PERCEPTION OF PARENTS ON OVER-SCHOOLING OF CHILDREN AT THE PRE-PRIMARY EDUCATION IN ONITSHA EDUCATIONAL ZONE OF ANAMBRA STATE.
CHAPTER ONE
1.1 Background of the Study
The Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004) in her National Policy on Education posits that the pre-primary school child falls within the age bracket of 0-6 years while Maduewesi (1999) views pre-primary school children as young children between 2-5 years engaged in specially designed academic programmes before the age of formal schooling. It is necessary that all who are involved in the education of the child understand and get acquinted with the pre-primary school child.
The pre-primary school children possess certain characteristics which are peculiar to them. According to Abidoye and Agusiobo (2000), these pre-school children are egocentric. That is, they view the world from their own perspectives. They are curious in nature. Their world is filled with excitement. The curiosity varies according to the center of interest at any given time. The children love exploration and in fact, they are investigators. Their love for exploration is demonstrated in their spoiling of new toys and trying to put them together again. Abidoye and Agusiobi(2000) see the children as being energetic and because of this, they cannot sit still for long periods of time. They prefer to do things than listen. Even while listening, they move their bodies restlessly. These pre-school children like to achieve their objectives. They often spend unusual length of time and efforts to solve problems that interest them. Problem solved gives them a feeling of satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment. Hence, they are persistent.
More interestingly, children are valuable assets from God. They are fragile and the future of any society. That is why they must be well protected and nurtured. They must be well taught both at home and at school. This is because this stage is a critical and delicate period of human life when children are easily influenced and the consequences of such influence greatly affect their adulthood. As observed by Anon (2013a), under the age of six, children absorb information without effort, and this stage of development provides critical foundation for the children’s character, learning and growth. Therefore, in the view of Ibiam (2012), it is necessary for parents, guardians, care-givers and adults to teach children values and social lessons and also provide them with good academic guide while in school.
Parents can be educated or un-educated, some are civil servants while some could be in business. The educated parents are parents with higher education qualifications. They get involved in their children’s education early enough unlike the non-educated ones. They get involved in their children’s education by reading to the children at home, teaching songs or nursery rhymes and assisting in homework. Parental education influences expectations of children. Therefore, having higher parental education is significantly related to higher expectations of children’s achievement (Gratz, 2006).
The un-educated parents are parents who do not have formal education and usually have lower income. Gratz (2006) observes that these parents often have to work longer hours to earn their small salaries. This leaves less time for them to assist their children in reading and even getting involved in their learning process. Gratz (2006) further observes that low income parents may not be neglectful parents but it is easy for them to slip into the stereotype under extreme pressure. Hence, most of them may not adequately provide appropriate educational guide to their children due to lack of appropriate knowledge and time.
Parents who are civil servants are those under the employment of the government, either at the Federal, State or Local government level. According to Kwaghga (2010), civil servants are a body of men and women employed in a civil capacity and non political career basis by the Federal and State government primarily to render services in form of advice, formulation and implementation of policies of the government. They are appointed on merit on the basis of fair and open competition. They are expected to carry out their roles with dedication and commitment to civil service and its core values which are integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality (Civil Service Code, 2010).They offer services within the working hours determined by the general or specific provisions in effect. In the event of extraordinary and urgent official needs, civil servants also offer their services beyond the working hours or during non working days (Ministry of the Interior, Public Administration and Decentralization,1999).
Business parents may be involved in micro, small or medium scale business. According to Luetkenhorst, Geiger, Ozsoy and Fidan (2004), micro, small and medium scale businesses make important contributions to economic and social development. In economics, they constitute the vast majority of business establishments. They are usually responsible for the majority of jobs creation. They account for one- third to two- third of the turnover of private sector. In developing countries, they are seen as a major “self help” instrument for poverty eradication. Constant (2008) observes that while big companies create jobs and stimulate innovation, self employment contribute to job creation and economic growth, alleviating welfare burden and leading many to economic and social advancement. Discussing about business women, Constant (2008) said that the reason why women choose self employment was that they could easily combine work and family responsibilities. They could even conduct business from home while simultaneously satisfying domestic responsibilities.
At school, particularly at the pre-primary level, the children ought to be taught according to the provisions and guidelines of the National Policy on Education, (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2004), which recommends teaching of rudiments of numbers, letters, colours, shapes, forms, among others, through play. The Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004) in her National Policy on Education defined pre-primary education as the education given in an educational institution to children prior to their entering the primary school. It comprises the crèche/day care (0-2years), nursery/play group (3-5years) and kindergarten (5-6years). It consists of activities that facilitate a child’s learning, growth and development. This level of education is important as it strengthens the child’s self esteem and provides positive learning experiences as well as opportunities to interact with peers in diverse ways.
Most often the pre-primary level of education is misinterpreted to be a stage for actual schooling where children are expected to learn difficult tasks, hence making the curriculum complex. This contradicts the provisions of the National Policy on Education. In supporting government position, Weikart (1990) said that the appropriate curriculum for children at the preprimary level should be focused on development of dispositions which would enhance further learning. For Weikart(1990), this curriculum should enable children develop a disposition for curiosity, friendliness, problem solving, interest in reading and numbers and for seeing school as a positive and supportive place. Ibiam and Aleke (2012) expressed dissatisfaction as contradiction of these provisions and guidelines on the curriculum have resulted in teaching the children things that are actually beyond their intellectual development by overloading, overtasking and overburdening the children, which is referred to as over-schooling. Ibiam and Aleke(2012) further observed that most proprietors and teachers expose these children to real teaching of numbers and numeracy which contradicts government’s provisions.
There is also the problem of non- uniformity of the curriculum used by different providers of pre-primary education. The non-uniformity of the curriculum used by different schools poses a lot of problems especially as government does not adequately monitor the preschool programme. Ibiam( 2012), advised that as a result of the young children’s learning pattern, social, emotional and cognitive development should be at the children’s pace taking place through play and active method, rather than having the curriculum of a particular class or school being overloaded beyond the level of the children. Another ugly situation is that most teachers at this level of education are professionally unqualified, under-skilled, undereducated or under-schooled to actually understand the goals and purposes of this level of education as provided by the FRN (2004) in her National Policy on Education and the learning theories. Some parents and guardians support the idea that their children and wards be given more schooling to cover every aspect of the curriculum. This equally leads to over-schooling.
Educators too often overlook the fact that children learn more outside the classroom than in the classroom. Keeping children after the normal school period for extra lessons up to 4.00pm or 5.00pm when they will be picked by their parents at the end of their business or work may not be beneficial to the children. Unfortunately, the proprietors are more interested in the economic rather than the educational or social consideration. The profit component is pursued with much vigor to the detriment of pursuing the lofty goals highlighted at this level of education (Joshua, 2012). The unqualified, under skilled and under schooled teachers also champion this course of engaging these children after normal period due largely to ignorance of the guidelines.
As important as the perception of parents on over-schooling is to the wellbeing of their children, it has been found that studies in this area are scanty. The only study in this area in Nigeria was the one conducted by Umobong, et al., (2012). Though this study was limited in scope as it covered schools in Akwa Ibom, there is need to understand how parents feel about the over-schooling of their children in other states in Nigeria to compare results and findings and make recommendations for the proper education of children at the pre-primary education level. Based on this need, the present study attempts to study a similar view of parents but in Onitsha educational zone of Anambra State.
The purpose of pre-primary education, among other things, include to effect a smooth transition from home to the school, prepare the children for the primary level of education, provide adequate care and supervision for the children while their parents are at work (market, farm or office etc), inculcate social norms and to teach children the rudiments of numbers, letters, colours, shapes, forms etc through play. In other words, this level of education is meant to guide the growth of a child by promoting responsible behavior, respect for others and the willingness to follow general acceptable rules. It is not meant for actual teaching.
Over-schooling at this level can be stressful to the children and in fact makes schooling to be very stressful. Children at this level are denied rest and play which are very necessary for their cognitive, social, emotional and physical development. They are simply exposed to information above and beyond their chronological age and developmental task. Over-stimulation of their brain through over-tutoring may be detrimental to their mental development and functioning.
As over-schooling of children is gaining grounds, particularly in Nigerian private schools, there is a great need to understand the perceptions or view of parents on over-schooling of children at this level of education, and this is the focus of this study.
The general objective of the study is to investigate the perception of parents on over-schooling of their children at the pre-primary education level in Onitsha Education Zone of Anambra state. Specifically, the study seeks to:
i. Ascertain the perception of parents on keeping pre-primary children in school after the normal school period
ii. Ascertain the perception of parents on the volume of homework given to children at the pre-primary level of education
iii. Determine the perception of parents on the academic work of children at the pre-primary level of education,
iv. Determine the perception of parents on the influence of over-schooling on children at this level and
v. Determine parents’ opinion on the possible solutions to over-schooling of children at this level.
The following research questions were posed to guide the study:
1. What are the perceptions of parents on keeping pre-primary children in school after normal school period?
2. What are the perceptions of parents on the volume of homework given to children at the pre-primary level of education ?
3. What are the perceptions of parents on the academic work of children at this level?
4. What are the perceptions of parents on the influence of over-schooling on children at this level of education?
5. What are the opinions of parents on the possible solutions to over-schooling of children at this level of education?
The following null hypotheses were postulated to guide the study and were tested at 0.05 level of probability.
Ho1: There is no significant difference between the perception of civil servants and businessmen/women as parents on the influence of over-schooling on pre-primary school children.
Ho2: There is no significant difference between the perception of civil servants and businessmen/women as parents on the possible solutions to over-schooling of pre-primary school children.
The findings of this study have both theoretical and practical significance. The study is anchored on Developmental task theory.
Robert J. Harvighurst’s developmental tasks theory has great relevance to this research work. It talks about ‘timing’ and ‘teachable moment’. In handling children at the pre-primary level, timing is very essential. If well timed, children at this level should only be taught things that are within their developmental and chronological age, not to be overburdened and overtasked through over-schooling and overtutoring. At their level, they should be taught with simple curriculum as provided by the National Policy on Education and be prepared adequately for movement to the primary school where the actual teaching should be done. This is supported by the theory which states that when the timing is right, the ability to learn a particular task will be possible, Harvighurst referred to this as a “teachable moment”. Hence unless the time is right, learning will not occur. He therefore advocates that the developmental stage of children should always be considered in handling children at this level.
Practically, the findings of the research work will be beneficial to the following:- the children, parents, teachers and government. Children will spend the normal school period of six (6) hours in the school, be given homework that matches their age and developmental level to enable them have adequate time for play and rest for proper mental and physical development. To the parents, it will enable them understand the danger and adverse effect of overschooling, give them time and opportunity to establish good parent-child relationship. It will also help them to have a good link with the children’s pre-school in order to be part of the school decision making e.g. being members of school Parent-Teacher Association (PTA.) To the teachers, it will help them to follow the simple curriculum provided by the National Policy on Education which will result to lots of leverage and stress-free teaching as most teaching and learning will be done through play. Finally, the Government will benefit when the purpose and guidelines provided by the National Policy on Education are implemented because children will grow normally to become responsible citizens later in life.
The study was delimited to Onitsha Education Zone of Anambra state. Content wise, the research investigation would be on the view of parents on keeping children in school after normal school period; the view of parents on the volume of homework given to children at the nursery level of education; the view of parents on the academic work involvement of children at the nursery level of education; the view of parents on the influence of over-schooling on these children; and finally the view parents on the possible solution to over-schooling at this level of education.
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PERCEPTION OF PARENTS ON OVER-SCHOOLING OF CHILDREN AT THE PRE-PRIMARY EDUCATION IN ONITSHA EDUCATIONAL ZONE OF ANAMBRA STATE.