Family involvements in education and quality of education: Some selected 2nd cycle public schools in west shoa zone, Ethiopia

Abstract

In improving the quality of education, parents’ involvement is very significant. Parents’ involvement is one of the three responsibilities for realizing the best quality. This study attempts to explore parents’ involvement in education activities for improving their children’s academic achievement. A sample of 292 households was selected from whose students’ grade five to grade eight of four schools. Descriptive analysis showed that 19% of the respondents do not actively involve at all in giving advice, guiding, and counseling their children at home. 67% of the respondents showed medium parental involvement in helping their children, while 14% of respondents showed a good status of parental involvement in education at home. Similarly, the study revealed that 53% of the respondents were not participating in school activities at all and 35% of them were medium participation and 13% of them were well involved in school activities. The multiple linear regression revealed that the gender of the household head, educational level of the father, and sources of income of parents were found to be the major predictors of parents’ involvement in education for improving academic achievements while the aging of the head of the household, number of children and gender of students were not showing significance. Government, school leaders, and policymakers should explore mechanisms to increase parents’ involvement in students’ learning and make it obvious to parents their attitude toward their child’s academic performance.