ASSESSMENT OF PARENT’S SOCIO-ECONOMIC BACKGROUND AND ITS IMPACT ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS STUDENT
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The United Nations defines education as the process of imparting knowledge, training, and learning in order to improve knowledge while also developing skills, attitudes, and morals. If used correctly, it can improve a person’s ability to capitalize on future opportunities. In other words, education helps a person fully develop his or her skills, prepares him or her to be a responsible citizen, and provides stimulation and opportunities to enrich one’s cultural life. Education not only imparts knowledge and skills, but it also instills values, trains instincts, and promotes the formation of positive attitudes and habits.
As the primary socializers of their children, parents bear primary responsibility for their children’s education.
Informal education is frequently supplemented by formal education received at a formal education institution. As a result, the responsibility for sending children to school and ensuring academic progress falls on the shoulders of the parent. Given the importance of education in the development of a nation, many people are concerned about the quality of education provided to children. Consider the National Policy on Education (1998), which emphasizes the importance of quality education in building a strong and virile country. A variety of factors must be considered in order for this goal to become a reality, one of which is the child’s home environment and family history.
Many rural people and suburban residents are unable to pay their children’s school fees due to financial constraints. To fund their academic pursuits and provide for their families, children are forced to engage in hawking, subsistence farming, housekeeping, and other menial activities. Another factor influencing a student’s academic success is their health, which can be traced back to their parents’ socioeconomic backgrounds. Adewole (2005) observed that academic performance of children in rural communities with low nutritional status and frequent health problems is significantly hampered. Similarly, competent parenting combined with a stable economic foundation can lead to a student achieving high levels of academic achievement. A non-traditional learning environment
Barriers, obstacles, or distractions such as noise, gas/smoke pollution, and so on can pose health risks to students, impairing or weakening their attention or perceptual focus on learning and resulting in poor learning outcomes. Markets and garages near schools have long been a source of concern for students. Noise and pollution from these sources have long jeopardized student life and concentration.
Although education, income, and profession are commonly used to define socioeconomic status (SES), there are other ways to quantify SES. It is commonly understood to refer to a person’s or group’s social standing or class, rather than their economic status. Low socioeconomic status and its associated factors, such as
A lack of educational attainment, poverty, and illness have a ripple effect on our entire society. Children from low socioeconomic status (SES) families and communities develop academic abilities at a slower rate than children from higher socioeconomic status groups, according to research.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The effects of parents’ socioeconomic backgrounds on their children’s academic success have been a significant factor in the country’s educational system over the last decade, particularly in public schools. Various sociological schools of thought have asserted that when determining whether a child performs well or poorly in school, it is critical to distinguish between the influence of the parents’ socioeconomic background and the academic achievement and attainment of their children. According to Coleman (1975) and Medill (1963), parents’ financial situation, as well as their level of education, has a significant impact on their children’s academic success. This is due to the widely held belief that educated parents place a high value on their children’s education. The child’s upbringing, on the other hand, has an effect on his or her academic achievement. As Alken and Barbarin (2014) observed, the education system in low socioeconomic status neighborhoods is frequently under-resourced, negatively impacting students’ academic achievement. As a result, academic performance suffers in low socioeconomic status families because they are less likely to have the financial resources or time to provide their children with. Academic assistance is available. Low-income children are more likely than others to receive a poor foundation in early childhood care, such as at home or with their mothers, day care, preschool, nursery school, primary and secondary schools, and other institutions. The children were unable to obtain teaching materials at home or at school due to a lack of resources, and individual lessons could not be organized. As a result of a poor foundation, students lose interest in some subjects, and when they reach adolescence and sit for senior secondary school tests, they do not perform well. The reserve is applicable to children from middle and upper-class families. As a result, the students
will lack the abilities expected of them at their level, affecting the country’s individual and technical growth. As a result, the researcher was inspired to investigate the socioeconomic background of parents and its impact on their children’s academic achievement in secondary schools.
1.3 THE STUDY’S OBJECTIVES
The overarching goal of this study is to investigate the impact of parents’ socioeconomic backgrounds on the academic achievement of secondary school students in the Bwari Area Council. The following are the study’s explicit objectives:
i. Determine the impact of parents’ marital status on the academic achievement of Bwari area council senior secondary school students.
ii. Determine the impact of parental educational level on academic performance.
Senior secondary school students’ achievement in the Bwari area council.
iii. Determine the impact of parental income on the academic achievement of senior secondary school students in the Bwari area council.
iv. Determine the impact of parental occupation type on academic achievement of senior secondary school students in the Bwari area council.
1.4 QUESTIONS FOR RESEARCH
The following question guides the research:
i. Does the marital status of parents have a significant influence on the academic achievement of senior secondary school students in Bwari area council?
ii. Does parental education level have a significant impact on senior secondary school students’ academic achievement in Bwari area council?
Will parental income have a significant impact on senior secondary school students’ academic achievement in the Bwari area council?
iv. Is it true?
Does the occupation of parents influence the academic achievement of Bwari area council senior secondary school students?
1.5 THE STUDY’S IMPORTANCE
Academic achievement and educational attainment are important factors in shaping a student into a responsible and effective citizen. As a result, the researcher believes that the study’s findings will provide useful information that will help students in secondary school in Bwari Area Council improve their academic performance and achievements.
The findings of this study are expected to expose some factors that may be responsible for students’ poor performance in school, with a focus on parent socioeconomic status. As a result, the findings would be useful in counseling parents to pay more attention.
to their wards’ educational needs and provide them with the facilities and support they require for academic success.
The study will raise awareness about the need to improve education to meet global trends and will alert both parents and the government about the need to provide adequate psychological and material encouragement for students to achieve good educational achievement in senior secondary schools. The identified areas where government at various levels could intervene to bridge the educational attainment gap between children from low and high income earning backgrounds in society. Finally, the study will add to the body of existing literature on parent socioeconomic status and thus serve as a reference material for both scholars and students interested in conducting additional research in related fields.
1.6 SCOPE AND DELIMTATION
The scope of this study is limited to the socioeconomic background of parents and their impact on the academic achievement of secondary school students. The study will also look into whether factors like parent marital status, income level, parent occupation type, and level of education have any effect on student academic achievement. The study, however, is limited to the Bwari Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja.
1.7 THE STUDY’S LIMITATIONS
The researchers encountered minor constraints while conducting the study, as with any human endeavor. The significant constraint was the scarcity of literature on the subject because it is a new discourse, so the researcher incurred additional financial expenses and spent a significant amount of time searching for relevant materials, literature, or information.
The researcher resorted to a limited sample size covering only senior secondary schools in Bwari Area Council in FCT Abuja during the data collection process. As a result, the findings of this study cannot be generalized to other senior secondary schools in other Nigerian states. Furthermore, the researcher’s involvement in this study while also working on other academic projects will impede maximum dedication to the research. Nonetheless, despite the constraints encountered during the research, all factors were minimized in order to provide the best results and make the research a success.
1.8 TERMS AND CONDITIONS
To avoid misunderstandings, the following terms are used in this study and their definitions are provided in accordance with this study:
Socioeconomic Situation:
An individual’s socioeconomic status within a given society is determined by his or her level of education, income, occupational background, and other social class criteria.
Academic Achievement/Performance: This refers to how much an individual has achieved or will achieve after completing a course of instruction in a school setting.
A polygamous family is one in which a man is married to more than one wife at the same time.
A monogamous family is one in which a man is married to only one wife at a time.
Broken Home: This is a situation in which the parents of the home are separated or divorced, implying that the parents of a child do not live together (in most cases, the children lack care, security, and stability).
Training).
Unbroken Home: Because the father, mother, and children are not divorced, there is cooperation between them. The children in this practice receive care, security, training, and so on. As a result, the child is well cared for.
Leave a Comment