Influence of parental involvement on children’s performance in number work activities in Kianjai zone, Tigania west, Meru county.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of parental involvement in children’s performance in number work in selected pre-schools in Kianjai Zone, Tigania West Division of Meru County. This was necessitated by the desire to establish whether parents are involved in their children’s academic performance. Involvement will entail activities such as parental support, communication, attitude and even participation in school activities. Further, can we draw a correlation between performance and parent’s involvement in these activities. The study seeks to determine the influence of parental involvement in children’s performance in number work in public and private pre-schools in Kianjai zone, Meru County, Kenya. It was guided by the following objectives; To establish parental support, determine the influence of parental communication with preschool teachers, investigate the impact of parental attitude and finally determine the effect of parental participation in pre-school activities on children‘s performance in number work in the study area. The research adopted a descriptive survey design. This was suitable in this study as it helped the researcher establish the existing conditions at school and home. It further allowed identification of standards and norms with which to compare the parental involvement. This eventually impacts curriculum implementation. The target population for this study was pupils, parents, teachers and head teachers of pre-schools in Kianjai zone. The target population was 35 head teachers, 35 preschool teachers, 268 preschool parents and 310 preschool children. A sample of 11 head teachers, 80 parents, 14 teachers and 93 pupils were selected through simple random sampling. A pilot study was carried out on a different set of respondents to better plan for the research. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data from head teachers and preschool teachers, an interview schedule was conducted to collect data from parents in the study and an observation checklist was used to collect data from pupils specifically on number work activities. The findings indicated that parental involvement in their children’s studies is very important. The researcher concluded that parental involvement in children’s performance had a strong relationship with children’s performance in number work. The researcher also concluded that parental support and parental participation were the strongest predictors of performance in number work. The researcher recommended that the government should assist parents who are unable to provide their children with learning materials to ensure that all children are well equipped to enhance performance in number work activities. The researcher also recommends that pre-school should organize more parent meetings, sports days and prize giving ceremonies to encourage communication between parents and pre-school teachers and thus improve on children’s performance in number work