ABSTRACT
This study sought to examine parental
involvement, successes and challenges in the promotion of family life
education.
A descriptive survey design was chosen
to carry out the study. An instrument designed by the investigator was used to
collect data for the study. One hundred and fifty subjects responded to the
questionnaires given to them.
Data analysis involved the use of
frequency counts, percentages and t-test statistical techniques. The results
showed that parents’ involvement in family life education is a contributor to
the promotion of the success of family life education, parents occupational
status is a contributor to parents involvement in family life education,
majority of the respondents are of the view that students may be successful
academically despite adverse family conditions, parents either single parents
or parents of intact homes know the importance of family life education and
thus press for their children to achieve against all odds, but it was
discovered from the research that parents from intact homes showed a greater
interest in the up-bringing of their children than their counterparts from
non-intact homes.
It was recommended that education with a
clear understanding of the lives of their school families ought to encourage
the emergence of a definition of parenting involvement which would recognize a
broad array of parental behaviors intended to support academic success, there
is the need to introduce and broaden traditional population education to
includes topics such as reproductive health, the status of women
intergenerational relationship, and problem solving skills in order to improve
family and social welfare, efforts should be made by education stakeholders to
ensure that most schools provide some form of sexuality education for
adolescent and efforts should be made by non-governmental organization (NGO’s)
to facilitate access to wide range of parenting information, services and
support throughout the country.
TABLE OF CONTENT
TITLE PAGE
Certification
ii
Dedication
iii
Acknowledgment
iv
Abstract
v
Table
of content vi
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study 1
91.2 Statement of the problem 10
1.3 Objectives of the study 10
1.4 Research questions 11
1.5 Hypotheses 12
1.6 Significance of the Study 12
1.7 Scope of the study 14
1.8 Limitations of the study 14
1.9 Definitions of terms 15
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.0
Introduction 17
2.1 Perspectives
or theoretical frame work 17
2.1.1 The concept of parental involvement in
education 18
2.1.2 A Broader Conception of Children’s
Background 23
2.1.3 An
Overviews of Family Life Education 26
2.2
Empirical
Review of Literature 30
2.2.1 Parental
Influence and Family Life Education 30
2.2.2 Child
Bearing and Education 39
2.2.3 Family
Size and Children’s Academic Performance 45
2.2.4 Family
size, rural poverty and access to Basic Education 51
2.2.5 Challenges
in Family Life Education 57
2.2.6 The internet and the worldwide web 59
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.0 Introduction 62
3.1 Research
Design 62
3.2 Population 62
3.3 Sample
and Sampling 63
3.4 Instrumentation 64
3.4.1
Validation of the Questionnaire 64
3.5 Data
Collection 65
3.6 Data
Analysis 65
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS AND HYPOTHESIS TESTING
4.0 Introduction 66
4.1 Presentation
of Data 66
4.2 Test
of the Hypotheses 71
4.3 Summary
of findings 75
CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION
OF FINDINGS, CONCLUTION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.0 Introduction 78
5.1 Discussion
of the Findings 78
5.2 Recommendation 82
5.3 Conclusion 84
5.4 Suggestions
for further Research 85
REFERENCES 87
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the
study
Preparing
individuals and families for the roles and responsibilities of family living is
nothing new. Because knowledge about human development, interpersonal relationships,
and family living is not innate, societies have needed to develop ways through
which they may transmit the wisdom and experience of family living from one
generation to succeeding ones. Some societies transmit his knowledge through
formal means such as puberty initiation rites. For the most part however,
individuals learn about family living in the family setting itself as they
observe and participate in family activities and interactions in their own and
other families
As societies
change and become more complex, this pattern of informal learning about living
in families becomes inadequate.
The development
of new knowledge, advances in technology, and changing social and economic
condition create situation where the teaching of previous generation are no
longer appropriate or sufficient. In this circumstance, societies must find or
create new ways to prepare individuals for their family roles and
responsibilities. One of these new ways is Family Life Education
Clark (2003)
opines that when parents and family get personally involved in education, their
children do better in school and grow up to be more successful in life.
According to Clark, parent’s involvement includes a lot of different types of
activities. Some parents have time to get involved in many ways; others may
only have time for one or two activities.
Aluede (2000)
contends that the earlier in a child educational process, parent involvement in
family life education begins, the more powerful the effects. The most effective
forms of parent involvement are those which engage parent in working directly
with their children on learning at home. Parent may get involved in family life
education by ensuring better school attendance by their children, increased
motivation, and better self-esteem.
Although most
parent do not to know how to help their children with their education with
their guidance and support they may
become increasingly involved in home learning activities and find themselves
with opportunities to teach, to be models for and to guide their children.
Parent participation in education was twice as predictive of academic success
as family socio-economic status, Uwakwe (2000). When schools encourage children
to the practice reading at home with parents the children make significant
gains in reading achievement compared to those who only practice at school. The
more intensely parent are involved, the more beneficial the achievement
effects. Parent who read to their children, have books available, take trips,
guide TV watching, and provide stimulating experiences contribute to student
achievement. The more parents participate in family life education, in a
sustained way, at every level-in advocacy, decision making and oversight roles
and as home teachers- the better for children’s success.
The society
depends primarily upon the family institution for the production of children
who constitute young members of the society. Also, the family is seen as the
primary agent of socialization where the norms and values of a society are internalized
by the new members of the society that is children, teaching and behavioral
pattern and ways of life. In addition, the family performs the functions of
provision of basic necessity of life like food, shelter, clothing, education
etc.
Arqqawal (1981)
asserted that: “It is the home not the school that
determines the quality of the direction of any child’s life, and that teacher’s
works is fulfilled or destroyed by the operation, for good or ill this major
factor in the education of any child.” (page 19)
Writers like
Adeyemo (1998) and Akinboye (2000) have observed that children from unstable
homes have less adaptability to school situation, less initiative and possess a
less measure of emotional self-control. The anxiety level of home and the
pattern of parental communication with children may affect learning. For
instance, a child that is frequently upset over parent quarrels are at risks
for lower levels of education achievement (Krohn and Bogan, 2001).
Infants whose
parents lack warmth and stability and fail to provide educational stimulation
(e.g teaching and child new words) are at risk of learning and emotional
problems (Werner and Smith, 1992: 24). Infants who suffer from neglect may also
be at risk of health and developmental problems (Kenpe and Goldbloom,
1997:312).
In a study of
young people from low-income black homes with varying family structures,
Clark (1993)
finds that parents of high academic achievers set firm but not harsh rules,
seek information about their children’s academic progress, enhance literacy
skills through activities such as reading and word games, and model an
optimistic assertive approach to life. In Clark’s study, the two-parent and
single-parent families that had these attributes produced higher achieving
students, while the two-parent and single-parent families that lacked these
characteristics produced less successful students. Similarly, Goldenberg (1999)
describes how assertive parent involvement may significantly influence student
achievement, over the course of Goldenberg’s case study, the children who
improved their reading skill received encouragement and /or home tutoring from
their parents.
Preparing
individuals and families for the roles and responsibilities of family living is
nothing new, because relationships, and family living is not innate, societies
have needed to develop ways through which they may transit the wisdom and the
experience of family living from one operation to succeeding ones. Some
societies transmit this knowledge through formal means such as puberty or
initiation rites. For most part, however individuals learn about family living
in the family setting itself as they observe and participate in family
activities and interaction in their own and other families (Aluede, 2002). As
societies change and become more complex this pattern of informal learning in
families becomes inadequate. The development of new knowledge, advances in
technology and changing social and economic conditions create situation where
the teaching of previous generations are no longer appropriate or sufficient,
in these circumstances, societies must find or create new ways to prepare
individuals for their family roles and responsibilities. One of these new ways
is family life education (Alueze and Ikechukwu, 2002).
The desire that
Nigeria should be a free, just and democratic society, a land full of
opportunities for all its citizens, able to generate a great and dynamic
economy, and growing into a united and self reliant nation, cannot be
over-emphasized; to achieve these goals, education in Nigeria is an instrument
par excellence for effective national development Federal Ministry of Education
(2004). With changes in the society, every child desires to become a
millionaire within a day. It now seems to be difficult for majority of the
children to really concentrate on their studies in this country. Good community
committee (1995) observed that the seed of academic under-achievement among
children have been imbibed from childhood. Many children fail to find
self-respect or self-discipline and capacity to cope with problems in ways that
are constructive or have any appreciation on the importance of skills needed
for learning. In other words, it seems to be true that the causes of
academic-achievement among the youths are multiple, complex and interrelated.
Good community committee (1995) and Schewertz (1995) identified
single-parenthood, poverty, youth violent (crime), drug problem, school
instability and rebellion as causes of children under-achievement in schools.
Sewel (2000) include among many other reasons for students drop out as no
liking school, being suspended or being expelled. Other reasons include
economic reasons socio-economic status of the family. Influence from friends
who are also school drop-outs, personal reasons such as pregnancy for girls. In
addition, school drop-outs had lower grades in school, more disciplinary
problems, and lower rate of home work completion externalized sense control.
Often times, when children fail their promotion examinations, they would rather
prefer going to farm and obtain or acquire plots of land to plant cocoa and
become cocoa farmers. During cocoa season in such parts of South-West Nigeria,
children and parents’ common slang is ‘Oga teacher, how much is your salary?
Two kilos (Kilogrammes) of cocoa will pay your salary. This local syndrome might be responsible for
students drop-out in many rural areas. The rate of drop out appears to be worst
among boys with the emergence of commercial motor cycling known as Okada. Also,
some boys become bus conductors or illegal timber contractor know as
‘Payabayaba’. According to Ayodele (2007), there was a case of a male student
who was arrested for social ills (stealing) and during interrogation; he said
that he dropped out from school because his school fees was not paid and his
mother gave birth to nine children for different nine fathers. Ayodele says further that in the study of
some female students, it revealed that when they fail in school or their fees
were not paid, they seem to experience fear, anxiety, inferiority complex and
guilt among their mates and this seems to give them some psychological problem.
This leads female children to get involve in pre-marital sex and hurriedly get
married.
Owuamanam
(2002) contends that some people go into marriage when there is no money to pay
school fees or take care of their children’s needs. Another problem observed to
be rampant among female children is the issue of regular meeting. As soon as
some female children see their drop-out friends with expensive wears and their
babies, the next thing they do is to copy their colleagues so that they too can
dress like friends and look nice among their peer groups, this usually results
to termination of their academic career.
It
seems that if parents were not educationally oriented, their interest towards
the education of their children might be negatively affected. Adaba (2001)
noted that parents do not encourage the education of their female children
because of erroneous belief that investing money on the education of female
children may end up to be waste when they get married because they lose
family’s name and the husband’s family would reap the fruits of their labour.
Adaba also said that some parents were unable to pay school fees and provide
necessary materials needed by their wards and that this contribute to
children’s under-achievement in schools. Alonge (2003) opined that some parents
are harsh and wicked to their children if they do not perform well or fail
their examinations.
In
another development, if children do not have a stable family life and have bad
school experiences, they may end up as school drop-outs.
The true
influence of children’s background on achievement can be estimated better if
one takes into account those family characteristics- parental values and press
for the child to achieve and the child’s own efforts and perceived
efficacy-that appear to operate independently of convectional aspects of class
(for the few countries in which these factors have been studied) and better
indicators of the material and social aspects of class.
The
national desire that Nigeria should be a free, just and democratic society, a
land full of opportunities for all its citizens able to generate a great and
dynamic economy and growing into a united and self reliant nation, is an
important pointer to the role education has to play in the polity. To achieve
these goals, education in Nigeria is an instrument per excellence for effective
national development, Federal Ministry of Education (2004). With changes in the
society, every child desires to become a millionaire within a day. It now seems
to be difficult for majority of the children to really concentrate on their
studies in this country. Good community Committee (1995) observed that the seed
of academic under-achievement among children have been imbibed from childhood.
Many children fail to find self respect or self-discipline and capacity to cope
with problems
This background
emphasizes the need to bring into focus the present study which sought to
explain parental involvement, successes and challenges in the promotion of
family life education.
1.2 Statement of the
problem
This study is
designed to examine parental involvement, successes and challenges in the
promotion of family life education.
1.3 Objectives of the study
The main
objective of the study is to examine the various activities engaged in by parents that affect the children. Other
specific objectives include:
· To
examine the activities of parents in the promotion of family life education
· To
determine the level of family success in the promotion of the family life
education
· To
assess the challenges affecting the family life education.
· To
find out the extent to which the educational level of parents influence their
involvement in Family Life Education.
· To
determine the extent to which the size of family affects the success of family
life education.
· To
examine whether the occupational status of parents can affect their involvement
in family life education
· To
find out whether or not the incidents of
separation and divorce in families have any negative or positive effect
on the success of family life education.
1.4 Research questions
The following
questions are posited to guide the study.
1.
To what extent would parents’
involvement in family education promote the success of family life education?
2.
To what extent would parents’
occupational status promote their involvement in family life education?
3.
To what extent would parents educational
level affect their involvement in family
life education
4.
To what extent would the size of a
family (small or large size) affect involvement in family life education?
5.
To what extent would the family status
(intact or non-intact) of a home affect family life education?
6.
To what extent would the five
independent variables (Parental involvement in education, parents’ occupational
status, parents’ educational level, size of a family and family status) when
taken together, promote the success of Family
life Education?
1.5 Hypotheses
The following
hypotheses will be tested at the 0.05 level of significance:-
i.
There is no significant difference in
the opinion of parents of children adolescent from single parenting homes and
those form intact homes with respect to promotion of family life education.
ii.
There is no significant difference in
the opinion of male and female parents from intact homes with respect to
promotion of family life education.
iii.
There is no significant difference in
the opinion of Christian and Muslim parents respect to success of family life
education.
iv.
There is no significant difference in
the opinion of male and female adolescents with respect to the challenges of
family life education.
1.6 Significance of the
Study
The outcome of
this study would provide basis for effective promotion of Family Life Education.
The study would
assist to enlighten parents on the need to know and understand the effects of
home background on the academic performance of children. Also, it would
enlighten the adolescent as to the variables that would contribute to their
academic performance in schools.
It will also
bring about awareness for decision making bodies and even teachers to look into
the problems facing teaching and learning in secondary schools in terms of the
identified variables.
It would bring
about for schools the need to provide a conducive environment for teachers and
parents interaction through the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) meetings
It will bring
about awareness for parents after Parents Teachers Association (PTA) meetings
the need for the parents to provide necessary facilities needed by their wards
for use in schools.
This study will
create the opportunity and forum to discuss how home climate set-ups could
enhance or hinder parental involvement in family life education.
Through this
study, practicable solutions would be proffered to correct the unfavorable home
climate in order to help the youth to live in a good and conducive home
environment that will guarantee high quality education, performance and
attainment.
This study would
serve as reference work and launching pad for further researchers on the extent
to which the identified variables (parental involvement success and challenges)
promote family life education. The result of the study is expected to provide
the empirical basis for advising governments, policy makers, administrators,
teacher and other stakeholders in the education system on how to promote family
life education.
The study will
provide basis for developing a more effective pedagogic theory for promoting
family life education.
1.7 Scope of the study
This study
examined ‘Parental involvement successes and challenges in tehe promotion of
family life education. The research was carried out in selected public and
private institutions in Ijebu-Ode Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria
1.8 Limitations of the
study
1
The small size of the sample to be used
for the study is a major limitation of the study. A larger sample size would
afford better insight into variables relating to the promotion of family life
education.
2
The study is an ex-post facto design in
which parental involvement, successes and challenges in the promotion of family
life education were studied as they occur with no attempt made to manipulate
specific variables for investigation.
1.9 Definitions
of terms
The following terms
were operationally defined to reflect the meaning as used in this study.
1.
Academic
Performance: This is the extent to which a student
is able to exhibit what he has leant. The tools used in measuring academic
performance include examination, test etc. High child’s academic performance
entails individual enriched education, skills and knowledge in relation to
specific works, relevant to the individual and society.
2.
Parent:
is defined as a father or mother who is involved in the up-bringing of a child
or children and for the purpose of this study, parent is taken to be a father
or mother of a student who he or she stays with and is directly involved in the
education of that child.
3.
Home
Background: Home is a place where one lives. As
regards this study, home environment is where the parents and the children live
which may directly or indirectly affect the student’s educational performance.
4.
Environment:
Consists of all situations or events people or things in one’s surroundings
5.
Socio
Economic Status/Background: This is the term used to summarize
the varieties of factors which include parents’ level of education, occupation
income of the parent and the social positions of parents in a community.
6.
Family
Life Education: It encompasses informal and formal
training and education parents give to their children at home.
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