SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS AND ACADEMIC PERFOMANCE PDF

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1 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study In this era of globalization and technological revolution, education is considered as a first step for every human activity. It plays a vital role in the development of human capital and is linked with an individual‟s well-being and opportunitie...

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study In this era of globalization and technological revolution, education is considered as a first step for every human activity. It plays a vital role in the development of human capital and is linked with an individual‟s well-being and opportunities for better living (Battle and Lewis, 2002). It ensures the acquisition of knowledge and skills that enable individuals to increase their productivity and improve their quality of life. This increase in productivity also leads towards new sources of earning which enhances the economic growth of a country (Saxton, 2000). The quality of students‟ performance remains at top priority for educators. It is meant for making a difference locally, regionally, nationally and globally. Educators, trainers, and researchers have long been interested in exploring variables contributing effectively for quality of performance of learners. These variables are inside and outside school that affect students‟ quality of academic achievement. These factors may be termed as student factors, family factors, school factors and peer factors (Crosnoe, Johnson and Elder, 2004). Generally these factors include age, gender, geographical belongingness, ethnicity, marital status, socioeconomic status (SES), parents‟ education level, parental profession, language, income and religious affiliations. These are usually discussed under the umbrella of demography (Ballatine, 1993). Unfortunately, defining and measuring the quality of education is not a simple issue and the complexity of this process increases due to the changing values of

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quality attributes associated with the different stakeholders‟ view point (Blevins, 2009; Parri, 2006). Besides other factors, socioeconomic status is one of the most researched and debated factor among educational professionals that contribute towards the academic performance of students. The most prevalent argument is that the socioeconomic status of learners affects the quality of their academic performance. Most of the experts argue that the low socioeconomic status has negative effect on the academic performance of students because the basic needs of students remain unfulfilled and hence they do not perform better academically (Adams, 1996). The low socioeconomic status causes environmental deficiencies which results in low selfesteem of students (US Department of Education, 2003). More specifically, this study aims to identify and analyze factors that affect the quality of students‟ academic performance. The effect of socio-economic status of parents on the academic performance of primary school pupils in Ife East local government of Osun state is to be studied. Ife East is located within longitude 403‟ E and latitude 7027‟ N. Its headquarters are in the town of Oke-Ogbo. It has an area of 172 km2 and a population of 188,087 according to the 2006 census by the National Population Council (NPC). 1.2 Statement of the Problem The impact of parental socio-economic status on pupil‟s academic performance is a major concern in education development in many developing countries. According to UNESCO (2010), the goals of Education for All (EFA) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), informal strategies to improve socioeconomic status are necessary so as to improve performance in examinations. Families with high socioeconomic status often have more success in preparing their

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young children for school because they typically have access to a wide range of resources to promote and support young children's development. They are able to provide their young children with high-quality child care, books, and toys to encourage children in various learning activities at home. Also, they have easy access to information regarding their children's health, as well as social, emotional, and cognitive development. In addition, families with high socioeconomic status often seek out information to help them better prepare their young children for school. On the other hand, research indicates that children from low-SES households and communities develop academic skills more slowly compared to children from higher SES groups (Morgan, Farkas, Hillemeir, and Maczuga, 2009). Initial academic skills are correlated with the home environment, where low literacy environments and chronic stress negatively affect a child‟s pre-academic skills. Furthermore, families from low-SES communities are less likely to have the financial resources or time availability to provide children with academic support. Children‟s initial reading competence is correlated with the home literacy environment, number of books owned and parent distress (Aikens and Barbarin, 2008). However, parents from lowSES communities may be unable to afford resources such as books, computers, or tutors to create this positive literacy environment (Orr, 2003) 1.3 Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of socio-economic status of parents on the academic performance of primary school pupils in Ife-East local government area of Osun state. For this to be achieved, the following would be the objectives:

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i.

To find out the effect of parental socioeconomic status on the academic achievement of primary school pupils

ii.

To determine the effect of parental educational level on the academic achievement of primary school pupils

iii.

To find out the effect of parental occupational level on the academic achievement of primary school pupils and To suggest workable recommendations for the enhancement of the pupils‟

iv.

academic achievement. 1.4 Research Questions The following four research questions guided the study: i.

Is there a difference in academic achievements of pupils from high socioeconomic status background and low socio-economic status background?

ii.

What is the relationship between academic achievement of pupils and parental income?

iii.

What is the relationship between academic achievement of pupils and parental occupation?

iv.

What is the relationship between academic achievement of pupils and parental educational level?

1.5 Research Hypothesis To achieve the above objectives, the researchers decided to develop the following hypotheses: i)

There is significant effect of parental socio-economic status on the academic achievement of primary school pupils.

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ii)

There is significant effect of parental income level on the academic achievement of primary school pupils.

iii)

There is significant effect of father‟s educational level on the academic achievement of primary school pupils.

iv)

There is significant effect of mother‟s educational level on the academic achievement of primary school pupils.

v)

There is significant effect of father‟s occupational level on the academic achievement of primary school pupils.

vi)

There is significant effect of mother‟s occupational level on the academic achievement of primary school pupils.

1.6 Significance of the Study Parent‟s socio economic status is an important factor in shaping their attitude towards encouragement or neglect of education of children. Students belonging to high socio economic status could get easily all the necessary things which they require for their high achievement. To realize the democratic ideal of equalizing educational opportunity, it‟s necessary to estimate the extent to which progress in education .i.e. academic achievement at primary school level in Ife-East is being influenced by socio-economic variables. The present investigation therefore was conducted to fulfill this need and aimed at exploring the relationship of the socioeconomic variable with academic achievement. It was assumed that the conclusions drawn on the basis of this study regarding the relationship between the variables and their effect on academic achievement might provide necessary guide line for improving the academic achievement of primary school pupils.

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1.7 Scope of the Study This research work was conducted on pupils in their final year of study (i.e. primary five pupils or primary six pupils where applicable) in some selected schools in Ife-East local government area of Osun state. The socio-economic status of parents was measured based on their level of education, income and occupation. 1.8 Limitation of the Study The researcher was faced by time and financial constraint during the time of this project. Hence, this research work was limited to some selected schools in IfeEast local government area of Osun state. Furthermore, to get a satisfactory result from the questionnaire, the research work was limited to pupils in their final year of study in the selected schools. 1.9 Operational Definition of Terms Socio-economic status: This refers to an economic and sociological combined total measure of a person‟s work experience and of an individual‟s or family‟s economic and social position in relation to others, based on income, education and occupation. High family socio-economic status: This refers to pupils whose care givers are wealthy enough to maintain high standard of living as measured by the socioeconomic status scale developed by the researcher. Low family socio-economic status: This refers to pupils whose care givers are not wealthy enough to maintain high standard of living as measured by socio-economic status scale developed by the researcher. Effect: A change which is a result or consequence of an action or other cause. Academic performance: It represents performance outcomes that indicate the extent to which a pupil has accomplished specific goals that were the focus of activities in school system.

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Primary school pupils: This represents the learners (from the age of about five to twelve years) of elementary schools who receive elementary education, coming before secondary school and after pre-school.

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CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1

Introduction Education is the best legacy a nation can give to her citizens especially the

youth. This is because the development of any nation or community depends largely on the quality of education of such a nation. It is generally believed that the basis for any true development must commence with the development of human resources. Much then is said that formal education remains the vehicle for socio-economic development and Social mobilization in any society (Shittu, 2004). Educational services are often not tangible and are difficult to measure because they result in the form of transformation of knowledge, life skills and behaviour modifications of learners (Tsinidou, Gerogiannis, and Fitsilis, 2010). So, there is no commonly agreed upon definition of quality that is applied to education field. The definition of quality of education varies from culture to culture (Michael, 1998). The environment and the personal characteristics of learners play an important role in their academic success. The school personnel, members of the families and communities provide help and support to students for the quality of their academic performance. This social assistance has a crucial role for the accomplishment of performance goals of students at school (Goddard, 2003). Besides the social structure, parents‟ involvement in their children‟s education increases the rate of academic success of their children (Furstenberg and Hughes, 1995). The SES can be deliberated in a number of different ways; it is most often calculated by looking at parental education, occupation, income, and facilities used by individuals separately or collectively. Parental education and family SES level have

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positive correlations with the student‟s quality of achievement (Caldas and Bankston, 1997; Jeynes, 2002; Parelius, D., and Parelius, A., 1987; Mitchell and Collom, 2001; Ma and Klinger, 2000). The students with high level of SES perform better than the middle class students and the middle class students perform better than the students with low level of SES (Garzon, 2006; Kahlenberg, 2006; Kirkup, 2008). The achievement of students is negatively correlated with the low SES level of parents because it hinders the individual in gaining access to sources and resources of learning (Duke, 2000; Eamon, 2005; Lopez, 1995). Low SES level strongly affects the achievement of students, dragging them down to a lower level (Sander, 2001). This effect is most visible at the post-secondary level (Trusty, 2000). It is also observed that the economically disadvantaged parents are less able to afford the cost of education of their children at higher levels and consequently they do not work at their fullest potential (Rouse and Barrow, 2006). Krashen (2005) concluded that students whose parents are educated score higher on standardized tests than those whose parents were not educated. Educated parents can better communicate with their children regarding the school work, activities and the information being taught at school. They can better assist their children in their work and participate at school (Fantuzzo and Tighe, 2000; Trusty, 1999). 2.2

Factors Affecting Educational Productivity Theory of Educational Productivity by Walberg (1981) determined three

groups of nine factors based on affective, cognitive and behavioral skills for optimization of learning that affect the quality of academic performance: a) Aptitude (ability, development and motivation); b) Instruction (amount and quality); c) Environment (home, classroom, peers and television) (Roberts, 2007).

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The home environment also affects the academic performance of students. Educated parents can provide such an environment that suits best for academic success of their children. The school authorities can provide counseling and guidance to parents for creating positive home environment for improvement in students‟ quality of work (Marzano, 2003). The academic performance of students heavily depends upon the parental involvement in their academic activities to attain the higher level of quality in academic success (Barnard, 2004; Henderson, 1988; Shumox and Lomax, 2001). There is a range of factors that affect the quality of the performance of pupils (Waters and Marzano, 2006). A series of variables are to be considered when to identify the affecting factors towards quality of academic success. Identifying the most contributing variables in quality of academic performance is a very complex and challenging job. 2.3

Factors Affecting Academic Achievements of Pupils According to Sabzwari (2004), the following factors play a vital role in the

academic achievements of pupils. Divorce: divorce negatively affects the academic achievements of the children. Possible explanation for this relationship is that divorce decreases or lowers the socioeconomic condition of a family. Majoribanks (1996) further argues that divorce creates other anxiety and pressure that are harmful and puts a lot of hurdle in the academic achievements of the children. Family size: family size is another factor that negatively affects the children‟s academic achievements. Children with fewer siblings are likely to receive more parental attention, cooperation and care and can have more access to resources than children from large families. These addition attention and support lead to better school performance and achievements. According to Eamon (2005) children from

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large families cannot have easy access to information regarding their educational activities. Parental involvement: parental involvement in school has linked to both positive and negative influences on academic achievements. Study by Domina (2005) concludes that explanation for this discrepancy is not conclusive. However it is thought that the type of involvement may make difference and that in some cases parents become involvement may not help academic scores, it does help to prevent behavioural problems. Parents’ education level: parents‟ education and especially the education level play a vital role in the academic performance of their children. Because educated parents can easily understand the hurdle in the way of their children‟s education and they know how to motivate and create their children interest in the academic activities. According to Mirza (2001) educated parents only easily manage their timetable and spare a suitable period of time to check and balance the academic activities of their children but also involve themselves in it. Income level: parents‟ income level is another factor that affects the academic achievements and performance of their children. In the words of Crosnoe, Johnson and Elder (2004), if the parents‟ income level is good and satisfactory than there would be fewer worries for the parents to provide learning resources and material to their children. In contrast, parents with low income often cannot provide easily their children such learning resources and materials which becomes hurdle in the academic performance of their children. Most importantly, factors like socio-economic status, parental involvement and family size are notable factors that affect academic achievement (Johnson and Elder, 2000).

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2.4

Socio-Economic Status (SES) and Academic Achievement Different scholars have defined socioeconomic status in different ways. Some

scholars consider that socioeconomic status is the total household income while other scholars include other variables i.e., parental educational levels. In addition to the widely used income variable, some others variables are also considered i.e., family and parental educational attainment; total family income; living in poverty; living in a single-parent household; motivation for learning; alcohol or drug use; crime; community/environment; etc. Many scholars consider that socioeconomic status is the most important and fundamental factor which is responsible for the academic success (Coleman 1966; Duncan 2005). Socioeconomic status refers to as a finely graded hierarchy of social positions which can be used to illustrate a person‟s overall social position or reputation. It can be indicated by a number of concepts such as employment status, occupational status, educational attainment and income and wealth (Graetz, 1995). In general, the concept “socioeconomic status” highlight to the position of individuals, families, or other units on one or more dimensions of stratification (Fergusson, Horwood and Boden, 2008). The socioeconomic status has been measured in many ways, including educational and occupational attainment, exposure to poverty, income and exposure to adverse life events such as unemployment or mono-parental families (Fergusson et al, 2008). Exposure to social inequality was evaluated on individual, family and community levels (Bardley and Cowyn, 2002 as cited in Fergusson et al, 2008). According to Bowden and Doughney (2011) children who have a higher socioeconomic status were more likely to aspire to higher education.

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Since 1990, the impact school and related contexts have on school performance has been taken into account. This resulted in additional indications, such as the socioeconomic status of the school and the economic status of neighbors (Sirin, 2005, as cited in Zhao, Valcke, Desoete, Verhaeghe, 2011). Although the socioeconomic status indicators appear to vary, the most used are the educational level, parental occupation and family financial level (Zhao et al, 2011). Education gaps among people with different socio-economic statuses were characterized as a lasting social phenomenon (White, 1982, cited in Ma, 2001). Differences in the socioeconomic status in schools may cause large differences in the academic performance, differences that are also called "socioeconomic gaps" in academic achievement (Ma, 2001). Familie...