The Influence of Home Background on Academic Achievement in Agricultural Science of Senior Secondary School Students in Agricultural Science in Markurdi Local Government
Chapter One
Purpose of the Study
Generally, the purpose of the study was to find out the influence of home background on students’ academic achievement in Agricultural Science among senior secondary school students in Markurdi local government.
Specifically, the purpose of the study is to find out:
- The influence of parental level of education on academic achievement in Agricultural Science of senior secondary school
- The influence of parental occupation on students’ academic achievement in Agricultural Science.
- The influence of parental income on students’ academic achievement in Agricultural Science.
- The influence of family size on students’ academic achievement in Agricultural Science.
- The influence of parental motivation on students’ academic achievement in Agricultural Science.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Conceptual Framework Concept of Family
Family has been described at the smallest, most personal and not intimate of social groups. It is the most important primary group and the smallest social unit in the society. Odo (1990:10) defined family as “a social group sharing a common residence and co- operating economically”. The author went further to assert that the institutions of the family is usually based on the marriage of one or more sexually co-habiting couples and usually there is the expectation of having children for whom the adults of the family accept responsibility. Alio (1995) observed that the family is also the most personal social organization, for nothing is more personal than the interaction and relationship between members of a family. He further said that married couple without children, though bound by the strongest personal ties do not constitute a family for such ties can conceivably exist among couples who are not married. For him, what gives a family its character are children, for only in such a family can that intimate, personal relationship be established by which the family can perform its functions of rearing, protecting and educating the children, transmitting to them the social values it has inherited and a special bond between all the members. This kind of family setting is similar to the Nigerian traditional idea of family. Traditionally, it is believed that it is the children that cement the union of a man and a woman together and makes it a lasting and a intimate one. The primary aim of this union is procreation.
Family can be classified into nuclear and extended form. Nuclear family is basic form of family organization. It is made up of the father (husband), mother (wife) and children. The children may be the biological offspring; of the couple or/and the adopted members of the family. According to Okafor (1992), the adoption of a child into the family is a common culture in the British society, but less so in Nigerian society. He added that nuclear family is found common among the urban city elites in Nigerian society or as a component in both extended, nuclear and compound family in Nigerian rural areas. The author maintained that one of the characteristics of the nuclear family is that is tends to break up when the children marry, when the parents die or at any point in human cycle. According to him, the male raised in a nuclear family usually begins his life in house hold headed by his parents and concluded his life in a family that he himself heads.
Extended family is the type of family that comprises of the father (husband) his wife (mother), their children, the husbands and the wife’s relations etc. Alio (1995) pointed out that the extended system is a dispersal version of the joint family and the members of the constituent groups do not all live together in one dwelling. To him, the extended kin-group includes a span of three or four generations within the total household or closely adjacent households. The extended family system is commonly a characteristics of most African society. Many Nigerian societies do not believe in nuclear family but in modern times, urbanization and economic pressures are discouraging extended family ties. However, extended family system is the popular and most common type of family arrangement in the Nigerian society. Anybody who fails to practice or show interest in the extended relations is regarded as a wicked and hopeless human being by members of the society.
Concept of Home background
Home background plays a very big role on a child’s life. Home background refers to all the objects, forces and conditions in the family which influence the child physically, intellectually and emotionally (Muola 2010). Children coming from different home backgrounds are affected differently by such variations and that is why some children have good home background while the home background of others are poor. Citing Fleege, Eke (1999) noted that with some families, the background may vary from time to time for the same individuals. The author further stated that because it is parents who are primarily responsible for establishing the family and exercise control over it, they are responsible for the type of home background that exists. This means that parental attitudes are very important in promoting healthy home background, and healthy family background is possible when parents adapt to the culturally defined roles of parents to the needs of the changing young generation.
Concept of Achievement
Achievement could be seen as something which was carried out successfully. It is a product of effort or series of efforts. Achievement is usually good but in most cases difficult. Eze (2009) described achievement as something which has been accomplished successfully, especially by means of exertion, skill practice or perseverance. She sees achievement as a test for the measurement and comparison of skills in various fields of academic study. Ifeako (1999.30) regards achievement as a change in behaviour exhibited at the end of a given period of time or within a given time range. Nwagu 1992:71) cited in Eze (2009) defined achievement as “a systematic and purposeful quantification of learning outcomes”. He explained that achievement involves the determination of the degree of attainment on individuals in tasks, courses or programmes of which the individuals were sufficiently exposed.
Achievement tests result in academics have many functions which include: to enable us determine the relative position or rank of individual student with respect to their test performance. It also enables us to obtain information on the extent to which a student has attained the criterion performance.
Students, teachers, parents and the entire society are much concerned about the academic achievement of students.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHOD
This chapter discusses the procedure that is adopted in carrying out this study. It focuses on the research design, area of the study, population of the study, sample and sampling technique, instrument for data collection, validation of the instrument, reliability of the instrument, method of data collection and method of data analysis.
Research Design
The study was carried out using ex-post facto method in examining the influence of home background on student’s academic achievement in senior secondary schools in Markurdi local government. Ex-post facto research design according Ngwagu (2005) is a systematic empirical inquiry in which the researcher does not have direct control on independent variables because they are inherently not easy to manipulate. The purpose of ex-post facto research design is to find out factors that seem to be closely associated with certain behaviours, occurrences, prevalence or conditions. Ex-post facto design is considered suitable for this study because it is practical and versatile. The design enables the researcher to collect original data from the respondents themselves and describes the present conditions as they exist in their natural family settings.
Population of the Study
The population of the study consists of all the senior secondary class two (SS 2) students in fifty three public secondary schools in Markurdi local government. These fifty three schools have a population of seven thousand, Nine hundred and forthy five (7945) ss2 students. these schools are distributed across three Local Government according to the statistical records available in the Post Primary Schools Management Board (PPSMB) Markurdi Zone – see appendix for details.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
In this chapter, data were presented on the basis of the research questions and hypotheses that guided the study.
CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION AND INTERPRETATION OF RESULT
Discussion of the Findings
The findings of this study are discussed and compared with empirical studies done previously by other researchers. These discussions are carried out based on the issues relevant with the research question and null hypotheses that guided the study.
Influence of parental level of education on students’ academic achievement in Agricultural Science.
The focus of this research question was to establish the influence of parental level of education on students’ academic achievement in Agricultural Science. The result of these findings as summarized in table 1 (one) showed that students (respondents) overwhelmingly agree that parental level of education is a contributory factor in students’ academic achievement. The findings of this study tend to agree with the opinions expressed by Onochie and Okpalla (1985) that educational level of parents which is an indicator of socio-economic status has direct influence on child’s value and academic achievement in the school. The scholars further maintained that children from illiterate families may learn little or nothing from home that can help them to develop interest in academics.
The result of the study also indicates that educated parents provide conducive atmosphere for studies at home. This is in line with Qeca (1980) who asserted that children from literate families where parents provide atmosphere conducive for the formation of good study habit are in better chance of performing well in schools. Again the result also agrees with Izundu (2005) who asserted that there is significant relationship between the level of parents’ education and the academic achievement of the students. Again, Gary (2001) said that the importance of parental level of education to academic achievement of students cannot be over emphasized. Accordingly the scholar, students from professional and to a less extent managerial occupational backgrounds exhibit higher academic performance.
Educational Implication of the Findings of the STUDY
The findings of this study have some implications for the parents, students and the teachers.
The first hypothesis revealed that students from educated parents perform better in academics than students from uneducated parents. This phenomenon is as a result of intellectual stimulation and direct involvement of educated parents in their children’s education. This helps students from such background perform better than those from uneducated parents.
This phenomenon can be corrected by stimulating school environment and teachers’ positive reinforcement strategy which can compensate for non stimulating and negative reinforcement prevalent in an uneducated families. For students from uneducated families, this school situation aids to maintain the same home conducive atmosphere for academic career and facilitates learning and academic achievement.
Another major finding revealed that students from parents of high income status posses most of the necessary materials for their learning, unlike students from parents of low income status. This is an indication that children come to school from different background and these backgrounds presents their own problems for the children. The teacher having realized this condition should be conscious when dealing with the students. Students who came from low income class parents should not be mocked or compared with their counterpart from high income status parents when they failed to meet up in providing most of the materials needed for their studies. If such comparison occurs the students from low income status parents would feel inferior and that will affect their academic performance the more, and may even lead to the exhibition of abnormal behaviour trait.
All the above facts not withstanding, more efforts are still required from the parents, especially from the low income group in ensuring that adequate facilities are provided for the students. Students from low income parents requires virtues like dedication, honesty, determination, integrity and tolerance to pursue their career by making use of school facilities during and after school hours to enable them attain high academic performance.
Findings of the study also revealed that parental motivation is one of the major determinants of students’ academic achievement. Therefore, the need for parents to learn how to encourage their children cannot be overemphasized. There is equally the need for parents to be involved in the teaching-learning process of their children, particularly this period where most of the students come to school from their respective homes.
There is also the need for teachers to be more motivational in their teaching. This is possible when they vary their method of teaching and teaching aids to take cognizance of the individual differences inherent in the students from their different home backgrounds. Teachers can ameliorate through filling the parental motivational needs by individualizing instruction and taking special interest in the slow learners who suffer from deficient parental motivational pattern.
Another vital implication from this study is that school authorities should try to avoid grouping or streaming the school children especially according to ability and intelligence. Since the student come from different home background, there is every tendency that they differ in many respects. To have balanced and competitive class, the students should be randomly distributed, avoiding grouping intelligent ones one side and dull ones the other side.
This study equally implies that there is a greater need for more literacy and awareness campaign than before to awaken illiterate parents and instill awareness in literate parents who seem to attach much importance to education. The programme should be extended to rural areas where it is needed most.
Recommendations
Education is an important instrument of change in modern societies. Provision of adequate and relevant education is the best thing a nation can do for its citizens. This is more so, because education is a virile weapon against ignorance, disease, poverty and as a means of producing enlightened, responsible and industrious citizenry and prosperous nation.
Based on this background, the researcher makes the following recommendations:
- One of the major findings of this study is that parental income level has a greatinfluence on students’ academic achievement in Agricultural Science. For example, most cases, parental income is proportional to students finding which also determine to a large extent, the level of academic achievement of In this case, it is recommended that parents as a matter of importance should diversify their sources of income so that they can be able to provide fund their children in school for better academic achievement.
- Parents should be made to realize the importance of motivation in determining theirchildren academic achievement in schools, especially the realization that most of the male students are abandoning school for Parents should be actively involved in encouraging students to learn and also in supervising students academic work at home
- Students’should give serious attention to studies at home, in addition to other various works done, since the amount of effort they put in their studies influence their academic
- Teachers should understand that teaching is a job of conscience. Teachers shouldhandle the students as their own children; try by all means to meet the students’ academic social and psychological They should be motivational in their teaching and use different teaching methods so as to go along with all categories of students. This will help bridge deficiencies from negative home background.
- Thestate and Federal Governments should legislate against examination Such situation will force students to sit up and take their studies serious. Again, the various governments should create employment opportunities for the graduate of various institutions of higher learning. Lack of job opportunities contributes to the loss of interest and zeal for education by students. The current situation in Nigeria where graduates are left with little or no hope of employment gives no encouragement to the secondary school students for further education. Rather, the students see going to school is a waste of time.
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