African Research Journal of Education and Social Sciences, Vol. 2, 2015
By Anthony M. Wanjohi,
Projects and Research Unit, Kenya Projects Organization,
P.O. Box 8076 – 00200, Nairobi – Kenya | Email: wanjohi@kenpro.org
Abstract
Today, more than ever, education is understood as the passport to economic survival, yet its quality is ever threatened by not only school but also home related factors. The main purpose of this study was to examine teacher and parental factors influencing the students’ academic achievement in private schools in Embu Municipality, Kenya. The study employed a case study research design. One private school in the municipality formed a case owing to its school and home linked characteristics, which were deemed valuable in the study. The sample consisted of thirty (30) students taken from forms 2 to 4, eight (8) teachers and twenty four (24) parents. A Likert type questionnaire was used to collect data from all the respondents. The collected data was processed with the help of a statistical application, namely Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Descriptive statistics, namely frequencies and percentages, mean and standard deviation were used to report the findings based on the major research questions. From the analysis, the study found out that there were various teacher and parental factors that influenced the academic achievement of students in schools. The teacher factors included teacher professional quality, experience, satisfaction, attitude towards teaching / learning process and encouragement to the students. On the other hand, parental factors included occupation, educational background, parents’ attitude towards education, commitment and sacrifice and parental encouragement and support towards education. The study suggested the need to upgrade teachers through in-service teacher training and to design and implement sound policy provisions on teacher remunerations in private schools. The study further suggested the need to embrace a participatory approach in school management, where parents form an integral part of the school community through active participation in day to day learning and teaching activities.
Keywords: Students’ academic achievement, Students’ academic performance, Parental involvement in education, Parental role in education, Teachers’ role in education, School performance, Private schools performance, Improving students’ academic performance, parental factors influencing students’ performance, Teacher factors influencing students’ performance, Quality of education, School quality, Teacher quality
Suggested Citation:
Wanjohi, A. M. (2014). Teacher and Parental Factors Influencing Students’ Academic Achievement: Kenya’s Private Secondary School Context. African Research Journal of Education and Social Sciences, Vol. 1, No. 2. Retrieved from http://arjess.org/education-research/teacher-and-parental-factors-influencing-students-academic-achievement-kenyas-private-secondary-school-context/