Background of the Study

Parents’ support in the schooling of learners is central in students’ academic performance. Parental support in academic context is defined differently by different stakeholders. For instance, while studying perceptions of school administrators concerning support of parents Young, Austin and Growe [1] found that educators define support of parents through the lens of parents’ direct activities with the school such as parent teacher meeting (schools related parental support) while parents define their support in terms of activities they conduct at home with their children such as supervising learners’ homework (home related parental support). Jeynes [2] observed that contributions of parents in learners’ academics represent diverse things to each person whereas the scale of support in schooling of children also diverges. The current study therefore focuses on the mentioned home related and schools related forms of parental support in learners’ schooling as mentioned by Young et al. [1]. 

Indicators of parental support in students learning at home that improve their academic achievement [3] includes having high academic expectations of children, monitoring home studies, constant parent-child interactions with respect to education and inspiring children to learn. Coleman and McNeese [5], established that the more the parents got involved by aiding with homework, parent-teacher meetings and setting education goals for their children, the more the academic achievement of learners decreases. This suggests that there are levels of support of parents that negatively affect academic achievement within academic institutions. The study concludes that the established effect was dependent on numerous factors which included the age of the learners and recommends that learners parents ought to first take into account how their chosen involvement influence their childrens’ academic performance to avoid the established negative effects of parental involvement. McNeal [6] showed that that support of parents in PTOs (Parent Teacher Organizations) meeting was highly interrelated to 8th grade learners’ test scores in science subject but weakly associated with other academic related issues.

In Africa, research carried out by Ahmed and Hazri [7], in Nigeria revealed parents did not take part in the schooling of their children and that substantial contact between learners’ families and academic institutions was limited. A study done in Kenya established that there was association between support of parents in education of teenagers and their academic results [8]. In Meru County, Veronicah [9] revealed that parental support in scholastic events within learning institutions via meeting teachers, controlling television watching and communicating with school can improve lower primary school pupils test scores. However, in Kuresoi Sub-County, a study by Koskei [10], established that support of parents in schooling had no meaningful effect on learners’ performance. The study concluded that parental involvement negatively affected learners’ performance and recommended that parents should not pressurize their children academically as it leads to fear which results in the established underperformance.

Performance of government sponsored high school learners from Wajir County has been consistently poor over the years (see Table 1) [11]. These Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) results have been poorer than those of other regions in Kenya such as Nairobi, Kisumu and Kakamega Counties [12]. For instance, the KCSE mean score for 2016 and 2017 was lower than 3.4 (D) out of 12 (A) in each year. Moreover, in 2016, out of 2868 learners’ who sat for KCSE, only 58 scored C plus and above to join public universities in Kenya and in 2017 only 68 out of 2473 were admitted in public universities. The table below presents Wajir County KCSE results for the period of 2015-2015.

Table 1 shows academic underachievement among government sponsored high school learners in Wajir County and establishes that achievements in examinations of government sponsored high school learners in Wajir County has been wanting for years as the average mean grades in national examination has never been more than a C- (4.85) [13]. Majority of parents (70%) in this region spend most of their time looking after their livestock at the expense of their children’s education resulting in dismal parental involvement in education of learners from Nomadic families as livestock are more valued than education [12]. Given that nomadic parents spend a lot of time away from home in search of pasture for livestock, their support for their children’s education is dismal at best and this may affect the recorded academic performance of these learners as shown in Table 1 creating the need for the present study to assess how having nomadic parents is affecting the performance of these learners in Wajir County Kenya.

Literacy level of Kenyan nomadic parents is low and is seen to be another possible dimension contributing to the low participation by the region in education [14]. According to the 2007 Kenya literacy survey, Nomadic areas had the lowest literacy level of only 8.1% whereas Nairobi has 87.1% literacy achievement and the overall national literacy level was 61.5% [14]. The overdependence on livestock by these families means that parents spend more time away from home taking care of livestock instead of their children’s’ education denying them the time and opportunity to participate in their children’s education as opposed to parents from counties such as Nairobi do leading to academic underachievement of children from nomadic families.

Statement of the Problem

 Parental support is required for improved performance of learners academically and such parental support include as mentioned by Young et al. [1] home related and school related parental supports. However, due to nomadic lifestyles of most parents in rural areas of Wajir County, their support for their children’s education has often been dismal as livestock is considered more important than education of children and this may have resulted in the recorded poor academic achievements (Table 1) in national exams by learners in the region for decades. Despite the importance of parental support by ensuring the children complete their homework, attend school meetings and buy revision materials, it is not clear whether an attempt has been made in this region to relate the under-achievements of learners from nomadic families in examinations with academic support of their parents despite other studies as discussed in the study background indicating that the two variables are related creating the need for this study among public secondary school students from nomadic families in Wajir County.

 Table 1: Performances in KCSE, 2010-2015, Wajir County

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study was therefore to assess the influence of parental support on academic performance of public secondary school students from nomadic families in Wajir County Kenya in order to sensitize nomadic parents of the importance of their support of their childrens education and also improve students’ performance in KCSE within this County. 

Objectives of the study

The study addressed the following objectives: 

• To investigate the influence of home related parental support on the performance of government sponsored high school learners from nomadic families in Wajir County Kenya.

• To examine the influence of school related parental support on the performance of government sponsored high school learners from nomadic families in Wajir County Kenya. 

Significance of the Study

The findings of this study stand to benefit government sponsored high school learners with regards to achievements in examinations as by addressing support of parent’s issues, learners may benefit from improved support of parents as parents may start to give more attention and time to their studies as a result of this study which may improve their academic success. Teachers may also use the findings of this study to increase their interaction with learners’ actual parents due to the accompanied achievements in examinations benefits for learners. This is because the present study may highlight ways in which teachers may use to increase parental schools related support in their children’s’ education. Lastly, data to be provided may be used to enhance existing policies on parental support for children’s’ in the region by various stakeholders in order to make support more successful and enhance learners’ academic results as it may highlight all forms of parental support as well as the most effective parental support for improving learners’ academic performance.

Scope and Limitations of the Study

The study focused only on mixed day secondary schools among only learners from nomadic families. The study also focused on public secondary schools in Wajir County only. It was further guided by the stated topic and study objectives. The study outcomes specifically showed how parental support affected academic performance of public secondary school students an area that has received very dismal attention nationally and internationally by academic stakeholders and scholars specifically with regards how parental involvement specifically affects nomadic learners’ academic outcomes as studies on these two areas often focused on how parental involvement affected academic performance in general without focusing on nomadic learners.

Research Design

The current study adopted a descriptive study design [15]. The design aided the researcher in gathering quantitative data describing patterns of events that could be presented in tables and figures. This design had also been chosen as through it the researcher was able to gather closed ended information from the study participants using questionnaires. Utilization of this design was further informed by the fact that allowed the researcher to collect primary data on the subject matter without manipulating study variables. The study lasted a period of one year.

Research Type

This study was quantitative by nature as it helped the researcher to gather and analyze data [16]. The strategy was utilized as it enabled the researcher to conducted an objective empirical assessment of the subject matter in order to assess the association between the studied variables (parental participation and nomadic students’ academic performance) [17].

Target Population

The target populace was all the 12 mixed day government sponsored high school learners from nomadic families in Wajir County with 9488 form three students, 480 parents and 270 instructors [12]. The researcher had selected these participants as they were further well informed on the issue assessed hence their inclusion in this study.

Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria

The study included only parents that were found within the school compound during fieldwork. Other inclusion criteria involved respondents falling under the target group, were sampled, willingly accepted to participate in the study, were from nomadic families and were part of mixed day high schools. However, all participants who did not fit the mentioned description or fall under any of the above categories were excluded from this study.

Choice of Subjects 

Several sampling approaches were employed by the study, first schools were stratified by sub-counties to get a sample of 4, convenience sampling was used to select the required 48 parents, for teachers, purposive sampling was used to get the needed sample of 12 teachers while simple random sampling was used to select the required sample of 96 form three learners in mixed day schools in Wajir county. The total sample was 160 respondents. 

Research Instruments

The study utilized questionnaires to gather primary data from students, teachers and parents. This instrument only gathered quantitative data as all questions were closed ended. The tool was divided into two sections with section A having questions on the influence of home related parental support on the performance of government sponsored high school learners from nomadic families while section D gathered data on the influence of schools related parental support on the performance of government sponsored high school learners from nomadic families in Wajir County Kenya.

Validity of the Instruments

The rationality of the instruments was used to aid the pollster to arrive at sound and reasonable extrapolations from tallies drawn for a chosen sample [18]. In order to assess content rationality of study tools, expert discernments and peer review was utilized.

Reliability of Instruments 

Instrument dependability was used to assess the extent to which the employed data collection tools constant results when used over and over again [19]. To establish the dependability of study tools, a test re-test was carried out by initially distributing them and scoring the responses afterwards. From the test re-test results, reliability coefficient of r>0.85 was determined using Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficients which was higher than r>0.70 hence the tool was considered reliable.

Piloting Study

Research tools were pilot tested among a sample of 10% (16) of the used study sample in one Mixed Secondary school. Respondents used in the pre-test had similar characteristics with the required study sample but were excluded in the actual sample. Errors identified in this process were rectified before actual field work commenced.

Data Collection Procedures

A research permit was obtained from National Commission of Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI) which was used to gain permission from principals in order for the study to be conducted in their schools. This was followed by actual data collection exercise by the researcher himself where questionnaires were first distributed to teachers, then students and lastly parents. Fieldwork took three weeks after which tools were collected and stored safely in preparation for data analysis.

Data Analysis

Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze quantitative data. The researcher first coded the responses, tallied them and then fed them into computer software (scientific packages for social sciences software version 21). This aided in the generation of the data in the form of percentages and rates of occurrences for descriptive responses while for inferential data linear regression was employed to test for the relationship between the independent and dependent variables being assessed at 95% confidence level. 

Ethical and Logistical Considerations

All logistical and ethical consideration were adhered to throughout the process of developing this paper. These included informed consent, voluntary participation, right to withdraw from the study, rights to anonymity. The study further acquired a research permit authorizing this study in the chosen locale.

Home related parental support and the performance of public secondary school learners from nomadic families 

The second study objective sought to investigate the influence of home related parental support on the performance of government sponsored high school learners from nomadic families in Wajir County Kenya. Results of the study are presented in tables using frequencies and inferential statistics while thematic data are presented in a narrative form.

Respondents’ ratings of the influence of home related parental support on learners’ academic performance

Study participants were asked to rate various statements as strongly agree (SA), agree (A), neutral (N), disagree (D) and strongly disagree (SD) based on how home related parental involvement influenced learners’ academic performance in Wajir County public secondary schools and results are presented as follow.

Information from students and presented in Table 2 reveal that 24.4% strongly agreed that my parent do not give them livestock attendance duties as opposed to their siblings who were not in school which gives them adequate time to revise and do their homework which enhanced their academic achievement, 21.9% strongly agreed that their parents due to their low levels of education asked educated neighbours/relatives to check their homework and report cards and advise them on how to improve academically which enhanced their academic achievement whereas 24% agreed that their parents assisted them with their homework and this had improved their achievements in examinations. These results therefore overally implied that home related parental involvement in learners’ education at home influenced the learners’ academic performance in Wajir County.

Data was also gathered from teachers on the influence of home related parental support on learners academic performance in Wajir County public secondary schools and results presented in Table 3 revealed that 41.7% agreed that parents were not involved in their children’s education at home and this may have contributed to their poor performance academically, 33.3% agreed that parents asked educated relatives/neighbours to assist their children with their homework and this had improved their achievements in examinations, 33.3% agreed that parents through the aid of educated relatives/neighbours bought their children revision materials at home and this had improved their achievements in examinations and 41.7% agreed that parents through the aid of educated relatives/neighbours monitored their children study time and this had improved their achievements in examinations. These results implied that home based parental participation in learners’ education influenced academic performance of such learners in Wajir County pubic secondary schools.

Lastly, data gathered from parents and presented in Table 4 indicated that 50% of the parents disagreed that they do not support their childrens’ education at home and this may be contributing to their poor performance academically, 52.1% disagreed that they asked them educated relatives/neighbours to assist their school going children with homework and this had improved their achievements in examinations, 39.6% disagreed that they asked their educated relatives/neighbours to buy their school going children revision materials at home and this had improved their achievements in examinations while 45.8% disagreed that they asked their educated relatives/neighbours to monitor their school going children’s study time and this had improved their achievements in examinations. These results also implied that home based parental education support had improved academic performance of public secondary school learners in Wajir County.

Table 2: Students’ ratings of the influence of home related parental support on learners’ academic performance

Table 3: Teachers’ ratings of the influence of home related parental support on learners’ academic performance

Table 4: Parents’ ratings of the influence of home related parental support on learners’ academic performance

Table 5: Regression coefficients on the relationship between home related parental education support and students’ academic performance

a. Dependent Variable: Academic performance

Table 6: Students’ ratings of the influence of schools related parental support on learners’ academic performance

Inferential Statistics on the influence of home related parental support on the performance of public secondary school learners from nomadic families

The study set out to test the relationship between home related parental support and the performance of public secondary school learners from nomadic families in Wajir County using linear regression and findings were as follows.

The regression coefficient results presented in Table 5 revealed that there was a statistically significant relationship between home related parental support and the performance of public secondary school learners from nomadic families in Wajir County as the p-value of p=0.000 was lower than p=0.05. Hence the results revealed that home related parental support and the performance of public secondary school learners from nomadic families in 

Table 7: Teachers’ ratings of the influence of schools related parental support on learners’ academic performance

Table 8: Parents’ ratings of the influence of schools related parental support on learners’ academic performance

Table 9: Regression coefficients on the relationship between schools related parental support and performance of public secondary school learners from nomadic families

Wajir County were statistically related. The findings based on the Beta values showed that a change in home related parental support would result in a -0.873 unit change in the academic performance of public secondary school learners from nomadic families in Wajir County Kenya.

Schools related parental support and the performance of public secondary school learners from nomadic families

In this section the third objective of the study which sought to examine the influence of schools related parental support on the performance of government sponsored high school learners from nomadic families in Wajir County Kenya was addressed. Findings are presented in tables in the form of descriptive statistics and inferential statistics while thematic data is presented in a narrative form.

Respondents’ ratings of the influence of schools related parental support on learners’ academic performance

Study participants were at the same time asked to rate the influence of schools related parental support on learners’ academic performance and results presented below.

Findings in Table 6 revealed that 28.1% disagreed with the statement that their parents sent educated relatives/friends to attend parent teacher meetings which had positively improved their achievements in examinations, 35.4% agreed that their parents had their educated relatives/neighbours telephone school regularly to check on their progress which had positively improved their achievements in examinations by encouraging them to work hard, 41.7% agreed that their parents sought the aid of learned relatives to buy all the needed learning materials which had positively improved their achievements in examinations as these enable them to revise for exams and 27.1% agreed that their neighbours and relatives responded to all school communications as their parents were too busy with livestock to do so which affected their academic performance. These results implied that in Wajir County, schools related parental support greatly influenced learners’ academic performance in public secondary schools.

Results obtained from teachers and presented in Table 7 revealed that 58.3% of teachers strongly disagreed that parents had learners’ educated relatives/neighbours telephone school regularly to check on learners’ academic progress which had positively improved the learners’ achievements in examinations by encouraging them to work hard, 33.3% disagreed that parents sought the aid of learned relatives to buy all the needed learning materials which had positively improved learners’ achievements in examinations as these enable them to revise for exams while 33.3% disagreed that neighbours and relatives responded to all school communications as learners’ parents were too busy with livestock and less interested in education to do so which affected the learners’ academic performance. These results indicated that in Wajir County public secondary schools, school based parental support influenced learners’ academic achievements greatly.

Additionally, results obtained from parents and presented in Table 8 revealed that 54.2% disagreed with a statement stating that they asked their educated relatives/friends to telephone school regularly to check on their children’s academic progress which had positively improved their achievements in examinations by encouraging them to work hard while 54.2% disagreed that they asked their educated neighbours and relatives respond to school communications as they were often too busy with livestock to do so which affected their children’s academic performance positively. Results of the study also implied that school-based parental supports that are offered to learners by their parents significantly influenced the learners’ academic results in Wajir County. 

Inferential statistics on the influence of schools related parental support on the performance of public secondary school learners from nomadic families

The study tested whether there was a relationship between schools related parental support on the performance of public secondary school learners from nomadic families and findings presented as in Table 9.

The regression coefficient data presented in table 9 revealed that there was a statistically significant relationship between schools related parental support and academic performance of students from nomadic families in Wajir County as the p-value of p=0.000 was lower than p=0.05. Therefore, schools related parental support and academic performance of students from nomadic families are significantly related. Beta value data on the other hand reveal that a change in schools related support would result in a 0.937 unit change in academic performance of students in Wajir County public secondary schools.

Influence of home related parental support on the performance of public secondary school learners from nomadic families 

The study also investigated the influence of home related parental support on the performance of government sponsored high school learners from nomadic families in Wajir County Kenya. Study findings revealed that home related parental involvement in learners’ education generally improved learners’ academic performance within public secondary schools in Wajir County. Similarly, in Ghana, it was revealed that home-related parental engagement enhanced learners’ test scores [20]. Lastly, it was established that a statistically significant relationship between home related parental support and the performance of public secondary school learners from nomadic families in Wajir County as the p-value of p=0.000 was lower than p=0.05. These outcomes however are not in line with those of Topor, Keane and Shelton, who found that the association between home-related parental support and academic test scores were almost non-existent as the r-value was r = .03. Outcomes of this study are supported by the theory of overlapping sphere and are also in agreements with the researchers’ expectations that parental involvement does influence academic performance of learners from nomadic backgrounds.

Influence of Schools related parental support on the performance of public secondary school learners from nomadic families 

The study at the same time examined the influence of schools related parental support on the performance of government sponsored high school learners from nomadic families in Wajir County Kenya was addressed. Outcomes of the study showed that schools related parental support greatly improved students’ academic performance in Wajir County public secondary schools. This is similar to a study done in China by Reference Mo and Singh, which revealed that parental involvement at post-primary education level significantly influenced students’ school engagement and test scores. It was further established by the study that there was a statistically significant relationship between schools related parental support and academic performance of students from nomadic families in Wajir County as the p-value of p=0.000 was lower than p=0.05. Mo and Singh [22], further concurred with these outcomes as it showed that enhanced learners’ academic outcomes were statistically related to parental support at school. These outcomes were within the researchers’ expectations and were in line with the theory of overlapping sphere as advanced by Epstein and Sheldon in 2016. In line with this theory, the results similarly holds that parental involvement do affect academic achievements of students from nomadic families.

The following conclusions were made from the study findings, with respect to the influence of home related parental support on the performance of government sponsored high school learners from nomadic families in Wajir County Kenya. It was established that parents do get involved in learners’ education at home in various ways and that such involvement enhanced academic performance of students from nomadic families. It is the conclusion of this study that home related parental involvement in learners’ education generally improved learners’ academic performance within public secondary schools in Wajir County. 

Regarding the influence of schools related parental support on the performance of government sponsored high school learners from nomadic families in Wajir County Kenya, the study found that most parents telephoned schools to check on learners’ academics and this enhanced learners’ performance. Hence, the study concluded that schools related parental support greatly improved students’ academic performance in Wajir County public secondary schools.

Acknowledgment

I would like to acknowledge the aid and assistance I received from my University Supervisor and Coauthor Dr. Charity Limboro of Kenyatta University as without her contributions and guidance I would not have been able to complete this paper. We would like to thank our loved ones and or families for the love and moral support they gave us which enabled us to successfully write this paper. We thank Kenyatta University for availing all the resources needed to write this paper in personnel and library resources. Our appreciation goes to Himalayan Journal of Education and Literature for providing a platform where we could publish this work. Our final gratitude goes to Almighty Allah for seeing us through our life struggles and academic pursuits.

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