Family Background as an Indicator of Students’ Academic Achievement in Science Subjects among High School Students in Nigeria

Abstract

Research has shown that students’ home background is a major factor to consider when assessing students’ learning outcome in science subjects among high school students. This paper therefore investigates how family background determines students’ academic achievement in science among high school students in southeast Nigeria. Among the three research questions raised by the study, the main one is- how does family background influence students’ academic achievement in science subjects among high school students in Southeast Nigeria? A total N=220 randomly selected from a population of science students in senior secondary schools in southeast Nigeria formed the sample size. Student’s survey questionnaire (SSQ) on a 5-point Likert scale was used as an instrument for data collection. A quantitative research design was adopted while the collected data was descriptively measured to establish the association between the two variables. The result shows that students whose parents acquired better education and higher income levels would positively support their children’s education in science subjects compared to those with lower education and income. The study concludes that the learning outcome of students in science subjects are pre-determined by the kind of family background they have, this indicates that the socio-economic status (SES) of parents is a key determinant of students’ academic achievement in science subjects in Southeast Nigeria. Keywords: Family Background: Socio-Economic Status: Parents’ Education: Parents’ Employment Status: Academic Performance.