Influence of police career on academic performance of their children in primary school: a case study of Utawala academy Nairobi county, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of police career on academic performance of their children. Various studies on the military and police have been carried out in developed countries, but in Kenya, little has been done on police officers and this necessitates this research. The five main objectives of the study were: to investigate how the nature of police officers’ duties affects the academic performance and aspirations of their children; to establish how police officers’ transfers affects the academic performance and aspirations of their children; to determine how the police officers’ poor housing affects academic performance and aspiration of pupils; to investigate how lack of mentorship affects academic performance and aspirations of police officers’ children, and lastly to establish the educational aspirations of police officers children. The study relied on primary data from questionnaires and secondary data from other studies in understanding of the problem, Using a case study approach, data was collected from 198 Class Seven and Eight pupils, the school head teacher, 12 teachers of the sampled classes and 62 parents, from Utawala Academy School in Nairobi County. Both open and close-ended questionnaires were used to collect qualitative and quantitative information from the respondents. An interview guide was used to get information from the head teacher. Collected data were analyzed using the Scientific Package for Social Sciences program and presented in tables and frequencies. The collected and analyzed data indicate that 98% of the respondents felt that police officers’ transfer negatively impacted on pupils’ performance and aspirations followed by poor housing and lack of mentorship at 72%. On the other hand, over 90% of the police children had great aspirations in their academic and career aspirations even though they were significantly lower compared to children of civil servants and noncivil servants. The study recommends that police officers’ duties be flexed in order to allow them to take an active role in their children’s learning. In addition transfers for officers should be well structured to avoid interfering with their children’s learning. The study also recommends better housing for police officers. Finally, police officers should be encouraged to take a more active role in bringing up their children for maximum academic performance. It is recommended that a similar research at secondary level of education should be carried out to establish the influence of police career on the children of police officers.