Investigate the Influence of Parental Involvement on Students’ Academic Performance in Secondary Schools in Ilorin South Local Government Of Kwara State.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

          Parental involvement, defined as motivated parental attitudes and behaviours intended to influence children’s educational well-being. It is a multidimensional and bi-directional construct (Christenson, 2004; Fantuzzo, Tighe, & Childs, 2000) that has been shown to have clear links with social and academic outcomes for children (Dearing, McCartney, Weiss, Kreider, & Simpkins, 2004; E1 Nokali, Bachman, & Votruba-Drazal, 2010).

          All over the world, education is viewed ass a good investment for national development. Since the rest of the educational system is built upon primary education, the primary school level is the key to success or failure of the whole educational system (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2004). Therefore, children’s education is not expected to be left in the hands of school administrators and teachers alone but also in the hands of everyone, most especially the parents and the child’s immediate family members. In line with this belief, the idea that parents can positively influence their children’s education should be investigated.

          Parental involvement in children’s education can be seen as the act of engaging parents in instructional matters, predominantly in the home and also in the school. Rockwell, Andre and Hawley (2008) opined that parental involvement is the practice of any activity that empowers parents and family to participate in the educational process at home, at school and/or in any other programme settings. Generally, parent involvement in children’s education includes several forms of participation in education and with the schools.

          Prior to the beginning of the 20th century, formalized schooling was a collaborating between families and schools. In the late 1800s, the family dynamic was clearly defined by the father’s role of being the financial supporter of the family, while the mother’s was to manage and control the home. Within the context of the societal norm of the time, children were collectively reared by a cooperative of mothers who provided a nurturing environment for children in the community. Accordingly it was in 1897 that a group of American mothers from across the nation founded the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) to support a healthy growing relationship between parents and teachers. This movement was very active in political affairs, and worked toward passing laws in support of children’s rights (e.g. child labour laws, food and drug acts, and housing legislation).