CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Every child is unique and so he must react to the school environment in his own way. Since a child behaviour is the product of heredity and environment (a child family background, his upbringing, his peer group and al forces of his own environment) must play a major role in his school performance. The family unit is the first and primary foundation of the child learning process. Apart from the materials stimulation, needed by the child and provided by his family for his intellectual development a child also is expected to be emotionally balanced. This will enable him to cope with all the social tolerant that would disturb him at school. All families do not have equal economic and social status and since children from different homes attend different problems therefore the various children under this condition would be disturbed at school much effect is therefore required of the teachers in identifying the child’s problems which may be traceable to his family. The teacher should study the child’s family background and correlate them with the child performance at school.

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

In the recent past, sociologist achieve tried to identify the characteristics of family background which are directly related to cognitive development and achievement in schools. The impact of family background on the academic achievement of pupils in schools today is receiving wide acknowledgement in many educational circles in the world. Family background plays an important role in the students’ performances because it is the foundations of education. The family is an institution which provides for the child’s primary socialization and initial education. The initial stage of child socialization depends on the influence of people around him of all the agents of socialization. The family is the most immediate and most important. The problems of why students achieve or fail to achieve success in school has always been an issue to psychologist, educationist etc. family background has a significant influence on the socialization of the child. Some writer like Lovell P. (1999) are of the view that parents who are educated and economically well off are likely to have fewer children than parents who are not only poor but are illiterate or semi illiterate and ignorant. Rich children they opined do lack attention from their parents in matter relating to education. At home life for such children is comfortable with amenities like house helps television sets, video sets, stimulating cognitive materials and all sorts of things to play with while at school, the child does not have to think of where his next fee will be coming from. Simply because the child is assured and therefore feels confidents and is alert also scholars like Lovell P. (1999) are also of the view that a child whose parents are illiterate and poor is not likely to attract such attention from their parents. Children from the above mentioned different family background come together to study in the same school under the same class teachers using the same curriculum. It is in the light of this that the researcher intends to find out the effect which family background has on the pupils performance in primary schools.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM 

In Nigeria today, the standard of education has fallen thus leading to lots of arguments among scholars, traders, stake holders, educationalist, civil servants etc as to the immediate and the remote cause of the fallen standard and the factors hindering high standard of education, while we blame government, teachers and pupils the family which the pupils came from have much to be desired. It is of great importance to note that we cannot exonerate the family which the child comes from when we are talking about pupils performance in school. This is based on either the family background which is either polygamous or monogamous in nature social economic status of the parents or level of education of parents or of the family and health facilities may also be involved.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

To deal with the influence of family on the academic performance of the child in selected primary schools in Oredo local government area of Edo State certain questions are to be asked for example:

1. To what extent does the level of education of parents influence the academic performance of the pupils?
2. Does the socio-economic status of parents influence the pupil’s performance academically?
3. Does the family structure in terms of monogamy and polygamy influence the academic achievement of pupils?
4. How far does the attitude of parents and siblings affect the academic performance of pupils?

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

Family background is one of the factors that influence the academic achievement of children at school. The family is the bedrock of the child’s socialization process. A child starts leaning about life as soon as she came into the world from the family background, the school as a source of western education. It has been argued that a child family background influence his educational outcomes by affecting her attitude in school. It has been observed that the pupils’ poor performance in their school work could be traced to their parents educational status, the parents socio-economic status, and the family structure of the pupils. It is therefore the purpose of this study to investigate the background of family on the academic achievement of the pupils.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 

Every parent wants a successful result from the child who goes to school. Children succeed in school when certain factors are put into place some of these include: ensuring that the child feeds well at home, does his homework, provided with the required textbooks and writing materials and has her work checked regularly. Unfortunately many pupils fail in school owing to no fault of theirs. However, some parents are ignorant of what they are expected to do, to help the pupil perform well academically in school. Teachers themselves are not left out. As young children, there is need for proper guidance and education on the relative benefits of schooling to the pupils. The study will assist parents to have an insight into the behaviour needs of their children.

This study also will enable the teachers to know that pupils are not solely responsible for their poor performance in school. The teachers will be able to come to grip with some of the problems that affect pupil’s performance. It will avail the teacher the corrective measures which if adhered to will help both the teachers and pupils achieve greater academic excellence. This study intends to reveal the factors that impede or enhance the progress of the child at school.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY 

This study, is limited to findings out family background and its influence on the child’s academic performance in some of the primary school selected in Oredo ;local government area of Edo State are: Emotan, Oguola, Agbado, Emokpae, and Payne primary schools, Benin City.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Family background: This involves the condition I the home created by parents. These include educational background, home status, and family structure in terms of monogamy and polygamy and provision of educational materials.

Social class: The group that people belong to which is defined by property ownership and control of health.

Academic performance: The scores an individual obtain in a class, test or examination based on his learning experience in school.