Influence of Parents’ Socio-Economic Status on Their Participation In Children’s Pre-School Education in Kayole, Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

Parents are the first teachers in their children’s lives. As such, when parents participate in their children’s pre-school education, the children tend to perform well and behave better than those children whose parents do not participatein their children’s pre-school education. Unfortunately study shows that parental participation in their preschool children`s learning is low. The low level of participation has been found to be influenced by many factors. The possible contribution of the social economic status of parents has however not been established. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of parental socio-economic status on their participation in their pre-school children’s education. Parents play a critical role in modeling, ensuring effective communication between themselves and pre-school and identifying critical needs in their children`s academic life. The study objectives are to: Find out whether parental level of education contributes to involvement in their preschool children’s education; Determine the role played by parental occupation in their involvement in their children’s pre-school education; Establish whether parental level of income contributes to participation in their children’s pre-school education; Assess benefits of Parental involvement on their children’s Pre-school education outcome; Investigate the strategies used by schools to enhance parental participation in their children’s pre- school education. This study is significant in the field of education in that it builds upon the body of knowledge relating to parents’ socio-economic status on participation in their children’s pre- school education. The study is guided by Abraham Maslow’s theory of motivation and Epstein modes of parental participation. Methodology of the study: - A descriptive design using survey will be employed where data will be obtained from pre-school teachers and parents. The study will be carried out in Kayole zone, Nairobi County. Random sampling technique will be used to select all the respondents and 30 percent of the target population will be used as the study sample. The research instruments to be used in data collection are questionnaires for preschool teachers; and parents respectively. Pilot study will be done in two schools that are not part of the study sample selected. Validity and reliability will be tested during pilot study. Data will be analyzed using descriptive statistics. The data findings will be presented using tables, figures and descriptions of figures and narratives.