Pages

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Parental influence on academic achievements of students at-risk of failure: The case of community secondary schools in Mbinga district.


UNIVERSITY OF DODOMA


COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

SCHOOLOF CURRICULUM STUDIES

STUDENTS NAME : NDUNGURU JOSEPH BETRAM

REGISTRATION NO : HD/UDOM/351/T.2010

DEGREE PROGRAM : MA EDUCATION

SUPERVISOR : PROF OSAKI

ASSIGNMENT : Research Proposal

Research Title:-

Parental influence on academic achievements of students at-risk of failure: The case of community secondary schools in Mbinga district.

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study:

For many children the years spent in schools are the best years of their lives. They interact with people who care about them and for them people who help children to learn and to feel good about themselves in the process and who nurture young people hopes for the future ( Herbert & McNergney, 2001). In recent years however some have argued that schools have taken too much educators efforts to encounter children social problems while trying to meet their blue print for failure (Herbert & McNergney 2001).

In USA students attending schools from the beginning of kindergarten to the completion of 12 grades will have spent 9% of their total time on earth in the classroom (Finn, 1992), None the less expectation for schools usually exceed the 9 percent limit as people look increasingly to school to solve some of the societies difficult problems. Smith, (1995) once argued that when young people have problems, society has problems. And because the government supports schools with tax-dollars people expect educators to help students succeed regardless of circumstances.

In actual fact the growing number of at risk students who have little or no hope of success in schools or productivity in later life presents unusual difficult challenge to educators (Barr & Parrett, 1995). Usually these at risk students have high rates of absenteeism, tiredness; failed one or more grades, and are labeled by other students due to their social problems. They are also affected diversely by health threatening factors such as poverty, diseases, abuse, and neglects (Herbert & McNergney,2001: Waxman, 1992: Smith, Polloway,& Dowdy 1995).

As the definition suggests, students can be at risk of failure academically and socially due to intrinsic factors- motivation, ability, disability, loss of parent, and like homes and community environment (Sidel 1996). Eventually many students at risk drop out of schools all together. However these students need help from both school teachers and parents who will be concerned to their problems.

It is with no doughty that the academic achievement of students depends on three basic things. These are Teachers efforts, student’s efforts, and parental involvement to children education (Tella & Tella, 2010). Parents are responsible for academic achievements of their children. They are the one who spent much time with the students during evening, nights, as well as during long vocation. Adekola, (2008) asserts that academic achievements of students are the result of teacher factor and parental factors. Epstein (1997) once asserts that the more intensively parents are involved in their children’s learning; the more beneficial are the achievement effects. Such that higher degree of parental involvement results into higher attendance rate with higher achievement

As for students success parental and school care is highly needed (Campbell, 1995). This will help the students develop plans of their future. Parents lay foundation of their children learning. Zang and Carasquillo, (1995) remarked that when children are surrounded by caring , capable parent and are able to enjoy nurturing and moderate competitive kinship, a foundation of literacy is built with no difficult. In some occasion, parents cultural practices over their children have direct impacts towards academic performance of their children. Practices such as early marriages, jando and Unyago in some parts of Tanzania exemplify such cultural practices (Malibiche, 2011).

1.2. Statement of the problem:

Tanzania like any other developing countries in Africa has made efforts to provide secondary education to its people as a respond to meet the millennium goals of 2000. In the year 2004 the government launched Secondary Education Development Program (SEDP 1). Under this program the government established different secondary schools. Nearly every ward has established its own secondary school. Most of these schools are community schools which depend on accommodation from the community (URT, 2004). The introduction of these community schools was expected to improve academic performance by giving equal opportunity for all learners from all social cultural background. The emphasis of SEDP was on equity and access for education to all children. Then in the year 2005 the ministry of education launched a crash program for giving short training to form six leavers who wished to join teaching profession. This program provided teaching license to people who attended that course to teach secondary schools. Most of these teachers were posted to community sec schools established under SEDP. Later on in 2006 the government uplifted Mkwawa high school and changombe TTC to become colleges of education of the University of Dar-es-alaam. And in 2007 Dodoma University was established. These universities produce teachers who are posted to teach secondary schools established under SEDP.

Despite all the efforts made, yet the performance of students from rural communities has been low. And most students from HIV affected families, orphans, alcoholic and some students from poor families have been performing poorly ((Hakielimu 2010: URT 2010). Table 1.0 shows how results for secondary education examination dropped drastically.

Pass rates in form 4 examinations have been fluctuating from year to year, highest in 2004 (91.5%) and lowest in 2009 (72.5%). The percentage of candidates failed started to increase again from 2008 (16.3%) to 2009 (27.5%). These results are contrary to what was expected. The government expected to improve academic performance by establishing many community schools. Yet it has achieved only equity and access but not performance or quality. Even in 2010 and 2011 students have continued with poor performance as normal.

Table 1: Summary of results of CSEE 2011 according to school ownership

OWNER

SEX

DIV

1

%

DIV

11

%

DIV 111

%

DIV

1V

%

DIV

0

%

Qualified to form 5

%

Sat for

CSEE

Community

F

M

78

591

0.1

0.4

472

2517

0.7

1.7

2358

8942

2.3

6.1

37031

65212

36.6

44.2

61217

70067

60.4

47.5

2908

12050

2.9

8.3

101308

147674

Government

F

M

156

622

4.0

11.0

314

719

8.0

12.7

556 992

14.2

17.6

1770

2193

45.2

38.8

1117

1121

28.6

19.8

1026

2333

26.2

41.3

3913

5650

Non– Govt

F

M

796

901

2.6

2.9

1458

1770

4.7

5.8

3113

4038

10.0

13.1

15001

15014

48.2

48.8

10384

8453

33.3 27.5

5367 6709

17.2

21.8

31145

30724

Seminary

F

M

43

424

1.9

13.6

161

589

7.1

18.9

320

680

14.1

21.8

1143

1039

50.5

33.3

585

380

25.9

12.2

524

1693

23.2

54.2

2263

3122

TOTAL

3611

1.1

8000

2.5

20999

6.5

138403

42.5

153324

47.1

32610

10.0

325799

Out of 32,610 qualifiers, Community Schools contributed the highest number of 14,958

(45.87%) while Seminaries contributed the least 2,217 (6.80%). Then 248,982 (76.42%) out of 325,799 candidates who sat for the examination was from Community Schools as compared to the lowest 5,385 (1.65) from Seminaries. Pass rate for Div I – III in Seminary Schools was higher (41.17%) as compared to that of Community Schools which was the lowest (6.01%). This gives evidence that academic performance in community secondary schools is very low as compared to seminary and old government schools. Also the table above gives proof that students who are studying I community schools are in a higher risk of performing poor than those in seminary and old government schools. With such circumstances, there is a need of continuing making investigation of what causes poor performance to secondary students specifically community schools. And the focus should be parent’s involvement in improving the academic performance of the students at risk of failure.

As asserted by Smith (2003) that any expanding system of education face the crises of larger enrollment which brings in learners of multiple ability range including a large number of weaker learners. Failure to apply a multiple intelligence teaching techniques will lead to poor performance. In part researchers have shown much concentration on girls performance (NMAA, 2011), and science subject performance (Mushi, A, 2005) and Mwinuka, H, (2011) has explored on how to improve teacher mathematical content Knowledge so as to improve performance of mathematics in secondary schools. But there has been little study in the area of parents influences on academic performance of students at-risk of failure. Thus the proposed study seeks to investigate on the perception and practice of parents towards students at risk of failure in secondary schools in Tanzania. And the focus will be community secondary schools in Mbinga district.

1.3. Purpose of the study:

The purpose of this study is to assess the contribution of parental supportiveness towards at-risk student’s academic achievements in Tanzania. And the focus will be on community secondary schools in Mbinga district.

1.4. Specific objectives:

To achieve the research purpose the following specific objectives are going to be used.

  1. To identify the main groups of at-risk students found in the society
  2. To investigate the perception of parents on at risk student’s academic success.
  3. To find out the causes of occurrence of at-risk students in secondary schools
  4. To investigate on parental treatments given to at-risk students from the society
  5. To explore the best intervention practices suitable for accommodating students at-risk of failure.

1.5. Research questions:

  1. What are the characteristics of at-risk students
  2. How do parents perceive at-risk students academic progress
  3. What are the social forces that affect academic performance of students at risk of failure in secondary schools
  4. How does parents treat these at risk students in accordance with academic success
  5. What intervention programs are essential for schools and parents in accommodating students at risk of failure

1.6. Significance of the study:

It is my believe that the findings of this study will reveal the truth about the challenges that at risk students face in both classroom interaction and home treatments from parents. It will add to our knowledge on how to care these at risk students by encouraging parents to participate fully in the process of educating the at risk students in their societies. Thirdly the findings of this study will likely lunch the reforms needed to improve the overall quality of education services offered in both secondary schools and colleges.

1.7. Scope and delimitation of the study:

This study is limited to students at risk of failure by focusing on the influence of parents and teachers in academic performance of the dependent valuable. The study involves only four ward secondary schools in Mbinga district. And because of time the focus of the study will be limited to teacher’s professional practices and parental involvement in handling these students who are at risk of failure. It will not concentrate on normal students simply because the information needed is within the hands of at risk students themselves, parents, and teachers together with the community at large.

1.8. Definition of key terms:

Parental involvements: This is a general term that denotes the participation of parents in academic success of their children. It is the amount of support that a student expects to get from parents during the time when he or she is struggling for achieving highest success in education. Harold and Eccles (1996) narrated that parents influence their children academic performance by exposing them to intellectual stimulating experiences, directly teaching them, monitoring their home works, and communicating with schools. Parents also strengthen ties by volunteering at schools, attending conference, requesting information, and participating in school governance.

At-risk students: These are children with serious social problems. These are students who are counted as vulnerable to academic failure due to extreme poverty, diseases like HIV which has affected them, loss of their parents, and have little or no parental support in their studies. These students originate from families of different parental characteristics. Some of these children have parents who are completely affected by chronic alcoholism. These parents have no time of assisting their children to accomplish their academic tasks. They do not care about the basic requirements needed by their children. The second groups are those students whose parents are interested with their children education but they are characterized by extreme poverty, in some days they can not afford even a single meal. This group of students is highly affected by the poverty situation of their home environment. The third groups of at risk students are those who have lost their parents due to HIV. And some of them are affected by HIV attack. This is the most serious affected group which characterized by high risk of failure. The other group of at risk students is those whose parents are financially rich but they are busy with their business affair. They do not concentrate on helping their children academic affairs.

School intervention programs: This includes different programs/ activities carried out by administrators, teachers, non teaching staffs, and students for the purpose of helping students who are at risk of failure due to difficult social -economic problems. These are programs designed by school purposely for helping the at risk students to solve their problems.

Teacher’s professional practices: This refers to daily routine of teachers in implementing classroom curriculum as well as out side class curriculum. Teachers implement core curricular during classroom teaching and learning. And extra curricular is implemented during supervision of out side classroom routines. It is during this time where the interaction between student and teachers together with students and students is developed and strengthened.

Lower achievers: These are students whose academic performances are proved extremely lower than other students in the same class. They are performing below the mean average performance. Lower achievers normally are regarded as students who have the highest degree of failure in their daily performance.

Higher achievers: Are students whose classroom performance is above the mean average. These students usually posses grade A and B consecutively. Their level of reasoning and under standings is higher than other learners.

1.9. Conceptual framework:

There are various conceptual models of evaluation in education, to mention some of them are like Stufflebeam (2000) which involves three components, namely Context, Input, Process and Product (CIPP). The second model is that called Katz and Kahn (1966), which contains three components, namely Input, Process and Product (IPP). The third model of evaluation is that of Bloom (1982). The model consists of three items: Predictor variables, mediating variables and Performance. According to Bloom, predictor variables and mediating variables influence greatly students` performance. This study will adopt Blooms model (1982). The model is purposively being selected from others because of its suitability in the process of students learning and their performance. The model explaining these variables is presented in the figure below:-

Figure 2: Model explaining students’ academic performance

Source: Adapted from Bloom (1982)

Figure 2 summarizes the idea contained in the model that if the predictor variables and mediating variables were of positive attitudes towards students` learning, then the process would produce good performance in academic subjects among students.

In this study it is anticipated that if parents` involvement, altitude and expectations and their practices like teaching, guiding, counseling, coaching and self evaluation at home are positive towards education process of their children, the students will be highly motivated and become ready for learning. As a result, these children will have good performance in their academic subjects.

The study assumes that if the home environments including sleeping houses, study rooms which is full of study materials like books, tables, electricity or lamps, support of parents and or brothers and sisters in attempting home works and guiding a students in attempting out of school activities, school environment (teachers, books, attractive classrooms, school counselors, security), study time etc are well set and organized, students can be motivated to study even after school hours and so, influence performance, where good performance is obtained (McNerney and Robert 2001).

It is hoped that students can be motivated and do perform better in examinations if parents will provide essential equipments to students such as exercise books, pencils, pen, books, school uniform, school fees and teachers will be helping students develop independent learning, collaborative or group learning, coaching students on critical thinking and helping students to make self evaluation. Moreover, it is thought that cultural practices and norms that are famous in Tanzanian regions, which includes early marriages among girls, early pregnancy among girls, Jando and Unyago for both girls and boys do hinder or decrease the students’ motivation for learning, hence limit good performance among them(Malibiche, 2011).

In supporting the idea of this model, behaviorism theory of learning is used. This theory assumes a learner to be essentially passive, responding to environmental stimuli. The learner will repeat the desired behavior (e.g. good performance) if positive reinforcement (a peasant consequence) follows the behavior. The negative reinforcement will make leaners cease from repeating behavior. For this context, parents’ activities, altitudes, perceptions can be said to influence the academic performance of students in that, if they provide students with necessary school requirements such as fees, books, etc. students can be motivated to study hard and lastly perform well their examination. And teachers professional practices such as teaching by using participatory teaching skills, coaching students to critical thinking, shaping students behavior, encouraging collaborative learning, and independent learning etc, if are carefully observed will lead to good academic performance.

On the other hand, student self motivation and readiness in the learning process is said to count in good academic performance. It is anticipated that if students are self motivated and are ready for studies, they are in a position to get good performance. Performance, which is the third component in the model, refers to the good results of examinations students get after completing form four stage. On one hand, it is assumed that, when predictor variables and mediating variable are favorable, then, examination performance will be good. On the other hand, when they are unfavorable, performance will be poor.

There fore this is the end of chapter one and in the next chapter summary of literature review related to the study is going to be presented.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW:

2.0. Introduction:

This chapter presents the review of various literature related to the study based on the influence of parents involvement in academic performance of students in community secondary schools. The review is divided into three main sections. The first is the general situation on academic performance of secondary schools in Tanzania for ten consecutive year from 2000-2009. And the second section shows the review related to parental involvement in academic performance of their children. This includes parents’ attitude, expectation and their influence in improving academic achievement of their children. The third section is the review related to teachers professional practices. This includes classroom teaching, coaching, guiding, developing critical thinking as well as making self evaluation.

2.1. General situation of academic performance in secondary schools in Tanzania:

Despite the government initiatives to promote secondary education in Tanzania, the performance has not been good for years (URT, 1997). This is verified by the data that shows the transition rate from form four to form five, where by, from the year 2000 to 2009, educational statistics shows that it has never happened that at least 40% of students who set for form four examinations managed to join form five. Very few percent of them joined form five. Although the number of students who passed was seen to be great, but their performance did not allow them to be selected for form five.

This is because they performed lower than the average needed to join advanced level. The table below shows the percentage of students who qualified to join form five versus candidates sat for form four examinations from community schools in Tanzania. See table 2.

Figure 2: Candidates qualified to join form 5 from community schools (2009 – 2011).

Years

Number of candidates sat for exams

Number of candidates passed

N of candidates qualified to form 5

% of qualified candidates to join form 5

2009

161277

109140

20784

12.89%

2010

270014

116141

19126

7.06%

2011

248982

117201

14958

6.01%

Source: MOEVT 2012.

This table shows that out of 248982 candidates who sat for secondary education examination in 2011 from community schools, only 14948 equal to 6.01% of these candidates qualified to join form 5. This means 93.09% of the candidates failed to continue with advanced secondary education. And in the year 2010 only 7.06% of the total 270014 candidates sat for o level secondary examinations from community schools qualified to join form 5. The remaining 92.04% of these candidates failed join form 5.

2.2. Parental Involvement to children education.

When we talk of parental involvement we refer to the process where by fathers, mothers, or guardians participates fully in assisting their children to learn and persue their studies with success. It is also concerned with taking part/contribution in schools or academic improvement of their children (McNergney 2001). The influence of parents can be viewed focusing on their attitude, and their supportiveness to children. But the level of involvement depends on the perception parents have towards their children education.

Parent’s attitude to student’s academic achievement:

In sum, research has shown that parents do want to get along with their children’s education knowing fully well that such involvement could promote better achievement. In most societies parents perceives their children academic success as the future success of the entire family. And once a child performs better, happiness arise in parents mind. And vise-versa is also true. Many studies such as that of Henderson & Berla (1994), Pena (2000), confirm that parent attitudes make enormous effects on students' attitude, attendance, and academic performance. There are parents with positive attitude to education, and these parents encourage their children to study hard, and they are highly involved in their children education (Kathleen, et al, 2001). Student achievement increases because of greater involvement from parents (Rich, 2001).

In Tanzania poor performance which characterized the results of form four leavers of 2009, where by only 15% of them succeeded to join form 5 and the results of 2010 which shocked mass of Tanzanian population (URT 2009)

And this made parent’s attitude toward sending their children to community schools to be demoralized. In addition to that the study conducted by Osaki and Hatfield (2008) in Lindi, Mtwara and Zanzibar came up with an argument that parents feel that education provided to their children does not prepare them for employment. From this argument, it is concluded that paying attention to children education which is nothing in future, is useless to the majority of parents in these areas. It was noted that to some parents they just perceived community schools as centers for children physical growth and not academic growth.

Parental influence and academic achievement:

Getting parents involved in children academic improvement need a direct link between schools and home environment. On parental involvement and academic achievement, studies have shown to date that the two constructs seems to be positively related. Findings have demonstrated that parent’s involvement in the education of the children has been found to be of benefit to parents, children, and schools (Tella and Tella 2003; Campbell, 1995). Rasinki and Fredrick’s (1988) asserted that parents play an invaluable role in laying the foundation for their children’s learning; this foundation is laid down from the time when a child start imitating and adapting words and practices at home from mothers and from other children. Parents are the one who corrects wrong words or deeds a child performs in early stage of growth. Zang and Carasquillo (1995) also similarly remarked that when children are surrounded by caring, capable parents and are able to enjoy nurturing and moderate competitive kinship, a foundation for literacy is built with no difficulty.

Wikelund, (2005) notably capped it by asserting that the more intensively parents are involved in their children’s learning; the more beneficial are the achievement effects. Thus, it is believed that when parents monitor homework, encourage participation in extracurricular activities, are active in parents –teacher associations, and help children develop plans for their future; children are more likely to respond and do well in school. As a matter of facts, repeated evidence has confirmed that the most accurate predictor of student achievement is the extent to which the family is involved in the child’s education, and not the family‘s level of income. In addition to that, McMillan (2000) noted that parental pressure has a positive and negative significant effect on public school performance. This becomes particularly obvious when the exactness of the parental pressure is brought to bear on the children’s academic performance. Similarly, children of passive parents are found to perform poorly academically .Ryan (2005) reported that academic performance is positively related to having parents who enforce rules at home. The obviousness of the research findings reported in this study is that family involvement improves facets of children’s education such as daily attendance, daily performance on home works, and faster speed of reporting difficulties that a child face at school ( Cotton & Wikelund 2001). Also family involvement in children education provides fear of failure to students and forces their children to work hard so as to achieve the highest. It is also noted that making follow up to children academic routine encourages learners to learn effectively. This gives learners chance to ask when difficult things face them in their struggle for academic success.

Parents and School relation and the academic performance:

However, parents need a better little direction as to how they can effectively do this. According to McNergney (2001),six types of programmes could be utilized by schools to build strong parental skills .These are: one, school can assist families with parenting and child-rearing skills; two, schools can communicate with families about school programmes and students progress and needs; three, school can work to improve families as volunteers in school activities; four, schools can encourage families to be involved in learning activities at home; five, schools can include parents as participants in important schools decisions, and six, schools can coordinate with business and agencies to provide resources and services for families, student, and the community. The importance of these programmes further asserts to the fact that student’s academic performance is dependent upon the parent-school bond. Thus the importance of parental involvement on academic performance cannot be over emphasized. The stronger the relationship, especially between the parents and their wards’ education, the higher the academic achievement .Adeyemo (2005) saw reason in this by stressing that there is need to foster home school partnership. In his attempt to give more meaning to his contribution on parental involvement and children’s education, (Epstein,1997) put up a model in which he analyzed how children learn and grow through three overlapping spheres of influence: family school and community .According to him, these three spheres must form partnership to best meet the needs of the child.

Epstein (1997) again identified six types of involvement based on the relationships between the families, school and community .These are: parenting (skills), communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision making, and collaborating with the community. He stressed it clearly that these six types of involvement need to be included to have successful partnerships (between the home and the school).Baker and Soden (1997) remarked that much of the research that examined the relationships between parent involvement and children’s education assesses parent involvement by utilizing one particular measure, such as counting the number of parents that volunteer, coming to meetings, or coming to parent-teacher conferences, and parents who normally have the tendency of coming to school to check the progress of their children.

2.3. At-risk students and sense of collaborative learning:

Friendship is one mind in two bodies. Costa (2008) once writes that meaning making is not just an individual operation. Learning is a reciprocal process; the individual influences the group's thinking, and the group influences the individual's thinking (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001; Vygotsky, 1978). Instructional techniques that encourage group activities help students construct both their own and shared knowledge.

When learners fail to see the interconnections and coherence of divergent views, collaborative thinking falters. If each student concentrates on his or her own certainties, each perceives the solution to a problem solely from his or her own viewpoint. Such an egocentric view hinders serious reflection and honest inquiry.

Another purpose of a collaborative thinking, therefore, is to build ecology of thought and network of shared memories and awareness that links community members together (Isaacs, 1999). Collegial interaction is a crucial factor in the intellectual ecology of the school and classroom. Collaboratively, individuals can elicit thinking that surpasses individual effort, but such collaboration is difficult because it means temporarily suspending what an individual think. It means relaxing an individual on certainties and opening the minds to new perspectives, abiding by and supporting group decisions that are arrived at through deep, respectful listening and dialogue. Learners must come to understand that as they transcend the self and become part of the whole, they will not lose their individuality, only their egocentricity. Focusing on at risk students the ideas of collaborative learning has been so difficult. Most students depend mostly on their own mind rather than sharing their learning behavior with others. But successful learning is that which allows learners to learn together, discuss together and solve their problems together (Costa 2008). Other scholars asserted that learning to listen with understanding and empathy may be one of the least-taught skills in school, yet it is one of the most powerful skills of intelligent problem solvers (Steil & Bommelje, 2007).

CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

This chapter presents the research procedures and methodology that will be employed in the process of data gathering and analysis. It describes the study design, study area, study population, sample and the sampling procedures, instrument for data collection, validation of the instruments, and data analysis procedures that will be employed.

3.1 Research Design

Research design is a plan showing the approach and strategy of investigation conceived by a researcher in order to obtain relevant data which fulfils the research objectives (Kothari, 2004). As the study aims to collect the opinion, practice and attitudes of parents influence in academic performance of students at risk of failure (lower achievers), the case study design will be employed. This particular design is chosen on the account of type of data which is needed. Case study research focuses on peoples’ practice, belief, attitudes, opinions and behavior. Kerlinger (1983) asserted that in case study research design, data is usually collected through observation, interview and check list or documentation. In addition, it can be applied to a large sample and allows the use of several data collection techniques including the use of questionnaires (Best and Khan 1986). In this aspect this study will employ the interview guide for the heads of schools and parents and documented information will be collected from academic masters. Also to make justification for several aspects about teaching and learning of at risk students classroom observations will be employed. And questionnaire will be used only to students who are at-risk of failure.

3.2 Study Area

The study will be conducted in Mbinga district in which four community secondary schools will be involved. These schools will be selected randomly by the use of simple random sampling. The district is purposively selected for this study due to the following reasons; first, there are many schools which opened recently and most of them are day schools with students whose performance are less than division III. And most of these students whose performance are less than division III are coming from families that are vulnerable to extreme poverty, others have lost their parents due to HIV disease and others have parents who are affected by alcoholism. In this reason it is assumed that most teachers posted in these schools are not reporting due to poor living standard and transport problem. Another reason is that the area is selected because the researcher is familiar with its geographical settings as well as culture of the people found in the area. See table 3

Table 3: CSEE 2011 for community schools in Mbinga district.

SEX

SAT

Passed I,II,& III

%

Passed IV

%

Failed Div 0

%

Female

1211

9

0.7

406

33

796

65

Males

1437

66

4.6

644

44

727

51

Total

2648

75

2.8

1050

39

1523

58

Source: MOEVT 2012.

Basing on the table above, 58% of the candidates sat for CSEE 2011 from community schools failed their exams, 39% scored division IV, and only 2.8% of these students qualified to join form 5. This gives evidence that most of the students from community schools found in Mbinga district are at-risk of failure. And most of these students are coming from families that are vulnerable to extreme poverty, others have lost their parents due to HIV disease and others have parents who are affected by alcoholism.

In this reason it is assumed that most teachers posted in these schools are not reporting due to poor living standard and transport problem. Another reason is that the area is selected because the researcher is familiar with its geographical settings as well as culture of the people found in the area.

3.3 Target Population

A target population refers to that population or group that a researcher intends to make generalization to it (Kothari 2004). In this study target population will be students who are at risk of failure in o-level community secondary schools. This group of students is selected because they are the one who lacks support in their studies and they usually face challenges as other students in schools.

3.4 Sample and Sampling Techniques

Out of 5 administrative districts in Ruvuma region one district is purposively selected. That is Mbinga district is selected to be the area of study. Three community secondary schools will be selected by using simple random sampling. This will be done simply because all schools in Mbinga district will have equal chances of being included in the sample. And the findings obtained from this study are expected to reflect the characteristics of the entire society. From each school a total number of 9 informants will be picked. Out of which 3 of them will be students, 3 teachers, and 3 parents. The teachers will be 1 head master, 1 academic master, and the other 1 will be a subject teacher who happened to teach them from forms one to form three. So this study will employ the use of total 27 informants only.

3.5. Data Collection Methods

In this study more than one research techniques will be used for gathering information since no single research technique was completely adequate by itself (Cohen et al 2000). Hence this study will include semi-structured interview schedules, Questionnaire and classroom observations. Multiple source of information will be preferred in order to crosscheck on consistence of information and to get information that will not be available through the use of other sources.

3.5.1. Interview

The Semi-structured interviews will be used for collecting information from teachers, parents and students themselves. Face-to-face, semi-structured interviews will be used to collect information. The interview schedule comprises of a written list of questions that needs to be answered by the interviewee. According to Kothari (2004), personal interview method requires a person known as interviewer asking questions generally in a face-to-face contact to the other person(s). At times, the interviewee may also ask certain questions to seek clarification and the interviewer has to respond. Usually the interviewer initiates the conversation and collects information by documenting and/or recording by tape. For this study the researcher will conduct an interview with four (9) Teachers, as well as (9) Parents, and (9) students who are at risk of failure in their studies since they are one of the key informants pertaining this research themes. The researcher will pose additional questions whenever it will be necessary to seek clarification on some points. Interviews will be used to gather information regarding an individual’s experience and knowledge his or her opinions, beliefs and obtaining feelings. Interview questions will be asked to determine past or current information as well as making predictions for the future (Best & Kahn, 2004). In this study semi-structured interview techniques will be used to get deeper responses. The technique enables the researcher to get more information, opinions, views and ideas from teachers, parents and students regarding the academic performance of the dependent variable.

3.5.2. Observation

The technique will be used to tap first hand data on the process activities and behaviors under the study. The technique will be used since it captures information which teachers can be unaware of; or they will be unwilling or unable to give on an interview. It will also be used to gather information based on students practice and behavior in the process of learning. The approach is expected to give an understanding of the context within which teaching and learning operates. During observation, observer will be at the back of the classroom with observation schedule to record the behaviors. The observation schedule will be used as a guide to minimize the observer’s biases and to standardize the information. The classroom observations will be used because it assists to understand the context within which teaching and learning operates. This helps to gather information about teaching and learning behavior of students at-risk of failure in secondary school.

3.5.3. Documentary review

Documentary review will be used in collecting information specifically the academic records of the at risk students from the academic masters office. The results of past years will be collected so as to check the progress of these students. As argued by Mugenda, o and Mugenda, A (1999) that documentary research method helps researchers to collects written information related to the topic of study. It also adds information about the characteristics of the group of people who are being studied.

3.5.4. Questionnaires

Questionnaires will be designed to elicit students’ personal data that include home environment, parenting style, cultural practices and their association with academic situation. Open-ended questionnaires are thought to be used to allow respondents elaborate freely their ideas. This instrument will be used to collect data from students who are still studying in the secondary school.

3.6 Validation of instruments

Validation of instruments refers to quality of data gathering instruments or procedures, which measure what is supposed to be, measured (Kothari 2004). In this study, the above mentioned instruments of data collection are subjected to content analysis. The administration of instruments will be done by researcher in person as to be able to make elaborations and clarifications wherever and whenever needed in case of ambiguities or misinterpretation. Moreover, several drafts of instruments will be vetted by colleagues who will help to rectify inconsistencies and ambiguities. Try out of the instruments will be done in one community school in Dodoma municipal as to test the validity of the instruments. On top of that, instruments will finally be vetted by supervisor.

3.7 Data Analysis Procedure

In this study qualitative research approach to data analysis will mainly be employed except in few cases where quantitative approach will be used to describe the behavior under observation and response from interview. Quantitative method will be used to analyze data from documentary and questionaires. Data that will be obtained from classroom documentary reports, first the average for every student will be calculated so as to obtain the position of every student. The choice of this kind of data analysis procedure will be done due to the nature of the design and the collected data which will not require high statistical processes due to small sample involved in this study which does not allow further statistic. Data from interview and from general classroom observations will be subjected to content analysis. Data will be organized into manageable units through simple hand coding, summarized, categorized and put into key themes. The researcher will analyze the presence, meanings and relationships of such words and concept then make inferences about the messages within the texts.

APPENDEX 1:

INTERVIEW GUIDES FOR PARENTS WHOSE CHILDREN ARE LEANING IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS.

How many children do you have?

Among the children you have, how many of them are in secondary schools?

How is the academic progress of your childen? Are you comfortable with their academic progress?

Do you have any child whose academic performance is poorer/ at risk of failure.

If yes in which class is your child is and how does that child behave?

How do you perceive that child? Is that student has any significant help to your family.

As a parent how do you help your child to continue with learning so as to upgrade his/her performance?

APPENDEX 2

INTERVIEW GUIDES FOR TEACHERS (HEAD MASTERS, ACADEMIC MASTERS AND CLASS MASTERS):

Name of the school……………………………District…………………………………

What is your teaching experience?

As a teacher you might have experienced different groups of students in your teaching. Have you experienced students with difficult in learning? What are the sources of their problems?

What kind of students can you categorize as students at risk of failure?

What is your criterion of categorizing?

As a teacher how do you perceive these students? Please can you explain?

What specific social factors do you think affects these students? Can you explain how?

How do you help these students meet their academic potentials despite of their problems?

Do you have any specific strategies to help these students? If yes which one and how do you implement them?

In your view what interventional plans or programs do you think could help to alleviate the situation. Please can you explain a little bit?

APPENDEX 3:

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE STUDYING AT SECONDARY SCHOOLS

I am interested in finding out the influence parents can be said to have on the academic performance of their students at risk of failure. A researcher is a student of Masters of Arts in Education at the University of Dodoma. This study is a partial fulfillment of the mentioned degree above. The findings of this study will lead to understanding of different ways parents can be said to influence schooling of their children which affect their performance. It will help government to set strategies to deal with parents in order to bring about parents’ good participation which will culminate to good academic performance of their children.

Please assist by answering the question as honest as possible. The information you will give will be treated confidentiality and used solely for the purpose of this study. There is no need for you to disclose your name unless otherwise you wish to do so.

Thank you very much for your time and cooperation. I great appreciate your contribution in this research.

Region………………………………………District……………………………………

Name of School …………………………… Form ………………… (II, III, IV)

Sex ………………………………………

1. How many children are there in your family ……………………………………..

2. Among them, how many of you are studying in secondary schools? ………………………

3. What cultural/ practices are there taking place in your society?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Do your parents need you to undergo those cultural/traditional practices? Why?_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. Do you think those practices have influence on educational practice and academic performance of your studies? _______________

How? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. Is your home environment conducive for personal studies after school hours? Tick appropriate:

Yes No Explain why for your answer. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7. Are your parents encouraging you to study? Tick appropriate: Yes

No

8. Do they give you the following support in relation to your study? Tick appropriate

a) Material support Yes No

b) Time for personal study Yes

No

c) Help in academic homework Yes

No

9. What comments did your parents give you when:

a) Passed your form two examinations

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

b) Failed your form two examinations

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10. What opinions do you have on:

a) The way parents care you in relation to education process ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

b) Cultural/traditional practices in relation to your education process ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for your cooperation.

QUESTIONAIRE 2:

AT-RISK STUDENTS LEARNING BEHAVIOUR:

1. As a students who is at-risk of failure, do you participate in group discussion/ personal leaning?…………………………………………………………………………………......

………………………………………………………………………………………………

2. Do you ask question to teachers during classroom teaching?...........................................

3. Do you participate in answering question?........................................................................

4. Do you have tendency of seeking help from your fellow students?.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

5. Do you have friends in your class/ school?...................... If yes what characteristics do your friends have……………………………………………………………………….....

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

6.Do you express your feelings or problems to your friends?..................if yes explain………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...................................

7. Do you have practice of learning at home?....................................................................... Are there any home activities that consume your time in steady of proceeding with learning or doing your home works.?....................................................................................

If yes what are these activites…………………………………………………………. ………………………………………………………………………………………………

APPENDEX 4:

CLASSROOM OBSERVATION PLAN

Teaches name……………………………………………………………

School name……………………………………………………………..

Class……………………………………………………………………..

Date……………………………………………………………………...

Time……………………………………………………………………..

Time (Min)

Teachers activity

At-risk Students activity

Other Students activity

0min-10min

10min-20min

20min-30min

30min-40min

40min-50min

50min-60min

60min-70min

70min-80min

HOME ENVIRONMENT OBSERVATION PLAN

District………………………………Ward……………………Village………………….

Street…………………………………Date……………………Time……………………

Nature of house (temporary/ permanent

Ownership (owned/ rented)

Learning facilities found in the house

Electricity/lamps

Tables, and chairs

Books, exercise books, pencils and pen

Other children who are/were learning in secondary schools

Support from parents when attempting home works such as guiding/ counseling

Support from brothers/sisters when attempting home works or exercises

Motivation/rewards given to at-risk students when he/she passed exams

Other home responsibilities out side academics carried out by these students

Social and cultural practices performed by parents or relatives at home

Does at-risk have both parents?

OBSERVATION PLAN FOR STUDENTS LEARNING PRACTICES:

Name of School…………………………Ward…………………District………………….

Date……………………Lesson……………………….Time……………………………...

Time

Teaching and learning activity

Role of other students

Role of students at-risk of failure

0min-10min

10min-20min

20min-30min

30min-40min

40min-50min

50min-60min

60min-70min

70min-80min







Work schedule.

Activity

2011

2012

OCT-NOV

DEC-JAN

FEB-MAR

APR

MAY

JUNE

JUNE-JULY

Preparation

Visiting Identified schools

Writing research proposal & tools.

Pilot Study

Data collection

Data Analysis and Report Writing

Submission of Report

REFERENCES:

Adekola, B.O. (2008). Some Predictors of StudentsAchievement in English Grammar

and Comprehension in Ogun State Public Senior Secondary Schools.

APh.D. post-field report presented at the Departmental Seminar of

Curriculum Studies an InstructionalTechnology , Olabisi Onabanjo

University, Ago-Iwoye.

Ball, D, and Cohen, D (1999). Developing practice, developing practitioners: Towards

A practice based theory of professional education. In G, Sykes and L, darling

Harmond (Eds) Teaching as the learning profession: Hand book of policy and

practice, San Francisco, Jossey- Bass.

Barr, R, and Parrett, w, (1995). Hope at last for at-risk youth. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Best, J.W. and Kahn, J.V (1986). Research in Education, 5th ed, New Delhi, Prentice-

Hall

Broemel, K and Lukas, K, (2010). The illusion of intended curriculum. University

of Tennessee

Campbell, J. (1995). Raising your child to be gifted. Cambridge; Brookline books.

Cotton, K. & Wikelund,K.R. (2005). Parent Involvement in education.

Available at: http:/www.nwrel.org. Accessed, 28/11/08.

Cohen, L., Manion, L. M and Morris, K. (2000), “Research methods in Education”. 5th

Edition. London: Routledge Falmers

Commission on the Whole Child. (2007). The learning compact redefined: A call to

action. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Costa, A., & Kallick, B. (2001). Discovering and exploring habits of mind. Alexandria,

VA: ASCD.

Costa, A., & Marzano, R. (2001). Teaching the language of thinking. In A. Costa (Ed.),

Developing minds: A resource book for teaching thinking (pp. 379–383).

Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1993). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York:

Harper and Row.

Epstein, J.L. (1997).School, family and community partnerships: Your handbook

foraction .Thousand Oaks, Ca: Corwin.

Finn, C, E, (1991). We must take charge: Our school and our future. New York:

Free press.

Finn, J, D, and Achilles, C (1990). Answers and questions about class size. American

Education research journal, vol 27 (3), 557-577.

Fritz, J. (1987). The double life of Pocahontas. New York: Puffin Books.

Herbert, J and McNergney, (2001). Foundation of education: The challenges of

professional practice. Allyn and Bacon, Virginia University.

Hyerle, D. (Ed.). (2004). Student successes with thinking maps. Thousand Oaks, CA:

Corwin Press.

Isaacs, W. (1999). Dialogue and the art of thinking together. New York: Currency.

Kay, A. (1990, March). The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

Keynote presentation at the annual conference of the Association for Supervision

and Curriculum Development, San Francisco, CA. Press.

Kerlinger, (1983). Foundation of Behavioral Research. New York: Holt, Renehart and

Winston, Inc.

Kitta, S. (2004) Enhancing Mathematics Teachers Pedagogical Content Knowledge and

Skills in Tanzania. Ph. D. Thesis. Twente: University Of Twente.

Komba, w, and Nkumbi, E (2008). Teacher professional development in Tanzania:

Perception and practice. Journal of international cooperation in education,

vol 11 (3), pp 67-83.

Kothari, C.R. (2004), “Research Methodology and Techniques”. 2nd Edition. New Delhi:

Age International (P) Limited, Publishers.

Khan, M.S. (2004). Educational Research. New Delhi: Ashshi Publishing.

Malibiche,J (2011). Parental involvement and the academic performance of secondary

schools in Tanzania. Unpublished dissertation, Udom.

Marzano, R., Pickering, D., & Pollock, J. (2001). Classroom instruction that works.

Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Mugenda,A, and Mugenda, O (1999). Research Methods: Quantitative and Qualitative

Approaches. ACTS Press, Nairobi.

Mwinuka, E (2011). Teachers mathematical knowledge and pedagogical skills: Focus on

paradign shift in Mbeya schools. Unpublished dissertation, Udom.

NMAA, (2011). Nurturing Minds: Provide education for poor marginalized girls in

Tanzania. Retrieved from http://www.aidforafrica.Org.

Osaki, K, M. (2000). The science education in secondary schools. Internal project

evaluation. Daresalaam: MOEC and GTZ.

Osaki, K.M. (2000). Quality of Education in Tanzania: A Focus on Curriculum

Standards and Accountability in Schools. Paper Presented for Headmasters

Conference Education at Arusha International Conference Center. 11-12

October 2000.

Randy, L. H. and Kalafunja, M. O. (2008), “Completion, Retention, and Access for Tanzanians to Education:” Final Project Valuation: Agha Khan Foundation.

Ramadhan, M. (2008). Factors influencing good performance in secondary schools in

Tanzania. Master thesis: University of Daresalaam.

Reagan, R. (in press). Cognitive composition: Thinking based writing. In A. Costa & B.

Kallick (Eds.), Habits of mind: Voices from the field. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Sidel, R, (1996). Keeping women and children last: American war on the poor.

New York: Penguin.

Simon, B.S. (2000). Predictors of high school and family partnerships and the influence

of partnerships on student success. Doctoral dissertation, Johns Hopkins

University. Available at: National Network of Partnership Schools Web site:

Htt p://www.csos.jhu.edu. retrieved in 12.12.2011.

Smith,C,M and Sutherland, M,J. (1983). Setting or Mixed ability? Teachers view of the

organization of pupils for learning. Journal of research for in special education

needs.Vol 3, No 3.

Smith, T, et-al (1995). Teaching students with special needs in inclusive setting. Boston:

Ellyn and Bacon

Steil, L. K., & Bommelje, R. (2007). Listening leaders: The ten golden rules to listen,

lead and succeed. Edina, MN: Beaver Pond Press.

Swartz, R., Costa, A., Kallick, B., Beyer, B., & Reagan, R. (2007). Thinking based

learning. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon.

Tella, A. & Tella, A. (2003).Parental involvement, Home background, and School

Environment as Determinant of Academic Achievement of Secondary School

Students in Osun State, Nigeria. African Journal of Cross-Cultural psychology

Tella, A. & Tella, A. (2003). Parental Involvement, home background and school

environment as determinant of academic achievement of secondary school

students in Osun State, Nigeria. Africa Journal of Cross Cultural Psychology

and Sport Facilitation, 5 (2), 42-

URT, (2001). The Education and Training Sector Development Program. MOEC.

Daresalaam.

URT, (2004). Secondary Education Development Program 1. MoEVT: Daresalaam.

URT, (2006) Secondary Education Development Program. MOEVT: Daresalaam.

URT, (2009). “Basic Education Statistics in Tanzania (2005-2009)”. Dar es Salaam.

Printing Company Limited

URT, (2010). Secondary Education Development Program Two. MOEVT: Daresalaam.

URT, (2010). “Basic Education Statistics in Tanzania (2006-2010)”. Dar es Salaam

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological

processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Waxman, H, C, (1992). Reversing the cycle of educational failure for students in at risk

environment. New burry park, CA: Corwin press.

Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Willingham, D. (2007, Summer). Critical thinking: Why is it so hard to teach? American

Educator, 9–16.

Zang, S.Y., & Carasquillo, A.L. (1995).Chinese Parents’ influence on Academic

Performance .New York State Association for Bilingual Education journal, 10,46-

No comments:

Post a Comment