Analysis of secondary school students’ academic performance and parental involvement in children education at home

Abstract

Introduction. Parental involvement in children’s education means engagement and participation of parents in the educational activities of their children. The existing body of empirical research shows that parental involvement can influence academic performance of their children in two distinct ways, i.e. parental involvement in children education at home (helping children in homework and other academic discussions, etc.) and parental involvement in children education at school (participation in school function and meetings, etc.). Active involvement of parents in children’s education may even counterbalance the unfavourable effects of low socioeconomic status and underprivileged neighborhood. The overall effect of parental involvement in child education both at home and at school is a worthy source of improving the academic performance of children through securing higher grades at school.Aim. This research aimed to examine the effects of parental involvement in children education at home on academic performance of secondary schools students and to identify the difference of the effects of parental involvement on students of different gender, parent literacy status and parent importance to children education.Methodology and research methods. Cross sectional and a multistage stratified sampling technique was adopted to portray information from sample of 448 students on Likert scale. Chi square, Kendall’s Tau-c tests and Logistic regression analyses were used to determine the level, direction and strength of association among variables.Results. The results showed that the association of children academic performance was significant and positive when parents helped children with their homework (P = 0.000, Tc = 0.231), discussed school progress with children (P = 0.002, Tc = 0.122) and motivated children to work harder when they make a poor grade (P = 0.015, Tc = 0.133). Moreover, the results highlighted variation in the academic performance of children with respect to their gender, parental literacy status, parental importance to children education and parental involvement in children education at home. It was concluded that boys, children of literate parents, children whose parents give more importance to their education and their parents remain involved in their educational activities at home secured higher grades.Scientific novelty. The present study is distinctive in that it examined variations in children’s academic performance with respect to student gender, parental literacy status, and parental importance to their education in addition to focusing on the relationship between parental involvement in their children education at home and academic performance.Practical significance. The analysis of the research outcomes leads to several interesting results and proposes helpful suggestions for important stakeholders. The main study recommendations that will enable parents to promptly meet the educational demands of their children in order to aid them in getting better grades include awareness-raising campaigns for parents, income creation chances for disadvantaged families, and adult literacy initiatives.