The influence of family background on the academic achievements of

pupils

· INTRODUCTION
From the beginning, parents have been the major persons involved in raising
children in every society. That is why the family is recognized as an important
agent of socialization.

Adekeyi, A. (2002) observes that it is mainly through their efforts and abilities that
children are socialized to become productive citizens. So, wherever parents
possess the resources and skills and apply them effectively and joyfully in raising
their children the entire society benefits.

This brings joy and pride to the nation, and encourages development and
peaceful co-existence. The children themselves feel good and bring happiness to
their parents and the whole community.

In view of this, the influences of family background on the academic achievement

of pupils becomes and indispensable factor in the wheel of progress. It is a fact
that parental background influences pupils’ academic achievements either
positively or negatively. A well-to-do family will have positive interest in the
education of their children. According to Ezewu, E. (2003), family background of
parents affects children especially in respect to their academic achievement.

The primary function of parents is the rearing and protection of children and
passing on to them the values and beliefs of the society. They also teaches
children the rules, traditions and ways of doing things. It is also the responsibility
of the parents to provide their children with shelter, food, education, security and
personal development. This is the family of orientation.

The level of educational attainment of parents influence the academic

achievement of their children. For instance, in a family where both the mother
and father are educated, their children are always taken good care of in their
academic activities. They may go through their children’s exercise books after
school, or even employ a private teacher to teach them after school. By so doing
their academic achievement will be improved; whereas in the case of illiterate
family, the need to supervise their children’s exercise book is not there, hence
their children’s low academic achievement in school.

It is obvious to note that the level of achievement of a child educationally also

depends on the hereditary factors and the environmental factor.

Hereditary factors influence a child’s academic achievement in school. This

happens when a child inherits poor genes from either the mother or the father;
such a child will not be able to achieve much even if the environment is
conducive for effective learning. On the other hand, a child who inherits a very
high gene from parents may not perform very well if, the environment is not
stimulating.

A condusive environment is necessary for a good academic achievement of a

child. A stimulating environment could spur up a potential mediocre into an
intellectual giant while an inhibiting environment could turn a genius child into a
mediocre.

The aim of this research work is to find out the influence of family background on
the academic achievements of pupils. The effect of family background on pupils’’
academic achievement in primary schools has been a problem for the past
decades and must not be left to chance.

· STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The influence of family background, that is, the socio-economic status of parents
in the academic achievement of their children have been posing very serious
problem to many people in our society. It is argued in some quarters that children
from rich parents perform better academically than those children from poor
parental background in the classroom situation. But some people hold the
opposite view by arguing that most of the children from rich families are way-
wards in school academically than children from poor and average families. In
the classroom here in Eastern Obolo Local Government Area, the teacher
teaches pupils together irrespective of their family background.

This research work is premised on this erroneous thinking and misconception in

our society. The researcher is therefore poised to make findings to determine
whose child performs better academically and what are the causative agents to
this. The researcher will also find solution to the problems and suggest ways and
methods to eradicate or improve upon the situation for the benefit of pupils,
parents, schools, educators, and the society as well.

· PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of family background on
the academic achievements of pupil in selected primary schools in Eastern Obolo
Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State in Nigeria. The objectives of the
study specifically include:
i). Identifying the influence of family background as it affects the academic
achievement of their children.
ii). Carrying out controlled study and investigation on home environment and
facilities in these homes for children educational development with special
reference to Eastern Obolo Local Government Area.
iii). Seeking to suggest the possible solutions to the problem so as to enhance
pupils academic performance in schools.

Hopefully, when parents are once more reminded of their divine and practical
responsibilities of their children, our school system and society will be more
stable, disciplined and functional one.

· RESEARCH QUESTIONS
i). Is there any significant difference in the academic achievements of pupils
whose parents are of higher socio-economic class and the academic
achievements of pupils whose parents are of low socio-economic class?
ii). Is there any significant difference between academic achievement of pupils
from educated parental background and pupils from uneducated parental
background?

· SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The topic of this project is to highlight the influence of family background on the
academic achievement of pupils in primary schools in Eastern Obolo Local
Government Area. This study is therefore significance because of the following
reasons:
i). It will highlight the problems associated with pupils performance in school.
ii). The result of the study will also uncover the fundamental roles expected of the
family in respect to the intellectual training of the child.
iii). The study will also serve as a source for future research in its area of study
iv). The outcome of this study will also be of immense value to the inhabitants of
the area in that it will seek to improve the interest of parents with regards to
education
v). Finally, it is hoped that when this research work is completed, the learners,
parents, teachers, ministry of education, curriculum planners, government and
the entire society will benefit from the findings by formulating a policy that will
bridge the gap between children of high socio-economic status and that of the
low socio-economic status in respect of their academic performance in school.

· DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY

With due consideration to the factors of time, economic depression of the period,
geographical location of the target population, the scope of this research is
delimitated of only five primary schools in Eastern Obolo Local Government Area
of Akwa Ibom State. The school are:
i). St. Silas Primary School, Okoroete
ii). Government Primary School, Iko Town
iii). Government Primary School, Okorombokho
iv). Government Primary School, Okoroinyong
v). Government Primary School, Amadaka

For the human resources, only pupils in primary four, five and six in the above
named schools serves as the primary source of data collection.

· LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

In the course of the conduct of this research, the writer experienced some
limitation. It was sandwiched between regular lectures and other academic
programmes. The investigation involved traveling a number of times from one
primary school to another. Apart from financial constraint, only one local
government area was covered so as to meet the scheduled time the project is
expected to be completed and submitted.

Finally, the findings of this investigation and the conclusions drawn therefore are
limited by the accuracy of information supplied by the respondents.

· DEFINITION OF TERMS
INFLUENCE: This is the power to affect somebody’s character, benefits or action
through example.
FAMILY: This refers to a social unit consisting of parents and their children.
PARENT: This refers to the one who has begotten offspring or occupies the role
of mother or father.
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT: This refers to how much the pupils respond to the
teaching and learning of the formal school successfully especially using their own
effort and skill.
PUPIL: This is a person who is being taught, especially a child in a school.
LOW SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS:- This refers to families whose income
ranges from N200.00 to N1,000.00 per month.
MIDDLE SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS:- This refers to families whose income
ranges from N1,000.00 to N5,000.00 per month.
HIGH SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS:- This refers to families whose income
ranges from N5,000.00 to N50,000.00 per month.

· text review
Interesting work have been carried out by eminent scholars on how the family a
child is born into affect his or her academic achievement in school. Thus, this
chapter is specifically concerned with reviewing from text books, journals and
unpublished sources, what others have said as they apply to this research study.

From the purpose of logical presentation of facts, the information gathered from
sources were presented under the following headings:
i). Effect of family background of parents towards the academic achievement of
children.
ii). Effect of literate and illiterate families on academic achievement of children
iii). Relationship between home environment and academic achievement of
children.

· EFFECT OF FAMILY BACKGROUND OF PARENTS TOWARD THE

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF CHILDREN
The socio-economic status of parents also influence the level of educational
achievement of the pupils in schools. This is so because with the availability of
money and resources, the family will be able to provide them with all the needed
materials. But children from poor family background will be denied of this
opportunity irrespective of their brilliant performances since there is no resources
and money to back up their demand.

A study conducted by Ezewu (1994) showed that socio-economic status of

parents affect children’s education and particularly academic achievement in the
following ways:
i). The degree of importance which each family attached to schools.
ii). Financial expenditure including fees, textbooks and other equipment.
iii). Facilities available at home.

A well to do family will have positive interest to education of their children not
minding whether the child is brilliant or not. This will force parents to see to it that
the materials needed are provided for the child with the available resources.
Parents will be able to pay children school fees in time, buy text books and other
equipment that will help to enhance the children academic achievement.

Ezewu further opined that children from a high socio-economic status leave the
primary school between 9, 10 and 11 years of age, while those of low socio-
economic status leave primary schools between 12, 13 and 14 years.

This shows that performance of students in school depends on their parental

socio-economic background. The availability of facilities such as tables, chairs,
light and well conducive learning environment at home do help the child to learn
better. All these should be present at home with the help of available resources.

Macfarland, M. S. (2003), in his book “Intelligent Teaching Professional Skills for

Student Teachers” analyzed the chance of placement of children from middle or
working class and lower class family in comprehensive high school and
secondary Modern school. He found out that 72 percent of children from family of
lower class against 28 percent of children from middle class were placed in
Comprehensive High school. He also found out that 10 percent of children from
family of lower class against 90 percent of children from middle class were
placed in Modern Secondary School based on intelligent quotient.

This means that children from family of lower socio-economic class usually find
themselves in local schools, where much will not be demanded from them. But
children from middle socio-economic class are found in better school irrespective
of the high cost of things there.

Harighurst (2002) observed in his study that the existence of socio-economic

class of parents affects the development of a child. He divided the class into
unskilled, party skilled, intermediate and professional which goes with variation in
provision for the children. He said that children whose parents are from skilled,
intermediate and professional class will develop physically and intellectually as
there are resources for the provision of their needed materials that will assist in
learning. Whereas children from unskilled and party skilled parents will not
develop physically and intellectually as thee is no financial assistance.
Stones (2004) is with the view that economically and culturally, poor homes do
not provide the stimulation necessary for the development of intellectual abilities
involving in school learning. Certain physical conditions that exist at home, poor
housing and overcrowding environment are often associated with poor academic
achievement and adjustment. Poor clothing, malnutrition, lack of adequate sleep
and rest, all have profound effects on how they behave and react.

From the foregoing, it is observed from my experience in school that those pupils
from low socio-economic parents started poorly in the formative stage in the
primary school which consequently leads to their inability to cope with the
secondary or tertiary education.

· EFFECT OF LITERATE AND ILLITERATE FAMILIES ON ACADEMIC

ACHIEVEMENT OF CHILDREN
Most researchers have confirmed the effect of illiteracy of families on their wards
performance in schools. Children whose families are illiterate have been seen to
lack home encouragement. This implies that as some illiterate families refuse to
provide their wards with needed textbooks, they are discouraging them from
learning.

David (2007), in his write-up stated that textbooks aid studies after normal
classroom teaching.

Also, many students lack parental assistance as a result of their illiteracy and
ignorance. They fail to motivate, reinforce, give reward and punish their children
on their performance which might have forced them to be serious in learning.

On the other hand, literate families have interest on their wards performance.
They struggle to provide them with needed materials and stand the chance of
giving adequate encouragement through counseling.

Family disagreement is most prevalent in illiterate families; disagreement

scarcely exist in literate families as individuals mind their business and
understand themselves.

Mario (2006) conducted a research work and discovered that domestic work has
an effect on students performance especially the ones born to poor parents who
go about hawking some food items before going to school. According to him, a
student might help in preparing fufu (foo foo) or frying groundnuts before going to
school. The preparation of all these items is time consuming, yet parents expect
the food to be ready before their ward goes to school. The resultant effect of
parents attitudes is that the students is late for school, sleep in class during
lesson due to weakness, he does not pay attention, cannot concentrate, find it
difficult to obey simple school rules, is forgetful, and finally fails to do assignment.
On the other hand, literate families having known the important of education even
draw-up a reading time table for their children. They also arrange for part time
teachers to teach their wards, check their workbooks from time to time and
provided adequate motivation and rewards when they perform better in class
assignment and activities, test and examination.

In placing children in school, literate parents have to choose school in which

conducive learning environment such as well prepared classroom for learning,
well equipped libraries, science laboratory etc are available.

· RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HOME ENVIRONMENT AND ACADEMIC

ACHIEVEMENT OF PARENTS
Studies on children’s attitudes to education have shown that children are affected
by home background, parental socio-economic status, level of educational
achievement, marital relationships at home, school climate, sex and peer groups
influence among other factors.

According to Hurlock (2005), the home background and parental attitude to

school activities and education generally are some of the strongest and most
persistent in determining a child’s interest and his consequent attitudes to
education.

Education and occupation of parents with their income to a large extent defines
the condition of the home.
“Home condition” is among other factors that affect a child’s success during an
intelligent test or in learning achievement.

Farrant (2004) confirmed that children who grow in homes where the mind is
stimulated developed mentally more than those from homes where there is no
incentive for mental growth, exercise. He added that all behaviour is a response
to some stimulus in the environment.

Families with high socio-economic status usually have books and educational
materials around the home as part of the environment to which the growing child
is exposed. Consequently, children of such families are expected to do well in
school. Poor academic achievement of children from large families is associated
to poor housing condition, over-crowding, and poor clothing and feeding. It is
observed that these factors particularly affect the reading and study habit of
children.

The home environment of a child affect his or her academic achievement. It is

agreed that the socio-economic background of homes where such conditions as
great poverty, poor feeding, insufficient sleep and rest and general neglect are
known to be the cause of backwardness of children in school. Children who do
perform poorly on mental ability test often do better on the same test after being
placed in a ‘richer’ environment which stimulate the growth of mental abilities.
It is an observable fact that parents of very large families tend to have occupation
in the semi-skilled, unskilled and labouring categories, and that their children are
likely to be average or below average in intelligent quotient, whereas the bright
children tends to come from small family groups with skilled occupation.

Hurlock (2003) again in his contributions stated that a large proportion of

students who are diligent and exhibit deviant behaviors are from the
disadvantaged home background. In such home backgrounds, the children are
not directed towards the right path to life. Such children are consequently often
emotionally depressed and lack social adjustment and poor attitude to school
work.

· summary
This study was carried out to find out the extent to which a family a child is born
into influences his or her academic achievement in primary schools in Eastern
Obolo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. In order to carry out this
research work successfully, two research hypothesis were formulated thus:

1. There is no significant difference in the academic achievements of pupils as

regards their parental family background.

2. There is no significant difference in the academic achievement between pupils

whose parents are literate and pupils whose parents are illiterate.

The data for the analysis was collected through a questionnaire. A total of 200
pupils and teachers from primary 4, 5 and 6 classes from the five sampled
schools in Eastern Obolo Local Government Area were used. Data used in
testing these hypotheses were collected using a twenty (20) items questionnaire.
In the data analysis, the researcher used Chi-square test for all the hypothesis.

It was found out that pupils whose parents are of high socio-economic class were
better placed than pupils whose parents are of low socio-economic class with
regards to their academic achievements; and so they were found to be those
scoring above the mean in the items, thereby rejecting hypothesis I.

The data collected in relation to hypothesis II were analyzed using Chi-square

test statistical analysis. The purpose of this study was to find out whether literate
and illiterate family background has any influence on the pupils’ academic
achievements in schools.

Summary of the findings

1. There is a significant difference between pupils from high and low socio-
economic background with regards to their academic achievements in life.
2. There is a significant difference in the academic performance between pupils
whose parents are literate and those whose parents are illiterate.

The literate parents having known the importance of education encourage their
children to learn by providing the necessary materials needed, thereby improving
their academic achievements; whereas illiterate parents are less concern in the
academic achievement of their children.

· Conclusion
Based on the result of the findings of study, the following conclusion are drawn:
i). That family background is a significant contributory factor which influence the
academic achievement of a child in school.
ii). That there is a significant difference in academic achievements between
pupils whose parents are of high and low socio-economic class.
iii). That those pupils whose parents are literate perform academically better than
those whose parents are illiterate.

· Recommendations
In view of the findings of this study, the following recommendations are made by
the researcher:
a) Parents should provide their wards with essential materials that will help them
improve on their academic performance.
b) Headmasters of schools should discuss the importance of materials in learning
with parents in PTA meetings.
c) The Government at all levels should establish and equip more adult education
centres for the training of illiterate parents.
d) Illiterate parents should be encouraged to go to school in that their literacy will
enhance their children’s academic achievements in schools.
e) Government should equip primary school libraries with current textbooks and
instructional materials for effective teaching and learning.
f) Government and Headmasters of schools should encourage pupils to study
hard by giving prizes and awarding scholarships to the best pupils in all the
subjects at the end of each term or year.
g) Parents should endeavor to give their wards spare time to read and do their
home works at home rather than engaging them with domestic works. a

If the above recommendations are strictly adhere to, the problem of poor
academic achievements in our primary schools will be minimized if not totally
eradicated.

· Suggestion for further study

In order to have a comprehensive understanding on the extent to which family
background can influence academic achievements of a child in primary schools,
there is need for another study to be carried out in other local government areas
of Akwa Ibom State.
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