University of Education, Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION, WINNEBA HOUSEHOLD CONDITIONS AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS FROM SELECTED SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS IN MFANTSIMAN MUNICIPALITY ISABELLA BRUCE (8180140024) A thesis in the Department of Social Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master of Philosophy (Social Studies) in the University of Education, Winneba DECEMBER, 2020 ii University of Education, Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh DECLARATION Student’s Declaration I, Isabella Bruce, declare that this thesis with the exception of quotations and references contained in published works which have all been identified and duly acknowledged, is entirely my own original work, and it has not been submitted either in part or whole for another degree elsewhere. Signature: ……………………..………… Date: ……………………………………… Supervisor’s Declaration I hereby declare that the preparation and presentation of this thesis was supervised in accordance with the guidelines and supervision of thesis laid down by the University of Education, Winneba. Supervisor’s Name: Dr. Lucy Effeh Attom Signature: ……………………..………….. Date: ……………………………………… iii University of Education, Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh DEDICATION I dedicate this work to my dear husband, Mr. Kow Ahor Essel - Yorke and my children Ewurasi Mbiriwa Essel - Yorke and Nana Esi Kwansima Essel – Yorke for their prayers, love, patience and understanding. iv University of Education, Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am so grateful to the Almighty God for his love and mercy shown to me from the beginning of this programme to this successful end. I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to my able supervisor, Dr. Lucy Effeh Attom for her guidance, attention and support throughout this work. I really appreciate your time and patience. I am indeed grateful to the District Director of Education, the entire Mfantsiman Municipal Education Directorate and to the Headmasters, Teachers and Students of schools that were sampled for this study. This research would not have been possible without your help. Finally, my thanks go to my brothers and sisters and the entire Bruce family for their prayers and support. v University of Education, Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE DECLARATION iii DEDICATION iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v TABLE OF CONTENTS vi LIST OF TABLES ix LIST OF FIGURES ix ABBREVIATIONS xi ABSTRACT xii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Background to the Study 1 1.2 Statement of the Problem 10 1.3 Purpose of the Study 11 1.4 Objectives of the Study 12 1.5 Research Questions 12 1.6 Hypotheses 13 1.7 Delimitation of the Study 13 1.8 Significance of the Study 13 1.9 Operational Definitions of Terms 14 1.10 Organisation of the Study 15 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 16 2.1 Introduction 16 2.2 Theoretical Framework 16 2.3 Meaning of Academic Performance 22 2.4 Socio-Economic Background and Academic Performance 23 vi University of Education, Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh 2.5 Parents‟ Education and Academic Performance of Students 32 2.6 Parental Ambition and Academic Performance 37 2.7 Parenting Styles as Context for Parental Involvement 39 2.8 Family Financial Resources 41 2.9 Parents‟ Occupational Status 43 2.10 Parental Involvement and Students‟ Academic Performance 45 2.11 Effects of Socio-Economic Background on Parental Involvement 56 2.12 Summary of Literature Review 60 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY 64 3.1 Introduction 64 3.2 Research Approach 64 3.3 Research Design 64 3.4 Study Area 65 3.5 Population 68 3.6 Sample and Sampling Procedure 68 3.7 Instrument for Data Collection 70 3.8 Validity of Instrument 72 3.9 Reliability of the Instrument 73 3.10 Data Collection Procedure 73 3.11 Method of Data Analysis 74 3.12 Ethical Considerations 74 CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND DISSCUSSION 76 4.1 Introduction 76 4.2 Descriptive Statistics of Respondent 77 4.3 Discussion of Research Questions 83 4.4 Socio-Economic Status of Parent and Academic Performance 83 vii University of Education, Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh 4.5 Student Academic Performance and Parental Involvement 86 4.6 Academic Performance 88 4.7 Parental Socio-Economic Status and Parental Involvement 90 4.8 Testing Hypothesis 93 4.8 Discussion 102 4.9 Socio-economic Status of Parents and Academic Performance 102 4.10 Parental Involvement and Students Academic Performance 107 4.11 Parents Socio-economic Status and Parental Involvement in the Education of Children 111 CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 112 5.1 Introduction 112 5.2 Summary of Findings 112 5.3 Conclusion 114 5.4 Recommendations 116 5.5 Limitations of the Study 118 5.6 Suggestions for Future Studies 118 REFERENCES 119 APPENDIX A: Introductory Letter 138 APPENDIX B: Questionnaire For Shs 3 Student 139 viii University of Education, Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE 4.1: Schools of respondents 77 4.2: Gender of students respondents 77 4.3: Age of students respondents 78 4.4: Respondents views on who they stay with 79 4.5: Students views on their parents level of Education 80 4.6: Residential status of students respondents 81 4.7: Students views on the occupational status of parents 82 4.8: Student monthly allowance 82 4.9: Supporting family income 83 4.10a: Socio-economic status 84 4.10b: Socio-economic status 85 4.11: Parental involvement 87 4.11a: Academic performance 89 4.11b: Academic performance 89 4.11c: Continuous Assessment Scores 90 4.12: Students views on their satisfaction with their academic performance of previous examination 90 4.13: Paired t test 91 4.15: Educational items owned by student at home 92 4.16: Summary socio-economic status, parental involvement, academic performance 92 4.17: Paired t test 93 4.18: Regression statistics 95 4.19: Paired t test 96 4.20: Regression statistics 98 4.21: Paired t test 99 4.22: Correlation between financial status of parents and academic performance 100 4.23: Regression statistics 101 ix University of Education, Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh LIST OF FIGURES FIGURES PAGE 3.1: Map of the study area 70 4.1: Scatter plot of Mathematics score by English score 97 4.2: Scatter plot of Social Studies score by Integrated Science 97 x University of Education, Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh ABBREVIATIONS BECE : Basic Education Certificate Examination CHPS : Community-based Health Planning Services CRDD : Curriculum Research Development Division NACCA : National Council for Curriculum and Assessment DLT : District League Table GES : Ghana Education Service GSS : Ghana Statistical Service SHS : Senior High School NEA : National Education Assessment NGOs : Non-Governmental Organizations PHC : Population and Housing Census PTA : Parents Teachers Association QQ Model : Quantity-Quality Model SBA : School Based Assessment SES : Socio-Economic Status T LMP : Teaching Learning Material Project UN : United Nations UNESCO : United Nations Economic, Science and Cultural organization US : United States WWW : World-Wide-Web xi University of Education, Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh ABSTRACT Household conditions play very crucial role in children‟s academic performance. The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between household conditions and academic performance of students in selected Senior High Schools in Mfantsiman Municipality. The theories employed in this study were ecological systems theory and the household production theory. The study also employed quantitative approach and descriptive survey design. Stratify and random (proportional) sampling techniques were employed to select 104 respondents for the study. Questionnaire were used for data collection and continuous assessment records of sampled students were also analyzed. The findings of the study show a significant positive relationship between household conditions, parental involvement in education and students‟ academic performance. It was revealed that the higher the socio-economic status of parents the higher the performance of students. Again, the lower the socio-economic status of parent the lower the academic performance of students. However, there were some exceptions where some students from low socio-economic background perform academically better than those from high socio-economic background due to high intelligent quotients (natural endowment). This study further revealed the strongest positive relationship between parental involvement and academic performance of SHS students. The more parents get involved in the education of their children, the better the academic performance of their children and the less parents get involved in the education of their children, poorer the academic performance of such children. It is therefore recommended that, parents should play a leading role in their children‟s education by playing active role for an improvement in academic performance. xii University of Education, Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the Study Education plays an essential role in the acquisition of knowledge and skills. It is an instrument used to train the future generations to inculcate in them skills and competencies. Consequently, most family are concern with education of their young ones. Family background plays significant roles in a child‟s life. Family background refers to all the objects, forces and conditions in the family which influence the child physically, intellectually and emotionally (Muola, 2010). Children coming from different family backgrounds are affected differently by such variables and that is why some children have good family background while family backgrounds of others are poor. The way a child is raised has a great impact not only on that child but the whole society. Growing up, a child spends most of the time at home and so the type of environment that he or she is brought up is crucial to the total development of that child.