Abstract

This study attempted to explain some of the influences of students’ family background on the behaviour of students in secondary schools in Buea Municipality. Family background has been highlighted as of great important in molding the performance and behaviour of children in schools worldwide.

This study therefore investigated the relationship between family backgrounds on student academic achievement in secondary schools in Limbe Municipality. This study focused on the influences of parental level of education, parental involvement parental values and how they all affect the academic achievement of secondary schools students in Limbe Municipality. The study employed a descriptive survey research design and employed convenient random sampling techniques to sample respondents.

The study used a sample of 120 students drawn from three schools (G.H.S Limbe, G.B.H.S Limbe and KULU Memorial College), selected by a random sampling method. Data was collected by use of structured-questionnaire for students. The data was Data was analyzed by means of tables and simple percentages and hypothesis were tested using a Spearman’s rho correlation.

Findings revealed that reveal that family background affects student academic achievement. It was also, revealed that parental level of education, parental involvement and parental values have a significant effect on the academic achievement of secondary school students in Limbe Municipality.

It was concluded that parental level of education, parental involvement and parental values play a significant effect on the academic achievement of secondary schools in Limbe Municipality. It was suggested that the government should ensure that all schools in rural and urban areas have libraries where students from poor family backgrounds may go to seek and acquire knowledge to develop a positive attitude towards schooling and to succeed in school.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Introduction

Generally, the school has become an indispensable agent in the transmission of knowledge and skills around the world. This chapter seeks to explain the background of the study and identify and give a statement of the problem(s) encountered. It equally deals with the purpose and significance of the study, clearly stating its specific objectives with some specific general research questions inclusive. The chapter further brings out the operational definition of some key terms as used in the research such as; family background, income, educational level of parents, influence and parental values. Finally, concludes with a summary of the chapter.

Background of the Study

Historical Background

The family is probably the most ancient group in the human experience extending back to thousands of years before the dawn of history. The family testifies to the survival capacity of groups, which perform important functions for their members and the society at large. The family is vital to the individual; most of us have a long connection with kinship groups than any other kin.

The family is indispensable to society as well as to the individual. The biological survival of any society is entrusted to it. Procreation, of course, occurs outside the family and sometimes does, but most children in all societies are born into families. There are other socializing agents, but across the world, the crucial and indispensable ones are within the family. The family is not only vital in each generation, but it also perpetuates itself into the future.

According to Heasman, the family consists of that group of kinfolks who are in continuous interaction or contact with one another. This means that they live together under one roof. Zeldith (1964:681) said a family is a social group in which sexual access is permitted between certain adult members. Reproduction legitimately occurs, and the group is responsible to society for the care and upbringing of children, and a group is an economic unit at least in consumption. Williams (1985) said the family is the basic and universal institution. This means that the survival of any society is determined by the family, for it is the family that is responsible for procreation and child-rearing. The family, being the first socializing agent has a kind of lasting effect on the children. Perhaps the most important function of the family is to socialize children with the values necessary for an effective citizen. From cradle to grave the family leaves its impact on the social experience of the individual.

There are different kinds of family backgrounds, we have monogamous families, polygamous families, broken families, and here the father and mother are staying apart. This study will show how each of these affects the children in the family. Family background plays an important role in the education of children. Middle-class students benefit from having fewer siblings than typical working-class families. If children develop vital and cognitive skills through interaction with parents, those from small families will spend more time with parents than with peers and siblings, in comparison to children from large families. For this reason, regardless of ability, students from the higher social strata compared to other students, do better in school, stay there longer and are ultimately prepared to move into higher status occupations.

Conceptual Background

Many researchers and scientists agree that success at schools is associated with social background factors (Giddens), 1997) as these factors affect your children’s cognitive skills. Disadvantaged children (children with poor social backgrounds) start school with significantly lower cognitive skills than their more advantaged peers.

Experience has shown that among the secondary school students there exist some differences which influence students’ academic performance, such as some students being able to pay their school fees promptly, while others were often sent away for nonpayment of school fees, some students have problems with the provision of school uniform but others were not.

Likewise, some students were motivated by their parents through the provision of educational materials like textbooks and exercise books, others were not. Whereas some students come to school properly feed, others were not. One then wonders whether the influence of family background had played a role in these issues.

Educational upbringing is not unconnected with the family influence of a child. Individual members of the family serve as a model to the child as he/ she copies from each of them. Eyake (1997) quoted. Adeyeme (1977) if the house fails to provide the child with the necessary equipment’s to fit him/ her into his proper place in the society and guided properly for his/ her future career, then the child is damaged. An analysis of the percentage of secondary school dropouts today entails that such students are usually from broken homes, wiring polygamous families or with other socially related problems.

The agrarian and large families have accounted for the polygamous life of people. The large the size of the family, the more economic and other social responsibilities the parents bring upon themselves. And more often than not, the educational performance of students from such families suffers serious setbacks. This is because such parents might not be able to afford the cost of funding education for their children.

Other factors may affect the education performance of students like separation on grounds of different working stations, divorce or even natural death can bring adverse effects on the growth and development of a child.

Furthermore, the economic position of parents is one of the major factors that can influence greatly the educational upbringing of a child. In most families, either or none of the parents may be earning an income sufficient enough to sustain the family, faced with malnutrition and other emotional and psychological effects, the mental development of the child would be greatly retarded. Or hunger (1990) adds that a low-income family with plenty of feeding problems may produce children whose physical and mental development poses real challenges to the school’s effort at optimum development of the child.

Contextual Background

In Limbe Municipality and Fako-Division, it is well known that students’ educational outcomes vary sharply with their family background. Differences in academic performance with students’ family background emerge early at the preschool level and are reinforced in childhood and the teenage years through tertiary education.

There are some schools in Limbe Municipality where the majority of students in these schools are children whose parents are of the lower and middle class. Their parents are educated and ensure that their children get extra classes at home and during holidays because they believe their children do not have enough from these schools. Due to the low socio-economic status of some parents, they can barely afford the basic requirements of their children. When a child is deprived of these essential needs, he/she can hardly perform well in school.

Theoretical Background

The study made use of three (03) major theories, that is Charles Cooley theory of Socialization (1929), Maslow’s Motivational Theory (1970) and the Karl Marx Conflict theory (1818).

Socialization theory was developed by Charles Cooley in 1929 and it refers to the parenting practices that influence children’s development. Socialization is a lifelong process that involves inheriting and disseminating norms, customs and ideologies hence providing an individual with the skills and habits that are necessary for participating within one’s society. Socialization, therefore, is the means through which individuals acquire skills that are necessary to perform as functional members of their societies and is the most influential learning process. The theory is vital to this study as it added to the knowledge of socialization theory by relating the influence that family background has on only one aspect of a child’s life, which is academic achievement. Further, it tested to find out whether this model is applicable in a developing country scenario which is Cameroon and specifically Limbe Municipality.

Maslow’s Motivational Theory is also relevant for this study. According to Maslow, motivation is constant and never-ending, fluctuating and complex. He asserted that man always has needs to satisfy. These needs, according to him are arranged in a hierarchical order starting from the basic or lower-order needs to higher-order needs. The hierarchy is categorized into two, namely Deficit needs (physiological, safety, belonging and self-esteem) and growth needs (self-actualization). Maslow explained that once a particular need is satisfied, it ceases to be a motivator of behaviour and another need emerges. The theory relates to this study because motivation is very important in learning. It is necessary at home and in school.

Karl Marx Conflict theory was also vital for the study. The conflict theory sees the purpose of education as maintaining social inequality and preserving the power of those who dominate society. Conflict theorists agree that the educational system practices sorting, and argue that schools’ sort along distinct class and ethnic lines. According to conflict theorists, schools train those in the working classes to accept their position as a lower-class members of society. Conflict theorists call this role of education the “hidden curriculum.” According to the theory, children from the low socio-economic status will be given equal treatment as lower-class kids in the school and society at large compared with those from high socio-economic status. The theory points out that while private schools are expensive and generally reserved for the upper classes, public schools, especially those that serve the poor, are underfunded, understaffed, and growing worse.

Statement of the Problem

Societies all over the world strive to achieve quantitative education for their citizenry. To achieve this noble course, so many factors must be put into consideration. Among them is the family background of the child. The family has a great role to play in the overall development of the child and his educational upbringing in particular.

The gap in performance between students and academic excellence constitute a great source of worry and serious concern as well as discomfiture to both parents, schools’ managers, policymakers and various governments responsible for the education of students in secondary school schools.

Experience has shown that among the secondary school students there exist some differences which influence students’ academic performance, such as some students being able to pay their school fees promptly, while others were often sent away for nonpayment of school fees, some students have problems with the provision of school uniform but others do not.

Likewise, some students were motivated by their parents through the provision of educational materials like textbooks and exercise books, others were not, whereas some students’ come to school properly feed, others did not. One then wonders whether the influence of family background had played an in these issues.

Parents’ involvement is highly related to their children succeed in education. Students whose parents are more involved with their schooling are more likely to be motivated and have good achievements in school. Parents’ attitudes towards the education of their children are such as frequency of helping with homework, frequency of supervision children’s homework; times spent interacting with children, frequency of praising with children and providing enough stationary. Parents who have high educational expectations also tend to motivate their children in their academic achievement. They take good care of their children either both in or out of schools (reward or punish due to the children’s behaviour). Pandey (1985) concluded that if a proper system of reward and punishment is followed, children shall certainly perform well in school.

In light of this, the main problem of this search is to find out if there exist in Limbe Municipality a relationship between family background and the students’ academic performance.

Objectives of the Study

Main Objective

The main objective of the study is to investigate the influence of family background on the academic achievement of secondary schools’ students in the Limbe Municipality.

Specific Objectives

1. Examine the influence of parental level of education on the academic achievement of secondary schools’ students in Limbe Municipality.
2. Examine the influence of parental involvement on the academic achievement of secondary school students in Limbe Municipality.
3. Examine the influence of parental values on the academic achievement of secondary school students in Limbe Municipality.

Read: Educational Psychology Project Topics with Materials