This study was aimed at investigating the home background factors that can influence students’ academic achievement in Senior Secondary School in Agricultural Science in Markurdi local government in Benue State. To guide the study, five research purpose, five research questions and five research hypotheses were formulated. The design adopted for this study was Ex-post Facto design.
The population of the study consists of all senior Secondary students from the fifty three secondary schools in the three local government areas in Markurdi local government. The fifty three secondary schools in the zone have a population of seven thousand, nine hundred and forty five senior secondary students. Out of the fifty three schools, twelve schools were sampled using proportionate random sampling technique. In the twelve schools, all SSII students numbering eight hundred and sixteen (816) were used as the subject of the study. The research instrument was questionnaire on home background influence (FBI), designed by the researcher and validated by experts. The reliability of the instrument was established using Crunbach alpha method. The data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation while t-test statistics was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance.
The instrument was pilot tested in Obollo Afor Education Zone, using 30 students. The reliability coefficient was 0.69. The finding of the study revealed that: Students from educated parents achieve more than those from uneducated parents in academics; students from high-income status parents enjoy considerable advantage in academic achievement than students of low income status parents because their parents were able to afford necessary materials and equipment needed for effective learning in the school; parental level of motivation also influenced students’ academic achievement because motivation and reward served as a form of reinforcement for children’s learning at school. Based on these findings, the study recommended among others that parents should diversify their sources of income to be able to provide fund for their children’s schooling. Parents should equally realize the importance of using rewards and other measures to motivate their children.
Chapter One Summary
Generally, the purpose of the study was to find out the influence of home background on students’ academic achievement in Agricultural Science among senior secondary school students in Markurdi local government.
Specifically, the purpose of the study is to find out:
1. The influence of parental level of education on academic achievement in Agricultural Science of senior secondary school students.
2. The influence of parental occupation on students’ academic achievement in Agricultural Science.
3. The influence of parental income on students’ academic achievement in Agricultural Science.
4. The influence of family size on students’ academic achievement in Agricultural Science.
5. The influence of parental motivation on students’ academic achievement in Agricultural Science.
Chapter Two Summary
Family has been described at the smallest, most personal and not intimate of social groups. It is the most important primary group and the smallest social unit in the society. Odo (1990:10) defined family as “a social group sharing a common residence and co- operating economically”. The author went further to assert that the institutions of the family is usually based on the marriage of one or more sexually co-habiting couples and usually there is the expectation of having children for whom the adults of the family accept responsibility. Alio (1995) observed that the family is also the most personal social organization, for nothing is more personal than the interaction and relationship between members of a family.
He further said that married couple without children, though bound by the strongest personal ties do not constitute a family for such ties can conceivably exist among couples who are not married. For him, what gives a family its character are children, for only in such a family can that intimate, personal relationship be established by which the family can perform its functions of rearing, protecting and educating the children, transmitting to them the social values it has inherited and a special bond between all the members. This kind of family setting is similar to the Nigerian traditional idea of family. Traditionally, it is believed that it is the children that cement the union of a man and a woman together and makes it a lasting and a intimate one. The primary aim of this union is procreation.
Chapter Three summary
The study was carried out using ex-post facto method in examining the influence of home background on student’s academic achievement in senior secondary schools in markurdi local government. Ex-post facto research design according ngwagu (2005) is a systematic empirical inquiry in which the researcher does not have direct control on independent variables because they are inherently not easy to manipulate.
The purpose of ex-post facto research design is to find out factors that seem to be closely associated with certain behaviours, occurrences, prevalence or conditions. Ex-post facto design is considered suitable for this study because it is practical and versatile. The design enables the researcher to collect original data from the respondents themselves and describes the present conditions as they exist in their natural family settings.
Chapter Four Summary
The T-calculated Value of Each Item in Table 6 (Influence of Parental Level of Education) Was Obtained. The Degree of Freedom for All the Items Was 798, While the Critical T-value of 1.96 Was Obtained at 0.05 Level of Significance. From the Table, It Can Be Seen That the T-calculated Values for All Items Were More Than the T-table Values. Hence, the Null Hypothesis Was Rejected. That Reveals That There is Significant Difference in the Opinion of Urban and Rural Students on the Influence of Parental Level of Education on Students’ Academic Achievement in Agricultural Science.
Chapter Five summary
The findings of this study are discussed and compared with empirical studies done previously by other researchers. These discussions are carried out based on the issues relevant with the research question and null hypotheses that guided the study.
Influence of parental level of education on students’ academic achievement in Agricultural Science.
The focus of this research question was to establish the influence of parental level of education on students’ academic achievement in Agricultural Science. The result of these findings as summarized in table 1 (one) showed that students (respondents) overwhelmingly agree that parental level of education is a contributory factor in students’ academic achievement. The findings of this study tend to agree with the opinions expressed by Onochie and Okpalla (1985) that educational level of parents which is an indicator of socio-economic status has direct influence on child’s value and academic achievement in the school. The scholars further maintained that children from illiterate families may learn little or nothing from home that can help them to develop interest in academics.
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