IMPACT OF PARENTS EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF THEIR CHILDREN

ABSTRACT

This project was designed to research into the influence of parental background on the academic performance of children in selected school impact of parents educational background on the academic performance of their children in selected schools in Kaduna south LGA, Kaduna state. To guide the study, five research purpose, five research questions and five research hypotheses were formulated. The design adopted for this study was Ex-post Facto design. The population of the study consists of all primary pupils from the fifty three primary schools in the three local government areas in Kaduna South L.G.A. The fifty three primary schools in the zone have a population of seven thousand, nine hundred and forty five primary pupils. Out of the fifty three schools, twelve schools were sampled using proportionate random sampling technique. In the twelve schools, all PRI 5 pupils numbering eight hundred and sixteen (816) were used as the subject of the study. The research instrument was questionnaire on parental background influence (FBI), designed by the researcher and validated by experts. The reliability of the instrument was established using Crunbach alpha method. The data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation while t-test statistics was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The instrument was pilot tested in Kaduna North Education Zone, using 30 pupils. The reliability coefficient was 0.69. The finding of the study revealed that: Pupils from educated parents achieve more than those from uneducated parents in academics; pupils from high-income status parents enjoy considerable advantage in academic performance than pupils of low income status parents because their parents were able to afford necessary materials and equipment needed for effective learning in the school; parental level of motivation also influenced pupils’ academic performance because motivation and reward served as a form of reinforcement for children’s learning at school. Based on these findings, the study recommended among others that parents should diversify their sources of income to be able to provide fund for their children’s schooling. Parents should equally realize the importance of using rewards and other measures to motivate their children.