Parental involvement in school administration and students’ academic achievements of senior high schools in Abura Asebu Kwamankese District

Abstract

The study investigated parental involvement in school administration and its effect on students’ academic achievement in Senior High School (SHS) in Abura Asebu Kwamankese (AAK) District in the Central Region of Ghana. The study adopted the concurrent triangulation design of the mixed method approach. Proportionate stratified and simple random sampling techniques were used to select a sample of 338 students from 2,885 students by Krecjie and Morgan while convenience and census sampling techniques were used to select 160 parents and 4 heads of the four SHSs respectively. Questionnaire and interview guide were the instruments used to collect data. Means and standard deviation and Simple Linear Multiple Regression were used to analyse the quantitative data while the qualitative data was analysed using themes. The findings of the study indicated that SHS students have good perceptions on their parents’ academic involvement with overall mean M=2.64 compared to the standard mean M=2.5. The study also revealed that parents in the AAK District have good perception towards their involvement in school administration with overall mean M=3.01 compared to the standard mean M=2.5. Involvement in school administration include; provision of students’ academic supports, provision and maintenance of school infrastructure, enquiring about students’ welfare, serving in school board and committees, and participating in school functions such as PTAs. The conclusions drawn were that parents in AAK District involved themselves in school administration and that their involvement has significant and positive impact on students’ academic achievements (R=0.729 P=000<0.05). Based on the findings, it was recommended that parents continue to involve themselves in school administration and their children’s academic work in order to increase their students’ academic achievements, Heads of schools should continue to engage parents in the administration of the school.