PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT AND READING CULTURE AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS CASE OF INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS

Abstract

Poor culture of reading among Rwanda students is a perennial problem. This study sought to investigate the relationship between parental involvement and reading culture among secondary school students. Specifically, the study sought to identify parental involvement practices in promoting reading culture among students in international secondary schools, to identify reading culture practices among students in international secondary schools and to determine the influence of parental involvement on reading culture among students in international secondary schools. Descriptive and correlational research designs were adopted. Primary data was collected using questionnaires and interview guide. The population size was 3557 and a sample size of 360 was computed which comprised of teachers, parents and students. The study utilized purposive, stratified proportional and simple random sampling techniques. Data was processed using IBM SPSS software version 21 in addition to Excel and presented in tabula and graphic forms. Computation of percentages and frequencies formed the basis of descriptive analysis. The study findings indicated that 41% and above of parents, teachers and children supported that parents are involved in various learning practices which includes joint reading, donating books and teaching aids to school, going through students’ homework, buying recommended books to the children, encouraging technology use in reading and offering reading incentives to the children. Additionally, findings did indicate that between 36% to 51%, 39% to 61% and 41% to 57% of teachers, parents and students respectively agreed that students engage in various reading culture practices including having favorite story books, spending free time reading, love for reading, talking about books they have read, creative and writes something on what they have read and making consultations from teachers and parents for clarifications. Moreover, the findings indicated that there is still a great percentage of parents who don’t engage themselves on students learning matters supported by 17%-40% of respondents and also a greater percentage of students having poor reading culture in secondary schools supported by at most 45% of respondents. correlation finings indicated a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.650 which positive and significant whereas regression finings indicated R squared of 54.7% and beta coefficient of 0.119 with p value of 0.025 for parental involvement. The study concluded that there is a moderate involvement of parents in the learning process of their children, good reading culture is practiced to a moderate extent by secondary school students in Rwanda and there is positive significant influence of parental involvement on reading culture among secondary school students. This study recommends parents to engage in various activities aimed at promoting the reading culture and performance of their children. Schools to organize workshops to enlighten the parents on the need to engage in various supports to promote their students reading culture. Article visualizations: