Influence of single parenthood on pre-school children's academic performance in Kirinyaga District :A case study of Mwea Division

Abstract

This study intended to investigate the Influence of Single Parenthood on Pre-School Children's Academic Performance in Kirinyaga district and the influence of the following variables; risk and protective factors, absence of a father and mothers’ employment were the basis of the study objective and questions for the study on the influences of single parenthood on pre-school children's academic performance. The study adopted a descriptive survey design because it enabled the research to gather the relevant data from a target population from all the pre-school children in Mwea division of Kirinyaga district and an accessible population of 160 respondents from the 80 pre-schools that are registered by the Ministry of Education department of ECD; and which had been in operation for over one year. Multi-stage sampling included simple random sampling of the 80 teacher respondents and the 80 parents’ respondents. From this total of 160 a simple random sampling was done to determine the 30% respondents for each category to yield a total sample of 48 (30% of 160). Two sets of data collection instruments were employed; a questionnaire for the teachers and an interview schedule for the parents. Validity and reliability were ensured though a pilot study and professional advice were included in both quantitative and qualitative analysis in which descriptive statistics were employed as measures of central tendencies, (mean, mode and median) and measures of dispersion were also used with the aid of excel computer package. The study found that fathers absent and risk protective factors were the major influences on pre-school child’s performance. The study made the conclusion that Influence of Risk and Protective are a major threat to preschool children behaviour and academic performance. However this study could not establish at what point to isolate other factors like religion and culture and modern life styles e.g. the single parent by choice status as contributing to risk and protective factors. On mother’s employment, the study findings are in agreement with other researchers on the influence of income and mother's employment that working is not a predictor of negative outcomes and working can have both positive and negative effects on student achievement. The study recommended that there is need for pre-school managers and teachers to be aware and vigilant to mitigate the Influence of Risk and Protective factors.