TEACHERS‟, PARENTS‟ AND PUPILS‟ PERCEPTIONS ON PARENTS‟ ROLE IN THE LEARNING PROCESS OF THEIR CHILDREN IN PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN BUKOBA DISTRICT COUNCIL, TANZANIA

Abstract

Parents’ involvement in the learning process of their children is a very crucial ingredient; it is associated with perceptions of not only the teachers, but also of parents and the pupils. These three categories’ perceptions are not empirically well known. The general objective of this paper was to determine relationships between socio-demographic factors of teachers’, parents’ and pupils’ and their perceptions on the roles of parents in the learning process of their children in public primary schools. The specific objectives were to analyse respondents’ socio-demographic factors; compare the perceptions among the respondents, and determine association between the perceptions and the respondents’ socio-demographic factors. The study data were collected in Bukoba District Council in 2021 through a structured questionnaire which included an index summated scale to measure perceptions and which was administered to 400 respondents who included 130 parents, 50 teachers, and 220 primary school pupils. The respondents were selected through purposive sampling and stratified random sampling. The overall mean and median points scored by all the 400 respondents on the perception scale were 59.9 and 60, respectively, which are high compared to the maximum possible score that was 80. Moreover, using Kruskal-Wallis test, the median scores on the perception scale differed significantly among parents (Med = 58), pupils (Med = 62), and teachers (Med 58) [H(2) = 8.926, p = 0.012)]. Also, the perceptions differed significantly between parents and pupils (p = 0.010) and between pupils and teachers (0.030), but not between parents and teachers (p = 0.946). Using Chi-square tests, home to school distance (Chi-square = 7.598, p = 0.006), parents’ employment status (Chi-square = 5.256, p = 0.022), and school urbanization level (Chi-square = 28.650, p = 0.000) were significantly associated with the respondents’ perceptions. If those factors are conducive, perceptions about the roles parents play for their children’s learning process can improve. Primary education stakeholders; including parents, pupils, and teachers; are urged to keep up their perceptions about parents’ roles in their children’s learning process. Education planners and local government authorities are urged to scale-up interventions to reduce distances from home to school by building more primary schools, as shorter distance from home to school was more associated with high perceptions.