CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

The development of any nation or community depends largely on the quality of education of such a nation. It is generally believed that the basis for any true development must commence with the development of human resources (Akanle, 2007). Hence formal education remains the vehicle for social-economic development and social mobilization in any society. The difference between developed and developing nations is not on the basis of colour, race or any other criteria, but on the basis of education and knowledge. Even in a society itself, people are differentiated on the basis of the quality of education, received by them (Mumthas, 2006). Education therefore has an immense impact on the development human society. It is through education that knowledge and information is received and spread throughout the world.  In other words “without education, man is as though in a closed room and with education he finds himself in a room with all its windows open towards outside world” (Khan, 2003). Parents play an immense and significant role in the academic performance of their children. Educated parents would have increased emphasis on educational excellence. Educated parents are equipped by virtue of their education to take cognizance of the fact that parent- student- school- community relationship is important in order to promote educational attainment and academic achievement of their children and so they make the partnership a priority (Okantey, 2008).

Parent has vital roles to play in the life of a child. The involvement of a parent on a child determines the future of such child.  Parenting involvement is a catch-all term for many different activities including at ‘home,’ good parenting, helping with homework, talking to teachers, attending school functions, through to taking part in school governance.    When schools work together with families to support learning, children tend to succeed not just in schools but throughout life. To say the fact, the most accurate prediction of a student’s performance in school is not income or social status, but the extent  to which that student’s parent is able to create  a home environment that encourage learning  and to  express high expectations for their children’s achievement and future careers.

       Academic achievement is directly related to students’ growth and development of knowledge in an educational situation where teaching and learning process takes place. Academic achievement is defined as the performance of the students in the subject they study in the school (Pandey, 2008). Academic performance determines the student’s status in the class. It gives children an opportunity to develop their talents, improve their grades and prepare for the future academic challenges. Parental involvement in promoting children’s school success has been identified as a vital factor affecting students’ academic performance in school. In particular, various aspects of parental involvement although,  parents of different occupation classes often have different styles of child rearing, different ways of disciplining their children and different ways of reacting to their children. These differences do not express themselves consistently as expected in the case of every family; rather they influence the average tendencies of families for different occupational classes. (Rothestein, 2004).

            Family is the primary cell of society where the child's upbringing must begin since his birth, still in cradle. According to V. Hugo, the person's principles established   since childhood are like letters engraved in the bark of a young tree, which grow, enlarge with it making its integral part. Therefore, right beginning makes the most important part of upbringing/education. Nobody ever said that children were easy to rise. They don't come with guidelines or instructions, and they certainly don't come with a pause button (I've looked!). What they do come with is a crucial set of physical and emotional needs that must be met. Failure of the parents to meet these specific needs can have wide-ranging and long-lasting negative effects (Christheisen, 2009).  This is because parent in the home are children first teacher. As a child move from infant to toddler and then to a pre-schooler, he learns how to speak, listen, write and read which latter develop the child to achieve academically.

 The influence of parents on children school performance is well documented in numerous studies. Gadsden (2003) says greater parental involvement at early stage in children’s learning, positively affects the child’s school performance including higher academic achievement. Harderves (1998) review that family whose children are doing well in school exhibit the following characters:

•         Establish a daily family routine by providing time and a quiet place to study with the children and assigning responsibility for house hold chores.

•         Monitor out-of-school activities, for example setting limits on television watching, reduce time of playing, monitor the groups of friends the pupils walk with.

•          Encourage children’s development and progress in school; that is maintaining a worm and supportive home, showing interest in children’s progress at school, helping him or her with homework, discussing the value of a good education and future career with children.

Upon this background, this study sets out to investigate the parental status and student academic performance in Lagos State secondary schools.