Pupils Perception Of The Influence Of Parental Involvement On Their Motivation To Learn And School Outcome
[A CASE STUDY OF ABEOKUTA METROPOLIS’]

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1    Background to the Study
Education is essential for the development of society. The more educated the people of a society are, the more civilized and well-disciplined the society might be. Mainly, family has responsibility to socialize children for making them productive members of society. The more the parents involve in the process of imparting education to their children, the more the children might excel in their academic career and to become the productive and responsible members of society.  It has been assumed that academic achievement of pupils may not only depend on the quality of schools and the teachers, rather the extent of parental involvement has vital role to play in academic achievement of their kids.  Learning begins at home through interaction with one’s family. (Bryan, 2005).
Parental involvement in a pupil’s education along with environmental and economic factors may affect child development in areas such as cognition, language, and social skills. Numerous studies in this area have demonstrated the importance of family interaction and involvement in the years prior to entering school (Hill, 2001; Wynn, 2002). Research findings have also shown that a continued effort of parental involvement throughout the child’s education can improve academic achievement (Driessen, Smit & Sleegers, 2005; Fan, 2001; Hong & Ho, 2005). Academic failure has been linked with risk behaviours and negative outcomes such as; substance abuse, delinquency, and emotional and behavioural problems (Annunziata, Houge, Faw, & Liddle, 2006).
Pupils’ academic achievement and educational attainment have been studied within different theoretical explanations. Many of them have a focus on parents’ education, occupation or home background (like; family income, language of the home,
activities of the family and work methods), while other studies looked at it from the teachers’ variables (such as teacher’s age, experience, education, gender, etc), school variables (such as environment, structures, buildings, location, etc), pupils’ variables (such as attitude, self-concept, self-esteem, study habit, interest etc) and parents’ support (such as achievement motivation of wards, parental attitudes towards
education, the aspiration of parents etc). (Liddle, 2006).
Owen and Philip (2013) show that parents have more contribution to pupil’s performance, but the participation level defers among rural area, boarding school and urban. Also, Tableman (2004) pointed out that when parents are enabled to become effective partners in their child’s education, performance in schools where children are failing improves dramatically. This shows the importance of parental involvement in changing academic performance in pupils. Harrison and Hara (2010) also concluded in a research done in North Carolina that family and community involvement can have a powerful and positive impact on pupil outcomes. Those studies agreed to some extent that parents’ participation has a positive impact on learners.
The parent’s financial status and education do have an important influence on the personality of the child. Educated parents can interpret the educational demands and their children’s aptitude. They can assist their children in their early education which bears on their proficiency in their relative field of cognition. Belonging to strongfinancial background, parents can provide the latest technologies and facilities in a
best possible way to enhance educational capability of their children. Parental education and socioeconomic factors are of critical importance in effecting pupils’ educational achievements as well. They are like backbone in providing financial and mental confidence to pupils. The explicit differences can be noted between pupils who belong to different families with different financial status and different parental educational level. Key (2007) argued that education is a primary need in this era of globalization so is a very important tool in the day to day life. Education not only gives insight, it also grooms the personality, inculcates moral values, add knowledge and gives skill. Education is necessary owing to the atmosphere of competition. In every field highly qualified people are needed. As (Azhar et al, 2013) cited in Battle and Lewis states that; “In this era of globalization and technological revolution, education is seen as a first step for every human activity. It plays a critical part in the evolution of human capital and is related to an individual’s well-being and opportunities for more honest living.”