THE PRESSURE OF PARENTS’ EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT TO THE

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SELECTED GRADE 10 STUDENTS AT

SAINT WILLIAM’S INSTITUTE INC., S.Y. 2022-2023

A Research Paper
Presented to
the Faculty of Saint William’s Institute, Inc.,
San Ramon, Magsingal, Ilocos Sur

In Partial Fulfillment
for the Subject
Research Project

Alvarez, April Winchester B.

Arellano, Vallerie Rose T.
Garcia, John Raymond G.
Guiang, Jenina Mae T.
Renon, Daryll Audrey T.
Talbo, Jay Lord T.
Tubon, Bryan Nathaniel S.
Udani, John Paul C.

2023
 CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM

Background of the Study

Parents always want the best for their children. They give their best to their

children in order to succeed in life. Life without parental support can be a disaster. The

parents are the one who saved us in every aspect that will come to our life. Parental

pressure is the drive that parents put on their children to achieve a goal. The pressure

that parents give to their children is the one who takes the responsibility to their children

to do better in school. They want the best for their children in terms of their academics.

On one hand, student's self-efficacy is the belief of the students that they can do

successfully a task whatever it is. Student's self-efficacy, reported that can always handle

in solving difficult problems if they try hard enough. However, they do not have enough

self-efficacy when it comes to dealing with unexpected events.

Parents with higher levels of education tend to have more knowledge, resources,

and expectations related to education, which can positively influence their children's

academic outcomes. They may also provide better support and guidance in terms of

studying habits, time management, and academic goal-setting. However, it's important to

note that academic performance is influenced by multiple factors beyond parental

educational attainment, including the student's own abilities, motivation, and

background. Therefore, it's crucial to consider a holistic approach that takes into account

all of these factors when discussing academic performance. Their expectations can be

contrasted with parental aspirations, which typically refer to needs, desire or goals that
created concerning their children’s future accomplishment. Parents may pressure their

child because they want the best for them like finish their school and have a better job.

Parental pressure is the emotional that parents tend to put on their children and is often

related to academic success and other factors. Although the pressure is mainly based on

good intentions. Parents can go beyond what’s acceptable for their children. Academic

pressure is something we don't want to feel in our academic performance. Maintaining

our grades has been important to us. Despite the fact that their expectations can lead to a

negative mental state, children will doubt their ability to perform academically.

According to Lahey and Lahey (2015) Parents are the one who guides their

children through hardships and success. They want their children to have a bright future

to push them to exceed in school. They want them to become the best among the rest, so

they force them to spare their children from disappointment and feelings of failure that

may come along if they do not study hard. Parental pressure can have unintended

consequences, such as encouraging students to pursue paths that are not aligned with

their interests or strengths, and contributing to a narrow and homogeneous view of

academic success. The Department of Education (DepEd) data shows that for every 100

children who enter Grade 1, close to 15 do not make it into Grade 2, and roughly one-

quarter or 24 percent have dropped out before Grade 4 (Luz, 2007). Meanwhile, on

December 2013, the NSO Census of Population and Housing (CPH) shows that out of

the 71.5 million individuals who are 10 years old and above, 97.5 percent or 69.8 million

are literate or could read and write (Selangan, 2015).

 At an early age, children are encouraged to continuously think ahead and

academically prepare themselves for subsequent academic milestones. This cyclical

pattern of continuously anticipating the next step in academia can be quite damaging.

Academic pressure is defined as “an experience in which a student is burdened by the

demands of time and energy to achieve specific academic goals. The stress can come

from a variety of potential sources and have a myriad of impacts on students both

emotionally and academically.” For example, it is highly common for young people to

experience self-imposed academic pressure. A young person can feel academic pressure

from outside sources (e.g., the increasingly competitive nature of being accepted into a

university, parents, wanting to fit in with peers, etc.). There are teenagers who

experience mild academic pressure and are positively motivated by it, but the reverse is

also true. Part of a young person’s maturation process through adolescence is learning

how to balance the demands of life, and academic pressure can be hindering to one’s

growth and development.

Children's learning is increasingly moving toward a broader vision of the 21st

century learning. Sociologists and psychologists have paid close attention to the role of

parental expectations in influencing children's academic progress. As children's

educations increasingly occur across a range of settings, parents are uniquely positioned

to help ensure that these settings best support their children's specific learning needs.

The reason is that much of what parents do can be traced back to who they are: parental

attitudes are strongly shaped by their own background and environment. And in standard

regression analysis, once background characteristics are factored in, a lot of the

correlation of parental behavior with the child’s outcomes disappears. Thus, parental
involvement research remain misrepresentative of parents and the involvement that they

have with their children's education (Jackson, 2010). Each child is vulnerable and can

either be molded to be successful or made to fail in life.

According to expectancy value theories, people judge the instrumentality of

probable choices, weigh their price and profit, and then select the course of act with

highest expected value. Almost 32.6% (one-third) of the students were symptomatic of

psychiatric concerns and 81.6% reported anxiety related to examination. Academic

stress was certainly linked with pressure from parents and psychiatric problems, at the

same time examination-related anxiety also was positively related to psychiatric

troubles. Academic pressure is a severe concern which affects almost two thirds of

students. As an alternative of exploring the potential for their offspring’s maximum

probable values, parents influence by imposing their expectations on them through their

participation, monitoring, obedience and support. Parental expectations are the desires

about their children academic performance and profession ambitions. Due to the

expectations, parents are worried during rearing of youth. During this time period

Parents may re-evaluate their educational attainment or occupational achievements,

deciding whether they have met their youthful ambitions of achievement.

A lot of parents consider that transmitting a sense of high expectations to children

is one way to inculcate them with self-honor, self-assurance and distinct standard of

worth and importance. But for the most part of the time these expectations are idealistic

and unachievable. High expectations to be successful can be devastating; in some cases,

it can be harmful too. Parents often compress down and put high pressure on the

youngsters to conform to parental values. Many studies reported the association between
parental expectations and psychological adjustment, psychological distress, and

academic performance in diverse countries. High parental expectations are also related

to student motivation to achieve in school, academic and social resilience, and

aspirations to attend college. Yet the term “parental expectations” has been well-defined

in diverse ways in the literature, the majority of researchers explain parental

expectations as rational beliefs or judgments that parents have about their children’s

future accomplishment as reflected in course grades, utmost level of schooling attained,

or college attendance. However Parental expectations are based on an evaluation of the

child’s academic capabilities as well as the existing possessions for sustaining a given

level of achievement. Many researchers operationalized parental expectations by asking

parents “how far” they think their child will go in school or by asking them to predict

what grades a child will obtain that year. Rarely, researchers have also asked about

student perceptions of parental expectations as a proxy for parental expectations

themselves. The Research study also demonstrates that the parents educational

attainment is connected positively to an array of academic outcomes. On the other hand,

research on parental involvement in school is extra mixed than research on involvement

at home, predominantly among different racial and ethnic groups. Parental expectations

can be contrasted with parental aspirations, which typically refer to needs, desires or

goals that parents have created concerning their children’s future accomplishment rather

than what they practically expect their children to achieve. To the level that parental

aspirations replicate the value parents place on education, they are based on parents’

personal goals as well as municipal norms about training and its part in encouraging

professional and personal attainment. (Haider, 2022).

Significance of the Study

The pressure of parents' educational attainment can have a significant impact on

the academic performance of students. Parents who have achieved a high level of

education may place a greater emphasis on academic achievement and success in their

children, often expecting them to follow in their footsteps and attain similar levels of

academic excellence. This pressure can be both positive and negative, depending on how

it is handled by both the parents and the students. In turn, academic achievement may

serve to motivate parents and families to continue or become more involved in school

activities. Future studies could explore other aspects that this study hasn’t reached to

give a more comprehensive picture of the investigation.

Statement of the Problem

This study generally aims to determine the pressure of parents educational

attainment to the academic performance of selected grade 10 student of Saint William

Institute Inc, S.Y 2022-2023.

Specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions:

1. Does the parents’ educational attainment put academic pressure on student?

2. Does the students face high expectations from their parents on their academic

performance?
Hypotheses

Based on the problem of this study, the researchers were guided by the following

hypotheses:

1. Students are pressured because of high expectations due to their parents'

educational attainment.

2. Students may not face high expectations because they are not pressured by

their parents.

Scope and Delimitation

This study is delimited on the selected Grade 10 on S.Y. 2022-2023. The main

purpose is to identify the pressure of the student to their parents’ educational attainment

to propose possible solutions regarding to this problem. This study considers every

aspect of students' on how they get so much pressure on their academic performance

because consistently negative parenting particularly when parents guilt-tripped children

— led to poor performance in school, one 2022 study suggested. Each of the

respondents are given the same questionnaires to answer.

Theoretical Framework

This section presents a review of the works of varied authors which were helpful

in the conceptualization of this research.

On Parental Involvement in Students’ Academic Achievement

A characteristic that may affect the value of parental involvement in students’

academic achievement is parental educational level. The literary review on students’

academic achievements has reviewed the importance of parent’s education. Many

studies describe that parent’s education level plays an important role in the amount of

parent involvement and the most of this research have been with secondary school

students. More findings describe that the higher education level of the parents, the

students more likely will have better academic achievements. Jacqulynm, (2005) have

pointed out the relationship of parent’s education level to their children academic

achievements. A mother’s education has a more influence than father, So mother’s

education is more important. Karshen (2003) says that students whose parents are well

educated get higher positions than those whose parents are not educated. Educated

parents help their children in school work activities. The failed students belong to those

who have lower parents’ education level. They involve themselves in children’s school

activities and school environment. The literature review indicates a positive and

significant relationship between parents’ education level and students’ academic

achievement
 Parental Involvement in the Philippines

Like in other countries, in the Philippines, public or private schools have PTA

or the Parent- Teacher Association. It is guided by the Department of Education

Memorandum No. 74 series of 1999. Every PTA provides mechanisms to ensure proper

coordination with the members of the community, provides an avenue for discussing

relevant concerns, and provides assistance and support to the school for the promotion of

their common interest. Regular meetings are conducted with local government units,

civic organizations and other stakeholders to foster unity and cooperation. As an

organization operating in the school, the PTA adheres to all existing policies and

implementing guidelines by the Department of Education. The PTA serves as support

group and as a significant partner of the school whose relationship shall be defined by

cooperative and open dialogue to promote the welfare of the students. Another program

held by Department of Education is the Brigada Eskwela. It is an annual program that

brings together nationwide voluntary efforts of different stakeholders. Parents, teachers

and other members of the community where a public school is located help one another

for the school’s maintenance and beautification every two weeks before the official start

of classes. It started on 1998 upon the implementation on Republic Act 8525 or the

Adopt- A-School program (ASP). Its mission is to practice shared governance, bring the

spirit of education to the community level, and utilize local resources to improve public

schools.
 Home-School Connection in the Philippines

The home as a learning support has been found as an important variable in child

development (Arriero, 2006). Children perform better in school when they have

opportunities to learn from their two primary contexts of development, namely, the

home and school (Nierva, 2009). When parents, teachers and schools support one

another and build a strong partnership, it will result to academic success. According to

Pineda (2008), mutual effort toward a shared goal implies shared responsibility of

families and educators for supporting students as learners. In his study of the comparison

of the parents’ and school personnel’s perceptions on the existing home-school

collaboration program of a private school in Muntinlupa City, Philippines, it notes that

forming connections among families and schools foster positive school and learning

experiences for children and youth. Meanwhile in the study of Arriero (2006), findings

show that there are two main issues that arise from the amount of involvement the

parents in their children’s learning in the home -- the first is the type of communication

the parents are able to sustain with the children and the second is the general influence

of the parents in the home environment in terms of creating a learning environment. This

implies that communication with parents tends to range either positive or praising of the

children to negative disciplining for them to learn. Although public or private schools

have Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) in the Philippines, an organization which shows

parents support and participation on school activities, parent practices are limited.
Nierva (2009) study shows the relationship between parental involvement and family

status variables of grade one parents in one of the private schools in Quezon City,

Philippines using a survey questionnaire. It finds out that in order to facilitate a better

home-school partnership, policies to guide practices regarding home-school

collaboration at national, regional, division, and school levels must be developed. Thus,

this study has a small number of participants and didn’t use other instruments to validate

the result of the survey.

Higher Grade Point Average

Parents who have advanced degrees have shown they value education. Those

who attained higher GPAs in college often pursue graduate and doctoral degrees. Their

past achievements become a benchmark for their children to follow as parents’ past

pursuits in education may augment structural factors on intergenerational behaviors.

Whether the parent’s GPA is tied to intelligence or disciplined study or both, these traits

and behaviors are passed down to their children. Higher achieving parents foster those

things that are important in their children and prioritize academic success. In contrast,

those who graduated with a minimal degree generally do not have the financial means or

aspirations to raise higher-achieving students.

Complete Higher College Degree

Past studies have demonstrated that first-generation college students (students

who do not have a parent who attended college) often encounter major hurdles in the

college process. In comparison to students whose parent(s) attended college, first-

generation students experience greater challenges to college access, college

involvement, institutional connectedness, academic and social integration, and degree

completion. As such, first-generation students may be especially susceptible to personal

doubts regarding their academic and motivational ability. College-educated parents are

typically more aware of the long-term benefits of acquiring a college degree, and thus

they share this information with their children. The higher the degree the parents have

obtained, the greater the support the student will have from their parents to complete a

similar academic goal. Parents who have not attended college, on the other hand, tend to

have less direct knowledge of the economic and social benefits of a postsecondary

education. Thus, some of these parents may prefer that their children work rather than

attend college. Students whose parents never attended college are sometimes faced with

a difficult choice between fulfilling family expectations or obligations and pursuing of a

degree.

Students’ Dedicated Study Hours

Family characteristics such as disciplined study habits can have impact on

student's study skills. Study hours spent per week on college study and the desired

degree can be strong predictors of college academic success. Students learn these

homework habits at an early age, guided by the social learning theory set forth by

Bandura (1986). According to social learning theory, parents who model disciplined

habits construct an expectation for children to also perform those desired behaviors.

Their children practice and learn the behaviors and the consequences of those behaviors.

Therefore, it is likely that parents who achieved the goal of an advanced degree tend to

encourage disciplined study habits in their children. Children of parents who did not

pursue higher education are less likely to have frequent observational learning

opportunities to develop dedicated study habits.

 Challenges of Parental Involvement

Due to the prevailing problem of the country which is poverty, a substantial

number of students do not make the transition from elementary school to high school.

Under-investment in children is an identified problem in low-income developing

countries (Monteflor 2006) and because of the emerging economic problems of the

country, both parents tend to work harder to earn money for them to meet the needs of

the family. In Monteflor (2006) study, parent interview and survey questionnaires in

Cebu, Philippines is use to determine some over-weighting of parents on the academic

achievement in their children. It reveals that parents’ motivation is associated with

preschool performance. It recommends that longitudinal studies on parent–child

developmental strategies should be done to help learn more about early childhood

education. These future researches can contribute to the later growth and development of

children, income generation and occupational success, and offsets for observed

vulnerabilities in disadvantaged environments. However, the social contexts in which

Filipino families are embedded have changed rapidly over the past ten years, possibly

shaping in turn the ways in which parents and children think about and relate with each

other (Ochoa & Torre, n.d.). Nowadays, Filipino parents make enormous efforts to be

involved in their children’s schooling. In the mixed method study of Evangelista (2008),

it aims to find the relationship between academic involvement of grade one parents and

their children’s scholastic performance. It shows that academic involvement of parents is

still visible to their children in terms of peers, school activities, and others. Because of

this, parents are still involved in their child’s learning with regards to other linkages

he/she is in. It recommends that parents should participate and be involved in the
development of their children’s education especially during their fundamental years

because this stage will be the foundations of children for them to accelerate in the next

level of higher education and the school should consider informing parents on how much

involvement they should give to improve their child’s scholastic performance.

According to Nierva (2009), parent involvement in the Philippines is vague because

there is still a need to improve parent involvement practices, especially those promoting

the parents’ active involvement in the child’s learning at home and in school. Much of

the practices of Filipino are brought about by history including the ways parents race

their children. The Philippines are facing different problems that are cause and greatly

affects families. Thus, our country, like other countries continually seeks for solutions to

bridge the gap. Ochoa and Torre (n.d.) recommend that “parenting programs may focus

on facilitating communication between parent and child, training parents to

communicate in a non- confrontational manner, while also giving children an

opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings” (p.49). In their study, it review

published and unpublished researches on parenting, child-rearing and discipline

conducted among Filipino families from 2004 to 2014 using document analysis.

However, other researches have been more critical of the relevance of conceptions of

parenting, as Filipino children may have different interpretations of parental control.

Importance and Benefits of Parental Involvement

Many schools involve parents in school-based or school related activities. This

constitutes parental involvement rather than parental engagement. According to Harris

and Goodall (2007), parental involvement can encompass a whole range of activities
with or within the school while parents view parental engagement as offering support to

students while teachers tend to view it as a means to improved behavior. Peters (2012)

notes that “when schools have reputations for being successful, they generally have lots

of engagement from parent’s. Mwai Kimu (2012) concludes in his qualitative study on

Parent Involvement in Public Primary Schools in Kenya that a society needs to increase

its level of educational involvement and that starts with the support by the parents. He

claims that parent-school linkages can be enhanced through the teacher/parent

relationship because teachers are the main linkage of parents to the school, the

teacher/parent relationship is critical to pupils’ success and parent involvement. Parents

must be considered a constant and principal component of curriculum. (Nihat Şad &

Gürbüztürk, 2013). They add that success at school is guaranteed if school-based

instruction is supported by parents’ involvement at home. Involving parents in education

has been reported to yield positive outcomes in many aspects including increased

student attendance to and satisfaction with school, better academic achievement,

motivation, school attachment, responsibility and confidence, better social adaptation

and less discipline problems. According to Sapungan, and Sapunga. (2014), if we

involve the parents in educating their children, it is tantamount to saying that the school

is proactive in implementing changes or development among the students. As parent’s

involvement is increased, teachers and school administrators also raise the chance to

realize quality reform in education

Conceptual Framework

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE: DEPENDENT VARIABLE

THE PRESSURE OF PARENT’S SELECTED GRADE 10

EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT STUDENT’S ACADEMIC
PERFORMANCE

Figure 1. The Conceptual Paradigm

The paradigm shows the relationship between the independent and dependent

variable. It shows how the influence of parents’ academic background affects the

academic performance of the students.

 CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

Review Related Literature

A characteristic that may affect the value of parental involvement in students’

academic achievement is parental educational attainment. The literary review on

students’ academic achievements has reviewed the importance of parent’s education.

Many studies describe that parent’s education attainment plays an important role in the

amount of parent involvement and the most of these research have been with secondary

school students. More findings describe that the higher education level of the parents,

the students more likely will have better academic achievements. Jacqulynm, (2005)

have pointed out the relationship of parent’s education level to their children’s academic

achievements. A mother’s education has a more influence than father. So, mother’s

education is more important. Karshen (2003) says that students whose parents are well

educated get higher positions than those whose parents are not educated. Educated

parents help their children in school work activities. The failed students belong to those

who have lower parents’ education level. They involve themselves in children’s school

activities and school environment. The literature review indicates a positive and
significant relationship between parents’ education level and students’ academic

achievements.

Review Related Studies

Teachman and Paasch’s (1998) salient link of educational aspiration to education

obtained by parents informed the framework for the current study. The majority of

research done on the subject examined adolescents’ aspirations in middle school or high

school. This study bridges the gap of how those aspirations continue to affect the

performance and attitudes of young adults presently enrolled in higher education. The

present argument further examines to what degree parent education affects the success

of university students. Success was quantifiably defined by the constructs of academic

performance, educational aspirations, and educational self-efficacy. Academic

performance was measured by the student’s current GPA and dedicated hours of study;

educational aspirations were measured by the highest degree the student hoped to obtain;

academic self-efficacy was measured in a four-question Likert-scale self-report of

academic skills and abilities.

 Bibliography

Web Documents

References

Avvisati, F., Besbas, B., & Guyon, N. (2012). Parental Involvement in School : A

Literature Review. Revue d’Economie Politique, 120(5), 759–778. Retrieved

from;https://www.cairn.info/revue-d-economie-politique-2010-5-page-

759.htm#:~:text=The%20theory%20predicts%20that%20children Retrieved on;

February 19, 2023

Babon, C. (2021). The Impact of Parental Involvement On The Academic Performance

of Grade 12 Students | PDF | Educational Assessment | Research Design.

Retrieved from; Scribd https://www.scribd.com/document/510568340/THE-

IMPACT-OF-PARENTAL-INVOLVEMENT-ON-THE-ACADEMIC-

PERFORMANCE-OF-GRADE-12-STUDENTS# Retrieved on; December 31,

2022

Bartolome, M., Mamat, N., & Masnan, A. H. (2017). Parental involvement in the

Philippines: A review of literatures | Request PDF. ResearchGate. Retrieved

from;
 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325348961_Parental_involvement_in_t

he_Philippines_A_review_of_literatures Retrieved on; January 12, 2023

Lara, L., & Saracostti, M. (2019). Effect of Parental Involvement on Children’s

Academic Achievement in Chile. Retrieved from;

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01464/full Retrieved on;

January 7, 2023

Li, Z., & Qiu, Z. (2018). How does family background affect children’s educational

achievement? Evidence from contemporary china. The Journal of Chinese

Sociology, 5(1).Retrieved from; https://doi.org/10.1186/s40711-018-0083-8

Retrieved on; February 2, 2023

Tochukwu, N. (2004). THE INFLUENCE OF PARENTS. Www.academia.edu. Retrieved

from; https://www.academia.edu/9621467/THE_INFLUENCE_OF_PARENTS

Retrieved on; January 26, 2023

Valenzuela Leander, J., & Fabella, F. E. (2020). Parental Involvement and Academic

Performances of Grade 7 Students. Retrieved from; Papers.ssrn.com.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3630178 Retrieved on;

February 25, 2023