PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT STRATEGIES ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF PUPILS IN EARLY YEARS EDUCATION: A CASE OF SELECTED PRE-PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN KAKAMEGA COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Children's holistic growth and development are solely dependent on the engagement of their parents and caregivers in providing appropriate nourishment. Basically, parents’ engagement in their children’s learning process offers many opportunities for success. Therefore, the goal of this study was to evaluate how parental engagement tactics affected the academic performance of children in Kakamega County, Kenya's preprimary schools. The objectives of the study were; to determine the influence of parental roles on academic performance of pupils in pre-primary schools; to establish the effect of parents’ decision making activities on academic performance of pupils in preprimary schools; to assess the influence of parent –school communication and collaboration on academic performance of pre-primary school pupils; to examine the effect of parents’ volunteering and resourcing activities on pre-primary school pupil’s academic performance. This study was founded on the pragmatic philosophical research paradigm and applied a mixed methods research design. The theory that underpinned this study was the Epstein theory of topology on parental engagement. The field of parental engagement is wide but this study confined itself to four strategies of parental engagement on academic performance of pupils in public pre-primary schools hence the results may not reflect other levels of education in the selected county and other counties with different topographic features. The study was based on the assumptions that the respondents had knowledge on issues concerning the parental engagement in preprimary schools in Kakamega County and they responded truthfully. A total of 120 head teachers, 120 teachers, and 120 parents were chosen using census, systematics, and convenience selection, respectively, to provide a sample size of 360 for the study using 30% of the target population. Parents' information was gathered through interviews using interview guides, while particular papers held by teachers were examined. Data from head teachers and pre-primary school teachers was gathered through questionnaires. Thematic analysis was done along the study objectives and story presentations were made with the qualitative data. Quantitative data were inferentially analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficient and simple linear regression to test the null hypotheses. These analyses were carried out with the help of the Statistical Packages for Social Science (SPSS 23). The most appropriate approach was linear regression because both the outcome and the predictor variables were measured on an interval scale. The results showed that parental roles, decision-making, communication collaboration, and volunteering and resourcing all had substantial positive connections. Regression analysis indicated significant prediction effects of parenting, decision-making, communication collaboration and volunteering and resourcing on academic performance. The study found that parental engagement affects students' academic performance in school and suggests that teachers and parents should be properly sensitized to, monitored for, and evaluated with regard to the Ministry of Education's guidelines on parental empowerment and engagement. The results and recommendations will provide insight to all education stakeholders and policymakers on how to improve parental engagement in learning institution.