ABSTRACT
The study examined the
relationship between parental roles and early childhood education and its
development. A detailed literature was reviewed in relevant subheadings. The
descriptive research design was used in order to assess the opinions of the
respondents using the questionnaire and the sampling technique. A total of 300
(Three Hundred) respondents (made up of 150 males and 150 females) were
selected and used in this study as the sample of the study which represented
the entire population of the study. Four research questions were raised in the
study and were analyzed together with the bio-data of the respondents using the
simple percentage frequency counts, while four null hypotheses were formulated
and tested using both the Pearson's Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and
the independent t-test statistical tools
at 0.05 level of significance. At the end of the data analyses, the following
results emerged: there is a significant relationship between parental
role and children’s academic performance, there is a significant difference
between the academic performance of children reared by intact parents and those
reared by single parents, there is a significant gender difference in the
academic performance of children reared by intact parents hose reared by single
parents and finally, there is a
significant difference between the attitudes of children reared by intact parents
and those reared by single parent. With the above results, it is summarized
that there is a positive relationship between parental role and children's
academic achievement. Based on the conclusions of this study, the researcher
recommended certain number of measures to the parents, government, teachers and the society that
will be useful in promoting the early childhood education programme that will
breed a healthy future leader of the Nation.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Pages
Title page
Certification
Dedication
Acknowledgement
Abstract
Table of contents
CHAPTER ONE:
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
1.2 Statement of the Problem
1.3 Purpose of the Study
1.4 Research Questions
1.5 Research Hypothesis
1.6 Significance of the Study
1.7 Scope of the Study
1.8 Limitation of the Study
chapter two: Literature review
2.0
Introduction
2.1 Concept of Early
Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)
2.2 Early Childhood Care
Development
2.3 Concept, Nature and
Attitudes of Parents in Early Childhood Education
2.4 Concept, Nature and
Functions of School Environment
2.5 The Objectives of the National Policy on
Pre-Primary Education
2.6 Early Child Care, Characteristics and
Education
2.7 Parental Role and in Early Childhood
Development
2.9 Summary of the Review
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
3.0 Introduction
3.1
Research Design
3.2
Population
3.3
Sample and Sampling Technique
3.4
Instrumentation
3.5
Validity of Instrument
3.6
Reliability of Instrument
3.7
Administration of Instrument
3.8
Procedure for Data Analysis
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS
4.0 Introduction
4.1 Presentation of Demographic Data.
4.2 Analysis of Research Questions according to
respondents' responses to questionnaires.
4.2 Testing of Hypotheses
4.3 Summary of Findings.
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.0 Introduction
5.1 Summary of the Study
5.2 Conclusions
5.4 Recommendations
5.5 Suggestions for Further Research
References
Appendix
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background to the Study
The quality
of life for a child and the contributions the child makes to the society as an
adult can be traced back to the first few years of life. From birth until about
five years old, a child undergoes tremendous growth and change. If this period
of life includes support for growth in cognition, language, motor skills,
adaptive skills and social-emotional functioning, the child is more likely to
succeed in school and later contribute meaningfully to the society. A good
early childhood care and education provides the intervention programmes that
support children’s survival growth, development and learning including health,
nutrition and hygiene, cognitive, social, physical and emotional development
from birth to entry into primary school in formal, informal and non-formal
settings, United Nations Educational and Scientific Cultural Organization (UNESCO, 2007).
Anyakogu
(2010), states that the primary location for early childhood education and
development is the home. This is because, the home is the first contact the
child had in order to interact effectively with both parents and siblings. The
home is a place, where learning begins for the child. A place the child learns
how to respect parents and to
imitate
and recognize people around him. Traditionally, the responsibility for child
care in Nigeria as elsewhere in Africa rests on the extended family and the wider
community. These members of the society contribute to the upbringing of the
child, providing him or her with a wide range of stimulating interactions that
will affect the child’s development positively, especially in psycho-social
terms.
In recent
decades, rapid urbanization has increasingly eroded this traditional pattern of
the child care. Hodges (2009) observed that “’for the approximately one third
of families who now live in the cities, the mutual support that was a prominent
nature of rural life has given way to situation where each household is to a
large extent responsible on its own for the care of children”. Living in cities
implies that many mothers are engaged outside the home or otherwise for most
part of the day and this has implication for child upbringing in the family
(Adeleke, 2009).
This is because, many parents’ love and
burning desires for paid job and monetary reward, in order to make the family
more comfortable and to meet up with the payment of other home bills, have
taken over parents’ love and care for their children. This has caused many
parents to leave their children at the hand of immature house-helps and
nannies, hence poor growth and development of the child in the society and the
school.
Parental
roles in early childhood development are varied. The quality of care given to
young children affects their development. Parents and in particular mothers,
are responsible for feeding, hygiene in the house as well as the response to
illness in young children. For babies, mothers breast milk offer the best and
most complete food. Breast milk provides babies with antibodies, which help to
keep off the risk of illness (Leon, 2011). Parents especially mothers who are
engaged in routine jobs, do not have time to feed the baby with adequate breast
milk. Also, due to education and civilization, most mothers believe that breast
feeding the baby will affect their breasts and thereby making them to look
older than their ages, they fail to breast feed their babies within the
required period. This has caused most children to have poor growth and social
development, and by extension, poor academic achievement in school.
Monde (2012)
claims that the early introduction of other liquids and solids if prepared in
unhygienic conditions increases the likelihood of infection, often resulting in
potentially life threatening conditions like diarrhea. Exclusive breast feeding
in the first six months of life is enough to support the growth and development
of babies and this should be complemented with high quality foods until about
24 months of age to sustain the rate of growth. Adequate care and nutrition
lays a solid foundation for proper early childhood
development.
This is because proper nutrition aids brain growth necessary for intellectual,
cognitive as well as psycho-motor development in the child.
The home
serves as the take-off point of this development. The child who is usually
helpless depends on maternal stimulation for the development of proper physical
and physiological functioning. This includes toileting, feeding and bathing
(Ayo, 2010). Toileting and feeding training for the baby in the early life of
the child is very crucial and necessary for the child’s later years of life.
For example, within the ages of 2 to 3 years some children are able to feed
themselves rightly with the use of the spoon without assistance while some
cannot do that. Some children know when they are pressed to use the toilet before they wet up their clothes. This can
only be made possible if parents, especially mothers are available and have
time to take their responsibilities at this crucial time of the child’s
development and growth.
The mother is
the first important person in a baby’s world. How she behaves to the child is
crucial in establishing a feeling of comfort and security. According to Esu
(2010), “insufficiency of maternal care is detrimental to development during
the early years as the child grows. It is the responsibility of both parents to
lead children through the early years, providing them with adequate nutrition,
stimulation, good values, and good health habits. It is also a parental role to
teach children the language of their immediate environment. They should help
children to communicate with the family and with their peers (Amadi and Amadi,
2009). This is because, if children are taught how to communicate with family
members and peers at the early age or stage, it help them to acquire or learn
good behaviours and positive social adjustment in the society and at school
even when they grow up as adolescents and adults. For instance, they would
learn how to respect the older members of the society in terms of greeting,
making requests and so on. They also learn how to express themselves so as to
acquire knowledge further from others in the community.
Children
learn at different times. Often by the time a child is twelve months, he or she
can pronounce a few words, and by the time the child is five or six years,
he/she can communicate very well. It is the duty of parents and the home to
ensure language development, especially in the early years while the school
reinforces this later (Ayodeji, 2012). This is because, by the time parents
teach their children how to speak good languages that are acceptable in the
society and avoiding the bad languages that are frowned at by the society, they
become good members of the society that would grow and maintain a decent
society or family structure.
Language
acquisition is critical as it establishes personal and group
identity. It
is also a basis for social interactions and for the development of cognitive
processes. Since parents have a special interest in their children, it should
be maximized for their best interests especially in the home, in an atmosphere
of conduciveness. This is because a conducive environment stimulates cognitive,
affective and psychomotor development of the child (Ofo, 2009).
A
necessity for early childhood care and development; ignorance of the law, they
say is not an admissible excuse. Thus, ignorance on the part of parents in the
upbringing of their children is unacceptable, as it may affect children’s
growth and development negatively. This corroborates the observation of Ogbonna
(2011) which says that “where there is ignorance of the needs of the child at
the different stages of development, there is bound to occur practices which
are detrimental to the child’s personality development”. Therefore, this calls
for early childhood care in order to develop the total child.
Times are
changing and should be dynamic enough to move according to
the times. There was a time when everyone in the whole community took care of
the child who does not even belong to them. That time is gone. A child is now
for most part of early childhood, left in the care of parents who must be
knowledgeable enough to handle them. Parents therefore, should acquire the
right methods of child
upbringing,
whether traditional or modern. Parents should be made to understand that
harshness to children often breeds delinquency and thick skin which may
manifest later in the lives of these children (Adeduro, 2008). Hence, some
childrengrow to be the pride of their parents while some bring disgrace and
shame to their parents. Late in life due to manner they were being nurtured.
The idea of
not “sparing the rod” so as not to “spoil the child’ should be exercised with
caution, as Ogbonna (2009) rightly observes, it “may prove too harsh and
disastrous for the child’s moral and other aspects of personality development”.
Parents should learn to direct the lives of children towards positive
development. they should learn to inculcate in their children, the correct
attitude towards moral and ethical values. This will help them to have the
required discipline for living in a society like ours. Parents are
indispensable in early childhood development because this stage of development
affects the later stages depending on how they are brought up by parents. So,
early childhood development sets the tone for adult living (Ofo, 2009).
The family is
the first point of call of a child. Here, the child experiences the first
social interactions, learn his or her first language and develops relevant
attitudes to life. The implication therefore is that the child is first a
product of his or her family and how the child relates to the larger society
depends on the experiences made available to him or her in the family. Parents
being the closest allies in early childhood, it is important that for positive
and meaningful development of the child, parents must be properly “schooled”
and experienced in the art of child upbringing (Adeleke, 2008).
1.2 Statement
of the Problem
The problem
inherent in the parental academic achievement and development of children at
the early childhood level cannot be overemphasized because parents are the
first teachers of their children. Unfortunately these days, some parents play
negative roles in the upbringing of their children.
The ages 0–8
years require proper parental care and education in all ramifications. If
appropriate, correct care and education are not given to the children at this
stage, it will lead to children’s acquisition of negative characters devoid of
decent society’s expectations. Some parents love their jobs than their
children. Such parents have little or no time to stay with their children,
nurture and interact with them to know their feelings.
There were
cases where minor injuries at home generated to complications due to lack of
parental care and love. There were cases where children would either told their
parents to come back to pick them from schools or sometimes would preferred to
remain in the school rather than go home with their parents.
Some parents
cannot define the role of parents from the role of school, until such children
are sent home for either unkept hair, teeth, uniform, socks etc that the
parents would know what to do. All these factors have contributed to the
down-ward performance of children from most families.
The above
problems gave rise to this study as it examined parental roles on early
childhood education and its development in Lagos State.
1.3 Purpose
of the Study
This study
seeks to ascertain the relationship between parental roles and early childhood
education and development.
The specific
objectives include:
1. To assess the extent to which parental
role affects children’s academic performance.
2. To find out whether there is any
significant difference in the academic performance of children who are reared
by intact parents and those reared by single parents.
3. To find out whether there is any
significant difference in the attitudes of children reared by intact parent and
those reared by single parents.
4. To find out the gender difference between
the academic performance of children brought up by intact parents and those
brought up by single parents.
1.4 Research
Questions
1. To what extent do parental roles affect
children’s academic performance?
2. Will there be any significant difference
between the academic performance of children reared by intact parents and those
reared by single parents?
3. Will there be any significant difference
in the attitudes of children reared by intact parents and those reared by
single parents?
4. Will there be any significant gender difference
in the academic performance of children who were brought up by intact parents
and those brought up by single parents?
1.5 Research
Hypothesis
1. There is no significant relationship
between parental roles and children’s academic performance.
2. There is no significant difference between
the academic performance of children reared by intact parents and those reared
by single parents.
3. There
is no significant difference in the attitudes of children reared by intact
parents and those reared by single parents.
4. There is no significant gender difference
in the academic performance of children reared by intact parents and those
reared by single parents.
1.6
Significance of the Study
It is a
general belief that early childhood education is of great importance, because
it is the foundation for other levels of education, just as a well laid
foundation is the strength of the structure. However, the recommendations and
findings of this work would be beneficial to the following:
Children:
Children from home where there is love, care and interaction easily discover
themselves which aided their social and academic development. Therefore children,
having made to learn the act of knowing how to bath, toilet and feed which
actually start from the home at the tender age of the child, and that when they
imbibe these home cultures, they would become better children in the society
later in their lives.
Parents:
They will be able to know that early love, care and good nurture on children
breeds responsible leaders of tomorrow, which wealth, position cannot
compensate, therefore, parents would learn
through this
study, and be more enlightened on the importance of love and care a child
needed by the parents at early life, makes a good child who also shows love and
good character to the members of the society.
Teachers:
The teacher will be able to see themselves as both parents and teachers and
learn to be more dynamic in handling the children taken into consideration their
various educational abilities and socio-economic background.
School
authority: The school will learn to be accommodating, counsel
parents from time to time when the need be, so that both the school and parents
will be able to communicate and work together toward the children development.
The
government: The government will be able to put
in place policy and encouragement that will avail them the special educational
technique on early childhood education.
1.7
Scope of the Study
This study
covered 5 (five) nursery schools in Mainland Local Government Area of Lagos
State.
1.8
Limitation of the Study
In this
study, timeframe, finance and other logistics were the constraints the
researcher encountered during the course of the study.
1.9
Definition of Terms
Parental
Role: This term refers to the functions or activities laid by
parents towards the upbringing and education of the children and wards.
Attitude:
A predisposition or a tendency to respond positively or
negatively towards a certain idea, object, person, or situation.
Childcare
Practices: Is the totality of care given to a
child from conception to adolescent.
Practitioners:
The term refers to all Early Childhood Development (ECD)
education and training development practitioners. This encompasses the whole
spectrum of ECD educators, trainers, facilitators, lecturers, caregivers, development
officers, etc, including those qualified by their experience, and who are
involved in providing services in homes, centres, and schools.
Care:
Refers to the behaviours and practices of a caregiver.
Cognitive: Refers
to changes in the individuals thought, intelligence, and language.
Development:
The pattern of movement of change that begins at
conception and continues through the early childhood of the child
which
include cognitive, biological and socioemotional processes.
Early
Childhood: Refers to children between zero and
eight years of age (0 – 8 years).
Early
Childhood Education (ECE): Is education given in an
educational institution to children from birth to eight years old.
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