Experiences of Parents in their Children’s’ Education: a case of Kieni West District, Nyeri County, Kenya

Abstract

Parents play an invaluable role in laying the foundation for their children learning. This study was set to investigate the experiences of parents in their children’s education in twenty one public secondary schools in Kieni West District in Nyeri County-Kenya. The objectives of this study were to :(i)Investigate the nature of experiences parents face in their children’s education.(ii)Establish the extent of interaction between parents and teachers and (iii) to explore views about the experiences faced by parents in their children’s education. Twelve public secondary schools were randomly selected. The population of the study was five thousand three hundred and eighty one students. In total, 130 form three students, 76 teachers and 113 parents participated in this study. The research study employed both qualitative and quantitative techniques in collecting and analyzing data. The study purposively sampled form three students. The study used two sets of instruments namely: questionnaire for teachers and students and a structured interview schedule for parents. These instruments were piloted for reliability and validity. Measures of central tendency such as mode, mean, median, frequency and standard deviation were used to present the findings of the study. Results based on research area indicated that 73% of the parents lacked school fees and 79.8% of the parents experienced difficulties and painful experiences during their time .Poor education background of the parents and lack of adequate time to assist their children affected their level of involvement. Further 98.2% of the parents felt that organized parental involvement programmes can improve their relationship with their children. Major recommendations included among others identifying sourced of funds to aid in school fees and holding parent’s awareness programmes.