CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The home is the child’s first place of contact with the world. The child as a result acquires initial education and socialization from present and other significant persons in the home. The home is where every child is born into and makes first interactions with the members of the family. Since education start from the home, it can be posited that home variables can have possible effects on the educational performance of secondary school students.
The level of income of the parent is a variable which assists parents to be classified socially to different strata in the society which may play important role in the academic performance of the students in secondary schools and universities. According to Samuel (2014) the level of income is the amount of money the parents (father and mother) receive monthly, weekly or daily from their occupational activities. Samuel emphasized that the level of income of the parents may be determined by the level of education the parents attain and this may influence the level of exposure of the parents which make the parents to be versatile in encouraging the children academically. The children from these rich parents may be inherently motivated to be like their parents when they grow and this will make them to study well in school.
On the other hand children from poor parents are likely to experience learning disabilities and developmental delays than children from rich parents. Although some students from poor background are motivated and encouraged by their parents academically by providing home teachers for these children at home, this tends to increase the intrinsic motivation of the children and increase the academic performance in school.
According to Smith and Francesconi (2010), in a study on impact of home background on educational attainment in high schools in San-Francisco, the finding showed that there is a significant relationship between each parent’s educational level and their children performance in school. They further explained that mother education has a strong association with the children academic performance than that of the father. This therefore means that children from parents who attain formal education do show self-involvement in the education of their children and this becomes the motivational factor for the students to study hard and aim high because their home environment has not expose them to the kinds of materials used in schools.
If home environment is not intellectually stimulating, students find it difficult to cope in school and may eventually drop-out of school. Thus researchers have shown that home variable and host of other factor relating to home environments of students, such as educational level, income level, environment, means of recreation and parent’s interest in education could have effect on children academic performance (Okon, 2017).
Sign (2014) posited that learning takes place in a conducive environment within a web of social relationship as parents and children interacts. All aspects of the home environment provide survival, protection, development and participation in the learning process to the students. This means that the focus is on learning which strengthens the capacities of students to act progressively on their own behalf through the acquisition of relevant knowledge, useful skills and appropriate attitudes which help them to create for themselves and others a safety place, security and healthy intervention in promoting students’ academic performance in Biology. It is against this background that this work is being undertaken to empirically investigate the influence of home variables on academic performance of students in Biology in secondary schools in Urue Offong/Oruko Local Government Area.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Home is the first point of contact of children in the world and the home consist of two important adults, father and mother of whom each of them occupy a specific position and function in the overall development of the children (Sam, 2018). When both parents are present, it implies that the child would derive much care from them and according to psychology; these children develop emotional and psychological attachment to their parents. However, in some
lack of formal education of the parents, poor environment and place of recreation of the parents (Francisco, 2014).
There exist some differences among students in secondary schools as some students are able to pay their school fees promptly, while others are often being sent away for non-payment of school fees. Some students have problem with the provision of school uniform but others do not. Likewise, some students are motivated by their parents through the provision of educational materials like text books and exercise books and other parents do not; equally some students come to school properly fed, others do not.
These then motivated the researcher to ask whether these differences among students which arises as a result of different home socio-economic background could influence the students’ academic performance in school. In the quest to provide answer to this question, triggers the investigation into home variables and academic performance of Biology students in Senior Secondary schools in Urue Offong/Oruko Local Government Area.
1.3 Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of this study was to investigate influence of home variables on academic performance of Biology students in Senior Secondary schools in Urue Offong/Oruko Local Government Area. Specifically, the study intends to:
- examine influence of parental educational attainment on students’ academic performance in Biology in secondary school in Urue Offong/Oruko Local Government Area;
- investigate the influence of parent income level on the students’ academic performance in Biology in secondary school in Urue Offong/Oruko Local Government Area.
1.4 Research Questions
The following research questions were formulated to guide the study;
- To what extent does parental educational attainment influence students’ academic performance in biology in secondary school?
- To what extent does the influence of parent income level influence students’ academic performance in Biology in secondary school?
1.5 Research Hypotheses
The following null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study:
- There is no significant difference in academic performance of students based on parental education.
- There is no significant difference in academic performance of students from high-income parents and students from low-income in Biology.
1.6 Significance of the study
The finding of this study may be significant in the following ways:
The findings of this study will be of great significance to parents and guardians, teachers, government, educational planners and school counselors, religious and non-governmental organization in the following ways:
- To the parents and guardians, the findings of this study will enable them to have the knowledge and skills to study their children very well to know their educational needs and challenges. Also to have alternative ways of child rearing without abusing them through poor socio-economic status.
- To the teachers, the study will help them to develop critical and creative mind in the selection of instructional strategies which will motivate the students in the teaching/learning process irrespective of their home variables.
- To the government, the study will help them to understand the various ways which home variables have influenced the performance of students and proffer ways of assisting the parents as well as ways of helping the students who are from different socio-economic status.
- The study will help educational planners to understand the effect of home variables on students, so that they know where and how to start combating it in the planning of the educational programme in schools.
- To the school counselors, the study will provide useful information to them for the effective counseling of both parents and students on the consequences of home variables on students’ performance in school.
- Through this study, religious organization and non-governmental organizations will understand the effect of parental socio-economic status and students’ performance and thus obtain appropriate knowledge on how best to contribute and participate in the educational sector.
- This study will also contribute to the body of knowledge in general by providing direction to future researchers who may wish to further their investigation on similar topic.
1.7 Delimitation of the study
This study will be delimited to home variables such as parents’ educational attainment and parent’s income and students’ academic performance in biology in secondary school in Urue Offong/Oruko Local Government Area. Also, only senior secondary two (SS2) students will be involved in the study.
1.8 Limitation of the study
The following limitations will be inherent in the study, difficulty in convincing secondary school teachers, students and some head teachers, to see the need for the study so as to allow the research to take part of their time, and lack of enough money and time to go round al the secondary schools in Urue Offong/Oruko Local Government Area more than those used in the study.
1.9 Definition of Terms
The following terms will be defined as will be used in the study:
Home: This is the first place when a child enters the world. It includes father, mother and children.
Home Variables: These are that difference that is common between families such as parental educational attainment and home variables as used in this study.
Parental Educational Attainment: This is the level of education of father and mother.
Socio-Economic Status: This is the level of income of the parents which makes them to be placed in a social class in the society.
Academic Performance: This is the grade or scores of students in an experimentation or test in biology.
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