Parental Involvement in School Leadership and Influence on Pupils’ Performance in Kenya Certificate of Primary Education in Public Schools, Nyamira County

Abstract

Parental involvement plays a significant role in the educational sector, as the involvement works to influence pupils’ academic success. Despite the role of parental involvement in School Leadership to ensure learners’ academic success, the existence of harmonious relationships between parents and teachers remains a challenge both internationally and locally. The purpose of this study was to find parental involvement in school leadership and its influence on performance in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education in public schools in Nyamira County, Kenya. The study was guided by the objective Parental Involvement in School Leadership and Influence on Pupils’ Performance in Kenya Certificate of Primary Education in Nyamira County, Kenya. The study adopted a convergent parallel mixed-methods design and employed the Epstein theory of family, school, and community partnerships. The target population for the study consisted of 2364 respondents from 394 targeted schools. These consisted of 394 head teachers, 394 class eight teachers, 394 parents, and 1182 pupils. These were drawn from 394 public primary schools in Nyamira County. Stratified random sampling was used to stratify schools in their respective sub counties, and purposive sampling was used to select single-streamed schools. Then head teachers were sampled on the basis of schools. Parents were not only sampled on the basis of schools; but they were also sampled purposefully to select chairpersons for parents’ associations. Teachers were sampled purposefully, and pupils were sampled using simple random sampling, purposeful sampling techniques and stratified sampling. The sample size for the study consisted of 354 respondents. Interview schedules were used to collect data from head teachers and parents, while questionnaires were used for teachers and pupils. Qualitative data were captured, organised, and analysed into themes, thereby reporting the views of respondents thematically. Quantitative data were analysed statistically using frequency, means, percentages, and standard deviation. The Pearson product moment was used to relate independent variables to dependent variables. The study found that parents’ involvement in school leadership influences performance at a significant level (p = 0.0001). However, the study found that parental involvement in school leadership in Nyamira County was weak. The study concluded that parental involvement in pupils’ learning influences academic performance, but parents and schools have not embraced parents’ involvement in pupils’ learning. Therefore, parental involvement in pupils’ learning in Nyamira County was weak.