Thesis:

Relational analysis between parental involvements and behavior modification of primary school pupils in Mbeere South District, Embu county, Kenya

It is widely recognized that if pupils are to maximize their potential from schooling, they would need the full support of their parents who regulate their behavior patterns. Thus, the study intended to investigate the relationship between parental involvement and behavior modification of primary school pupils in Mbeere South District, Embu County, Kenya. The literature for this study was based on concept of behavior modification, parents’ modeling, parents’ monitoring, guidance and counseling and parents’ rewarding in relation to behavior modification of primary school pupils. The study was guided by Parental Involvement and Behavior Modification Theories. The study adopted quantitative and qualitative methods since it involved collection and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data. The study applied explanatory sequential design in which researcher implemented the quantitative and qualitative method where qualitative data helped explain or build upon initial quantitative results. Questionnaires, interview schedules and focused group discussions were used to collect data from head teachers, teacher counselors, parents’ representatives and pupils in standard eight. Piloting of research instruments was conducted twice amongst 5 head teachers and 5 teachers to establish validity and reliability. Reliability was determined using test retest method and reliability coefficient was determined using Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Method. The target population for this study comprised 50 head teachers, 150 teacher counselors, 500 parents’ representatives and 2000 class VIII pupils all totaling to 2700. Using The Central Limit Theorem, a sample of 10 primary schools, that is, 20% of the targeted 50 primary schools, was selected. Based on the same theorem, the researcher sampled 300 respondents, that is, 11.1% of 2700. The researcher then applied stratified sampling to create 5 strata based on the number of divisions. From each stratum, 2 head teachers, 6 teacher counselors were selected using purposive sampling. Twelve (12) parents’ representatives and 40 class VIII pupils were selected using simple random sampling. Data analysis began by identifying common themes from the respondents’ description of their experiences. Frequency counts of the responses were then obtained to generate information about the respondents and to illustrate the general trend of findings on the various variables that were under investigation. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically along the study objectives whereas quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics in Statistical Packages for Social Science (SPSS Version 21). The study has established that Parents’ role modeling, monitoring, guidance and counseling and rewarding activities help modify behavior patterns of primary school pupils. The study recommends that parents should be sensitized to better understand that it is their responsibility to act as good role models for their children in order to shape up their behavior patterns. Parents and school partnership should be enhanced to ensure easy monitoring of pupils in and outside the home or schools. This may help the education stakeholders such as parents and teachers to keep track of pupils’ behaviour patterns. Parents should constantly guide their children to acquire desirable behaviour patterns. Parents and teachers should collaborate to ensure that the kind of rewards offered could be effective in reinforcing desirable behaviour amongst primary school learners.