it may be detrimental.
School meetings are forums organized by the school administration to discuss pupils’ progress at school and find solutions to academic or behavioral problems. In America, Donoghue (2014), stated that parents should be engaged in their children academic activities regardless of their busy schedules. They need to set aside time to attend school meetings to receive information on how their children were performing. In China, Wong (2018), stated that communication with teachers and attending school events increased parent’s understanding of their children’s academic performance. This developed parent-child communication on school issues associated with learning.
In Namibia, Erlendsdottir (2010), found out that interaction process through school meetings have greatly enabled parents to share ideas. When parents are given opportunity to express their ideas on issues concerning the education of their children, they tend to do it whole heartedly. In Kenya, Opala (2014), stated that parents’ attendance of PTA meetings provided opportunities for them to discuss their children’s learning activities with teachers. In Kisumu, Ang’ienda (2013), concurs by stating that parent’ participation brought constant communication between the parent and the school resulting in good performance.
Parents have a deep knowledge of their children than teachers, therefore, they need to constantly follow up their children’s academic performance. In America, Perriel (2015), argued that parents should not only be called during fundraisings, or when their children get in trouble, but they need to be actively involved in the education process of their children on a day to day basis. In Ethiopia, Sukys, Dumciene and Lapeniene (2015), argued that parents who are involved in the education of their children realized better performance.
A study in Tanzania, Kimaro and Mmachumu (2015) stated that parent-teacher face-to-face contact was the most natural and desirable system of communication that improved not only children’s school outcomes, but also discipline, attitude and attendance rates. This view is supported by Ondieki (2012), who found out that parents who followed up their children’s performance in school regularly, have their children achieve better academic results than those who were less frequent in the follow ups or with no follow ups at all. Therefore, it should be a top priority for parents to form a habit of visiting the school to make follow up of the learning progress of their children without which their children’s performance will take a downward trend.
For the realization of successful learning, parents need to support their children’s education in all areas and not leave them to the teachers to handle everything. In Canada, Mare (2014) identified that parents who are involved in their children’s education expose them to interesting activities and materials, like reading books or having academic tours. This shows that they place a high value in the education of their children and expect their children to do likewise. The Kenyan constitution Basic education Act No. 14 of 2013 sec 39 addresses the responsibility of the government to provide all the necessary learning resources for all schools. Nevertheless, parents have a role to ensure that their children have proper uniform when going to school. Kinya (2016) found out that pupils without official or appropriate uniform were sent home hence missing lessons that resulted to poor performance. Pupils need writing materials and stationaries for their learning. Michubu (2013), argued that parents should be encouraged to purchase other supplementary learning materials for their children to use at home to do their homework and extra studies.
Nyakach Sub County was the target in this study. The academic performances of pupils in this Sub County when compared to other Sub Counties showed that the mean standard score at KCPE had been at the bottom in comparison to the neighboring Sub counties of Kisumu County.
The Kenya government passed a basic Education Act No. 14 of 2013 Sec 39, (d) and (e) that stipulated the role of the government as providing human resource including adequate teaching and non-teaching staff, learning and teaching equipment and appropriate financial resources. Despite all these efforts by the government to ensure that the primary school education is equipped with all the necessary learning materials, the performance in Nyakach Sub County is low in comparison to other sun counties within Kisumu county.
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Most education stakeholders put their focus on the school administration, teachers and the pupils to obtain good performance. According to Habibullah and Ashraf (2013), Schools are often blamed for pupil’s poor performance in academics despite the teachers’ efforts in educating them. The education stakeholders have continued to put pressure on the teachers to improve the academic performance of the pupils, while forgetting the role of the parents. It is for this reason that the researcher intended to determine whether parents’ involvement in the education of their children also contributed to the low performance.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of Parents’ involvement in their children’s performance at Kenya Certificate of Primary Education in public schools in Nyakach sub-county, Kisumu County, Kenya.
The following objectives were used to guide the study:
- To examine how parents’ involvement in supervision of their children’s homework influence their performance at Kenya certificate of primary education in public schools in Nyakach sub county, Kisumu county, Kenya.
- To establish how parents’ involvement in attending school meetings influence their children’s performance at Kenya certificate of primary education in public schools.
- To determine how parents’ initiative in academic follow up of their children influence their performance at Kenya certificate of primary education
- To examine how parents’ involvement in provision of supplementary learning materials influence their children’s performance at Kenya certificate of primary education.
The study was guided by the following research questions:
- How does parents’ involvement in supervising pupils’ homework influence their children’s performance at Kenya certificate of primary education in public schools in Nyakach Sub County, Kisumu County, Kenya?
- In which ways does parents’ involvement in attending school meetings influence their children’s performance at Kenya certificate of primary education in public schools?
- How does parents’ involvement in making own initiatives in academic follow up influence their performance at Kenya certificate of primary education?
- In which ways does parents’ involvement in provision of supplementary learning materials influence their children’s performance at Kenya certificate of primary education?
The study findings might be useful to a number of people including: the school management, that is, the head teachers, Board of Management (BOM) and the teachers, who may use the findings to come up with policies and strategies guiding parents on how to get involved in the education of their children in schools. From the study, parents might be able to understand the importance of getting involved in the learning process of their children. The Ministry of Education (MoE) and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) involved with education matters might also get to know the importance of parents’ involvement in the education of their children in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education. It may also trigger more future research in the area of study.
Limitation is an aspect of research that influence the results negatively but over which the researcher has no control (Mugenda and Mugenda, 2003). The responses that they gave could not be controlled by the researcher. The researcher therefore requested the respondents to be as honest as possible for the research findings to be valid. The researcher also assured the respondents that their identities and information given will be used in confidence for the study purposes only
The study was confined to Nyakach Sub county in Kisumu County. The study focused primarily on the influence of parents’ involvement in education on their children’s performance. This was done by assessing parents’ supervision of their children’s homework, their attendance of school meetings, their level of initiating academic follow up and purchasing supplementary learning materials. The study was delimited to the pupils, teachers and parents from public primary schools in Nyakach Sub-County as the main respondents. The findings are limited to public primary schools in Nyakach Sub county and therefore might not generally reflect the cases of other sub counties in Kisumu because of the difference in its geographic location, climatic condition and the economic status of the community.
The study was based on assumptions that;
- Parents’ involvement in the education of their children affects their academic performance.
- The respondents would voluntarily give reliable information on the subject.
Academic Follow up refers to the act of parents making their own initiatives to go to school to meet the teachers of their children, in order to discuss the academic progress of their children and support the teachers in teaching the child (children).
Academic Performance refers to the average scores that a pupil obtains in the examination at the end of a term or year. Homework refers to extra work given to the pupil by the teacher in school that is expected to be done at home after school hours. The work is based on a topic that was already covered in the class.
Parent refers to the biological father or mother of a child. This also refers to the guardian responsible for the child if the biological parents are not available. Parent’s involvement refers to an active role played by the parents in the learning process of their children both at school and at home to improve the academic performance of the pupil. Supplementary learning Materials refers to are learning materials that are used by the pupil at his /her private time. Such as books, stationaries and uniform.
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