INFLUENCE OF PARENTAL GENETICS ON CHILD EDUCATION IN KONTAGORA METROPOLIS

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INFLUENCE OF PARENTAL GENETIC ON CHILD EDUCATION IN KONTAGORA METROPOLIS

ABSTRACT

The research study examined the influence of parental genetic and background on academic achievement of primary school pupils in English Language in Kontagora Metropolis. Three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. An ex-post-facto research design was adopted for the study. The sample consisted of three hundred and eighty eight primary school pupils from eight schools from the study area. An instrument tagged ‘Parental genetic and background and English Language Achievement Test was used to collect data. Expert judgements were used to ensure face and content validity. The Cronbach Alpha, method was used in determining the internal consistency reliability co-efficient of the Parental genetic and background and English Language Achievement Test. The reliability of the instrument was 0.81 and this went to show that the instrument was reliable. The data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research question. The t-test statistics was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results showed that the academic achievement of primary school pupils in English Language was influenced by parents’ level of education, parents’ occupation and parents’ residential areas. Among others, it was recommended that parents should endeavour to make out time and resources for their children’s academic pursuits.

INFLUENCE OF PARENTAL GENETIC ON CHILD EDUCATION IN KONTAGORA METROPOLIS    

 

   CHAPTER ONE

 INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

A home is a place where children live with their parents. It is a place where children learn the norms and values of the society in which they find themselves. Home environment influences the overall development of children, particularly at the formative stage when their minds are highly receptive. It provides the first impression which may last through the whole of their lives. Parents are thus responsible for providing the right home environment that facilitates effective learning for their children (Oladipo, 2009).

According to Wehmeier (2000), a parent is simply a person’s father or mother. Thus, parents are caretakers of their off springs and through their influence; they basically mould and shape their children into adults. In a nut shell, parents are their children’s first and foremost teachers, guidance counselors and nurturers (O’Connor & Scott, 2007). However, the quality and effectiveness of parenting depends essentially on parental genetic and background.

Parental genetic and background refers to the overall experience, education and training of parents (Essien, 2002). The background of parents moulds the values, aspirations, emotions, interests and attitudes of their children (Okeke, 2009). According to Essien (2002), what children learn at home and how the family motivates them, contribute to their success in school. Ebong (2015) refers to parental genetic and background as a collective terminology comprising social class/status, economic status, educational level, occupation and other factors pertaining to one’s parents.  From the foregoing, it is seen that the major variables of parental genetic and background are education, social class, occupation and experience.

Education is the unilateral and intentional transmission of information, knowledge, skills, morals and values from one person to another (Bruce & Neville, 1979). This definition implies that education prepares one for life since it is a process of accumulating knowledge for future use. The importance of education is stressed in the opening statement of the National Policy on Education (NPE) where it is maintained that “education in Nigeria is an instrument par excellence for effecting national development” (FRN, 2004:1). It also reshapes human potentials for desired development. Education involves a pedagogical process which, if properly carried out, should lead to the maturing of the person who has received it, to the extent that he is in a position to think and act meaningfully and in relevant interactions with members of the society for their mutual benefit (Etuk , Ering & Ajake, 2012).  Parents play significant roles in the educational development of an individual. How this task is effectively carried out depends, to a large extent, on parents’ level of education.

According to Bakker, Denessen and Brus-Laeven (2007), parents’ education provides opportunities for parents to discover their own strengths, enhance their parenting skills and life competencies and learn more about their children’s cognitive, literacy and developmental growth. Parents, armed with adequate education, often get gainful employment. Thus, with their level of income and exposure, they are better disposed to procure educational materials for their children. Without doubt, a child surrounded with good magazines, books, as well as intelligent discussions could be expected to develop different and perhaps, better vocational interests than a child not exposed to those things (Onyejiaku, 1987).

Parents’ education is an important index of socio-economic status which determines children’s educational and behavioral outcomes (Osunloye, 2008). Singh in Igbo, Okafor, & Eze (2014) asserted that the education of parents can help their children develop proper personality characteristics as well as equipping them better to adjust socially and academically. Parents’ education could affect the attitude of their children to school work. According to the European Union Monitoring Report (2013), those children whose parents have a tertiary level of education perform, on average, significantly better than those whose parents have only basic schooling.

Provision of educational facilities is an important way through which parents encourage their children to learn. Educational facilities are the facilities provided to students so that they can use every opportunity to develop their full potentials. Educational facilities include buildings, fixtures and equipment necessary for the effective and efficient learning and operation of the program of education. According to Abdulkareem and Fasasi (2009), educational facilities refer to non-human and non-financial resources which include all movable and immovable materials which are used for teaching, learning and other school activities.

Children whose parents are illiterates often lack home encouragement because, as they rarely provide their children with needed textbooks, they are discouraging them from learning. David (2007) stated that textbooks and other learning materials at home aid studies after normal school teaching. Students from illiterate parents lack assistance because of their parents’ illiteracy and ignorance. Such parents rarely motivate, reinforce, give reward or punish their children on their academic performance which would have forced them to be serious with learning. On the other hand, literate parents have interest in their children’s academic performance. They struggle to provide their children with needed materials and give them adequate encouragement. They provide adequate motivation and reward when the children perform well in class assignments, tests and examinations. Having known the importance of education, they draw a reading time-table for their children and also arrange for part-time teachers to teach their children.

Just like parents’ education level, different occupations engaged by parents could influence their children’s academic achievement. According to Ahukannah, Ndinechi and

Arukwe (2009), occupation is any productive activity in which a person is engaged permanently and which occupies his productive time. It is likely that mothers or fathers who engage in menial jobs like sewing, petty trading, hair dressing, farming, catering, among others may not have enough time for their children. In addition, some of such parents may want their children to toe the line of their trade and may, as a result, not bother to lay much emphasis on the early intellectual development of their children, assuming they know how.  Others who work in places like banks or hospitals as doctors or nurses may also not have time for their children. This could influence the vocabulary and communication skills of such children and consequently, their academic achievement. On the other hand, parents in certain lines of work may be better placed and equipped to transmit a certain level of diligence, focus, work ethics and other skills that may be of advantage to their children’s academic achievement.  For this study, parental occupation means parents’ usual work especially as a means of earning a livelihood.

In addition, the locations of parents’ residential areas play significant roles towards their children’s academic achievement. Ngwoke and Eze (2004) opine that any environment that consists of human behavior, especially social behavior which is acquired through the process of interaction with the environment could be taken as one’s area of residence. Also, Onuoha and Emeh (2008) explained that area of residence signifies the environment which can be referred to as the conditions, circumstances affecting a person’s life. Location of parents’ residential area poses serious challenges to their children’s education. For instance, parents living in parts of cities thickly populated by poor people characterized by insufficient accommodation, very poor environments that lack basic amenities like water, electricity, good roads, good schools, medical care are naturally under stress and alienated from academic interest (Onuoha & Emeh, 2008). This is because the parents are all the time struggling for basic needs while the children suffer academic neglect. For this study, area of residence refers to where one lives and can be located.

A child is generally a human between the stages of birth and puberty (Bisht, 2008).  According to Article 1 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), “a child means every human being below the age of 18 years unless, under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier”. Children are important assets of the society. Thus, learning experiences are provided with a view to training them to be useful members of the society. All round development of the personality of children is the goal of education. Children are ultimately influenced by factors surrounding them.  In fact, what a child becomes is not solely determined by his genetic endowment but also by the environmental forces operative around him/her (Mishra & Bamba, 2012). Family and school are two major agents that determine and direct the nature and quality of children's educational experiences and development. The complementary role of the two agents in child upbringing is aptly captured by the authors. Mishra & Bamba, (2012: 43) state,  “It is a common and plausible assumption that families prepare and reinforce the symbolic attribution required by schooling and that schooling builds upon and elaborates the symbolic resources derived from family membership.” The family has the potential to influence a child‘s academic achievement because it is the first environment he or she is exposed to. The initial experience that moulds the values, aspirations, emotions, interests and attitudes a child exhibits are offered by the parents/family (Okeke, 2009). It is this experience they acquire that helps them in their transition from the home to the first level of education which is pre-primary education.

Pre-primary education is the first level of education which a child undergoes before he/she moves on to other levels starting with primary education. Primary education is officially regarded as the foundation level of the educational system in Nigeria. Primary education runs for six years and is aimed at developing basic literacy, numeracy, communication skills and transmission of the culture of the people to younger generations (Durosaro, 2005). It is very important in the Nigerian educational system for a number of reasons. One, it is the only link between pre-primary education and secondary education system. Two, it has the highest patronage because it takes in successful beneficiaries of the former and supplies entrants into the latter. Finally, it is generally regarded as the very foundation upon which the other strata of the educational systems are built (Olaniyan & Obadara, 2008). It is in primary schools that the foundation for academic achievement is laid after the home.

The term academic achievement is usually associated with the standard an individual attains in educational exercise. Academic achievement is measured in relation to what is attained at the end of a course since it is the accomplishment of medium or long term objectives of education (Ganai & Mir, 2013). What is important is that the test should be a standardized test to meet national norm. Academic achievement is also perceived as excellence in all academic disciplines, in class as well as in co-curricular activities. It includes excellence in sporting behaviour, confidence, communication skills, punctuality, arts, and culture, among others, which can be achieved only when an individual is well adjusted (Huitt, Huitt, Monetti, & Hummel (2009) Academic achievement is not just a school issue. Other factors beyond the classroom such as parenting practices, young children’s nutrition and breastfeeding; children and adolescents connection with long-term mentors, family functioning and quality of education after-school, among others can affect whether children and youth excel academically (Boccanfuso, Moore & Whitney, 2010). The most common indicator of achievement generally refers to pupils’ performance in academic areas such as English Language, as measured by achievement tests.

English Language is an essential pre-requisite for propelling the educational wheel of Nigeria. It is a medium of instruction, a compulsory and core subject that must be offered and passed at all levels of education in Nigeria’s educational system. Success in any form of education, training and work generally depends on the ability to comprehend and use the English Language effectively and proficiently. Realizing the importance of English Language for enhancing academic achievement as well as improving communicative competence, the Nigerian government has made it a core and compulsory subject which must be passed at credit or distinction level, in addition to other subjects, to be able to gain admission into higher institutions. The main aim of teaching English Language in our schools is to equip pupils with the techniques of reading, listening, writing and speaking which are the four basic skills needed in language learning (Odesina & Ikegulu, 2002).

Looking carefully at these aims, it can be seen that the efforts of the Nigerian educational system at improving the quality of English Language in our schools are not yielding substantial results because inefficiency and poor academic performance have persisted (Falayajo, 1997;

Ogbemudia & Aiasa, 2013). In Nigeria today, there has been a continuous high rate of failure in English Language at both internal and external examination. To illustrate this, available records of Junior WAEC results between 2012 and 2013 indicate a downward trend in academic achievement of school children. Their achievement level, based on the statistics presented by the WAEC boss, indicates that in 2012, 749,156 candidates which represents 36.81 percent of the total candidates who sat for the exam had credit pass and above in English Language. In 2013, the figure reduced to 630,270 candidates which represent 33.57 percent (WAEC, 2013). This has remained a source of great concern to educationists, guidance counselors, Parents, professionals, academicians and other stakeholders alike are worried that primary school leavers cannot effectively communicate skills learnt to a reasonable degree of proficiency. This ugly development which has posed challenges to learners at all levels is attributed to inadequate attention by parents. The challenges are even greater at the initial stages of education where the learner is expected to know the fundamentals of English Language in order to make a good start.

Scholars like Fakeye (2010) opined that language development begins at birth and centers on the child’s interactions with his or her parents. What this implies is that home environment determines and shapes children’s language development. One of the home environmental factors that significantly impact on the language development of children is parents’ education.  It is against this background that the researcher decided to investigate the influence of parental genetic and background on the academic achievement of primary school pupils in English Language in Isi Uzo Local Government Area, Enugu North Education Zone of Enugu State.

In Isi Uzo Local Government Area, the performance of primary school pupils in English Language in internal examinations is abysmally poor. The Three-Year Middle Basic Education Continuous Assessment/Examination Scores for Transition into Upper Basic School shows that less than ten percent of primary six pupils in Isi Uzo Local Government Area scored fifty percent and above (Examination Development Centre, Enugu State Ministry of Education, 2014).  Poor knowledge of English Language, particularly the skills of writing and speaking is on the increase. Lack of sound linguistic basis hamper further learning in secondary, vocational and tertiary institutions since English Language is the medium of instruction. There is a high rate of boys’ and girls’ drop-out from school and secondary school leavers not being able to secure either admission into tertiary institutions or meaningful jobs due to their inability to comprehend and use the English language proficiently. In addition, boys of school age are into commercial motor-cycle transportation, known as okada. In view of this, the researcher was motivated to examine the influence of parental genetic and background on academic achievement of primary school children in English Language in Isi Uzo Local Government Area.

Statement of the Problem

Parents are major persons involved in raising their children. Whatever parents possess in terms of skills, knowledge and expertise, they bring to bear in raising their children. Poor parental care with gross deprivation of social and economic needs usually result in poor academic performance of children. In Isi Uzo Local Government Area, the natives are predominantly peasant farmers and petty traders with little or no formal education. Parents leave early in the morning and come back late in the evening taking care of their farms or their businesses. Pupils, after school hours, help their parents in carrying the farm produce home and to the market, especially on Afor market days. During farming season, pupils abandon classes for farming in order to assist their parents. As a result, pupils neither study nor do their English Language assignments at home since they often spend their time assisting their parents to make both ends meet. Poor knowledge of English Language, particularly the skills of reading and writing are on the increase. They rarely speak correct English.  This lack of basic literacy skills hampers further academic pursuits. This has resulted in a high rate of attrition of boys and girls since they fail to make their papers in WASSCE and NECO and do not pass examinations into higher institutions of learning.  One wonders why pupils not only perform poorly in English Language examinations but also lack sound linguistic and communicative skills. Could it be as a result of their parents’ background? It is against this background that the researcher sought to investigate the influence of parental genetic and background on academic achievement of primary school pupils in English Language in Isi Uzo Local Government Area, Enugu North Education Zone of Enugu State.

 

Purpose of the Study

The general purpose of the study was to examine the influence of parental genetic and background on the academic achievement of primary school pupils in English Language in Isi Uzo Local

Government Area, Enugu North Education Zone. Specifically, the study sought to:

  1. Determine the extent to which parents’ level of education influences the academic achievement of primary school pupils in English Language.

 

  1. Find out the extent parents’ occupation influences the academic achievement of primary school pupils in English Language.

 

  1. Determine the extent parents’ residential areas influence the academic achievement of primary school pupils in English Language.

 

Significance of the Study

This study has both theoretical and practical significance. The study is anchored on Parental Attachment Theory propounded by Bowlby in 1988. Parental Attachment Theory reveals that a child develops a strong emotional bond with another person (caregiver) during childhood with lifelong consequences. The theory explains emotional development of children as well as providing useful and reasonable insights for parents and guardians on the need to form secure attachment bond with their children.  The study will either affirm or refute the theory.

The study will be beneficial to the following: parents, the Nigerian government, teachers, curriculum planners and other students.

This study will be of enormous importance to parents. The findings of the study will enable parents understand that their level of education influence academic achievement of their children in English language. This work will enable them have clear definition of their roles, particularly encouraging positive parents/child relationship as well as providing adequate learning aids at home.

This study will be of immense benefit to the government. The findings, when placed in government gazette, will enlighten the Nigerian government on the influence of parents’ background on academic achievement of primary school children in English Language and the major roles expected of the governments in terms of funding, supervision, planning, personnel management and maintenance of primary schools in the country.

The results of the study, when communicated to teachers through organized conferences and seminars, will sensitize the teachers to pay adequate attention to individual differences as they carry out their pedagogical activities in the classroom. They will see their areas of weaknesses and improve on them after attending conferences.

The significance of this study to curriculum planners is that it will serve as a guide to them in policy making and in planning educational strategies for Nigerian pupils.

Finally, this study, when kept in both the departmental and school library, will serve as a guide to students and other researchers who may wish to carry out further inquiries in this area or similar areas.

Scope of the Study

The scope of this study was limited to Isi Uzo Local Government Area, Enugu North Education Zone. The content scope of this study was limited to finding out the influence of parents’ level of education on academic achievement of primary school pupils in English Language, the influence of availability of educational facilities at home influence on academic achievement of primary school pupils in English Language, and the influence of parents’ involvement on academic achievement of primary school pupils in English Language.

Research Questions

The following research questions guided the study:

  1. To what extent does parents’ level of education influence the academic achievement of primary school pupils in English Language?

 

  1. To what extent does parents’ occupation influence the academic achievement of primary school pupils in English Language?

 

3 To what extent do parents’ residential areas influence the academic   achievement of primary school pupils in English Language?

 

Hypotheses

The following hypotheses guided the study and will be tested at 0.05 level of significance:

  1. There is no significant difference in the mean responses of primary school pupils on their academic achievement in English Language based on their parents’ level of education.

 

  1. There is no significant difference in the mean responses of primary school pupils on their academic achievement in English Language based on their parents’ occupation.

 

3  There is no significant difference in the mean responses of primary school pupils on their academic achievement in English Language based on their parents’ residential areas.

INFLUENCE OF PARENTAL GENETIC ON CHILD EDUCATION IN KONTAGORA METROPOLIS

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