Relationship between selected parental behaviour and academic achievement among primary school pupils in Rongena educational zone, Bureti district-Kenya

Abstract

The major purpose of the present study was to determine whether the frequency of parental praise, reprimands and involvement influence academic achievement of primary school pupils. The study also aimed at finding out the extent to which pupils' gender, and parental level of education influence the frequency of parental praise, reprimand, and level of parental involvement. The target population was class 6 and class 7 pupils attending schools/ in Rongena educational zone of Bureti district. The study sample were class six and seven pupils (n=120) and their teachers (n = 4) in a randomly selected school in the zone. Simple random sampling technique was used to select one school out of nine (9) schools in the zone. Stratified random sampling procedure was used to select 30 boys and 30 girls in each class. An Ex Post Facto design was adopted in the study. Research instruments consisted of school records and questionnaires for pupils and teachers. The independent variables were frequency of parental praise and reprimands, and parental involvement. The dependent variable was academic achievement. The t-test, ANOVA, and chi-square test were carried out in testing the various hypotheses. Teachers' responses were analyzed using content analysis. It was found that there was no significant difference in mean scores of pupils who reported to be frequently and those who were occasionally praised by their parents for satisfactory performance. The results revealed that class six pupils who reported to be occasionally reprimanded had significantly higher mean score than those who are frequently or never reprimanded by their parents for unsatisfactory performance. However, no significant differences were found in the mean scores of class seven pupils in the three groups. It was also found that pupils whose parents were reportedly highly involved had significantly higher mean scores than those whose parents were reported to be less involved. However, no significant differences were found in the frequency of parental praise, reprimand, and involvement towards boys and girls. The various implications of the results were discussed and recommendations for parents, teachers, and other stakeholders were made. Suggestions for further research were also made.