Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to examine parental support and its perceived impact on
pre-school pupils learning in the Kasena Nankana Municipality. The study adopted
the descriptive survey as the research design for the study. The total population of
pupils was made up of 4,792 participants. The sample for the study was 341. Pupils
were randomly sampled from the selected schools in order to reach their respective
parents. The instrument used for data collection was a set of questionnaires with
reliability co-efficient of 0.96, 0.94 and 0.84, using Cronbach Alpha formula.
Frequency distribution tables, and percentages were used analyse the data gathered
from the field. Findings from the study revealed that: Importance of parental support
to the educational development of the pre-school pupils includes: Enabling the
pupils/students to learn seriously, allowing the pupils/students to attend school
regularly; students performing well academically; helps in monitoring both teachers
and pupils; promoting good morals and social behaviour; making pupils to attend
good schools of their preference; solving pupils school related problems; setting high
objectives for their future concerns; meeting their psychological needs (of love,
economic and security); encouraging irregular pupils to be regular and giving pupils
students quality time and personal attention. The findings further revealed that, paying
children's welfare (pocket money, transportation to school, canteen); paying of official
and approved levies by the Ghana Education Service and PTA dues; ensuring that
pupils go to school regularly; feeding pupils before they go to school; providing good
hygiene; and giving pupils psychological needs; were the major contributions of
parents. It was, however, found that parents do not provide enough motivation for
their children to learn even though they ensure they go to school regularly. They do
not help them do homework; they do not visit their schools to assess their progress
and they do not purchase text books and other materials. The major challenges parents
face was financial constraints and large family size. It is recommended that parents
should support their children in diverse ways and not restrict their support to only
financial commitments and demands.
Description:
A dissertation in the Department of Early Childhood Education,
Faculty of Educational Studies submitted to the School
of Graduate Studies in partial fulfilment of the
requirement for the award of the degree of
Master of Education
(Early Childhood Education)
in the University of Education, Winneba
