The Role of Parental Involvement on Academic Performance of Secondary School Students in Kenya: The Case of Kajiado North District, Kenya

Abstract

Parental involvement in children's education has overwhelmingly been shown to be positively related to their academic performance.  This has been demonstrated to occur more particularly in developed countries.  The purpose of this study was to establish the role of parental involvement on the academic performance of students in public secondary schools in Kajiado North District of Kenya.  To establish this, a study was undertaken in which a descriptive survey research design was employed.  Applying a stratified random sampling procedure, three boys', two girls' and five mixed schools were selected from a total target population of 25 schools.  Stratified random sampling was then used to select 140 respondents comprising of head teachers, teachers, and students.  Given the small number of head teachers, purposive sampling was used to select 10 of them, while simple random sampling was used to select 50 teachers and 80 students from the sampled schools.  Data was collected using semi structured questionnaires, which were administered with the help of research assistants.  Collected data were analysed for descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (the Chi-square).  The findings of this study are expected to provide guidelines to management of public schools and parents to come up with clear arrangements that will ensure effective involvement of parents in education of their children.  These highlights will also guide the government, together with the school management, to formalise ways of increasing the levels of parental involvement on students' education to enhance their academic progress.  It is established that parental involvement in school management has positive effects on students' academic performance in which the majority of sampled head teachers (60%) and teachers (68%) were in support of this view.  It was therefore recommended that a public policy review is undertaken to incorporate active parental involvement in secondary schools' education.