Parental involvement on academic achievement among pupils in selected public primary schools within Makadara sub-county, Nairobi county, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to look at how various levels of parental participation affected students' grades in a few public elementary schools in the Makadara Sub-County of Nairobi County, Kenya. The specific goals of the study were to determine how much of an effect parental involvement in school activities had, how much of an effect parental supervision of homework had, how much of an effect parent-child interaction had on students' academic performance, and how to make parents more involved in their children's education. Ecological Systems Theory was applied to explain the study phenomenon, utilizing a mixed methodology approach with a descriptive research design. Participants included class teachers (N=21) and grade five and six pupils N= 313 (n = 166 boys, and n = 147 girls) from seven selected schools in Makadara SubCounty, chosen through stratified sampling. The study tools were assessed for reliability and validity after data was gathered using questionnaires. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to examine the acquired data. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and simple regression analysis were used to find variables with significant associations at a 0.05 level of significance. Tables showing frequency distributions, along with calculated means and standard deviations, were used to display the findings.. Ethical clearance by the Ethics review committee of Mount Kenya University and further authorization by NACOSTI was sought before commencing the study. It was expected that this study was of significant value for future researchers, offering insights for further investigation in this field. The study revealed that class teachers largely agreed that parents play a supportive role in their children’s homework by consistently inquiring, providing resources, and fostering a conducive environment (mean=3.6875). The findings also showed that class teachers generally observed active parental involvement in school activities (mean=3.7500). The study also found out that parent-child interaction was very vital when it comes to the academic wellbeing of the pupils based on the fact that it created a coherence and rapport amongst the pupils and the parent(mean=3.1250). parentchild interaction, parental participation in school activities and parental supervision of homework were was determined to account for shifts in students' academic performance at Makadara's public elementary schools (R2=0.910 and Fcalc6.395 < F Critical 51.377). The study’s findings underscore the substantial influence of parental engagement encompassing direct parent-child interaction, active involvement in academic endeavors, and structured oversight in driving variations in academic achievement. This highlights the indispensable role of parental participation in fostering optimal educational outcomes and underscores its significance as a pivotal determinant of student success. The study therefore recommended that based on the findings there is the need encouraging everyone with a stake in the school system to work toward improving students' health and academic performance. This can be achieved through an all-round approach of monitoring the home/ school environment, and the infrastructure such as electrification and passable roads.