THE ROLE OF PARENTAL STATUS IN THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS (EDUCATION PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
From birth to age eighteen children spend just a fraction of their lives in school. Thus it is not surprising that many factors outside the school environment can significantly influence students prospects for academic success in schools. These factors (parental status) is in play both during the years before children begin formal schooling and while they are actually enrolled in elementary and secondary school. a diverse array of issues, including parents beliefs and expectations about education, the availability and quality of child care, family economic status, the persistence, or absence, of violence in a child life, access to social services, physical and mental health issues, opportunities for constructive, healthy activities outside of school; and the nature and strength of school community connections, can make a difference in a child’s opportunities to do well in school.
A commonly used phrase but one that has the ring of substantial truth is that parents are their children’s first teachers. Parents beliefs expectations and attitudes about education and their children’s achievement have a profound early impact on students conceptions of the place of education in their lives. What parents think about the importance (or unimportance) of doing well in school is often mirrored in students results. A study into some selected schools in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State found that nearly all students (97%) who earned mostly A’s and B’s on their report cards reported that their parents encouraged them to do well in school. among students who earned mostly C’s nearly half (49%) said they received little parental encouragement. Some families clearly have more resources to devote to their children and can move easily find time to spend nurturing and encouraging them. When both parents work can increasingly common phenomenon or when a child is being raised by a single parent, finding time to read to the child to encourage the completion of homework. Many children grow up in home with an abundance of fiscal and materials resources. But not all do. Poverty takes a tool on student’s school performance. Poor children are twice as likely as their more affluent counterparts to repeat a grade to be suspended, expelled or drop out of high school and to be placed in special education classes. Family composition and economic circumstances are often intertwined. More than half of the poor families are headed by an unmarried mother who must balance employment issues (these women are often trapped in love – wage jobs) with child care and parenting responsibilities. In sum, children from more economically affluent home circumstances have a leg up in many areas of life, including education.
