The Impact of Parental Socioeconomic Status on Students’ Academic Achievement in Secondary Schools in Tanzania

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess the impact of parental socioeconomic status (SES) on students' academic achievement in secondary schools. Two research objectives guided the study. They are: How does parents' occupation, income, level of education and home environment affect students' academic achievement in secondary schools? To what extent does parental involvement in education of their children enhance academic achievement? The study employed a qualitative research approach informed by a case study research design. A purposive sampling technique was used to obtain 60 informants drawn from amongst parents, teachers and students. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and focused group discussions. Data were analysed qualitatively using thematic analysis.The study found that majority of the students from the selected secondary schools are from low SES. The study established that there is a close relationship between SES and academic achievement. The study further found that majority of the parents are not involved in the learning of their children as well as in the school improvement programmes. The study recommends that the government should review the policy of cost sharing and make it free to o-level students especially to low SES students. In addition, schools should have professional guidance and counsellors to help students with problems to reduce the gap between low and high SES.

The Role of Parental SES in Career Development of Children with Mild Intellectual Disabilities at Tinashe Vocational Rehabilitation and Training Centre, Zambia

“…The needs and demands remain unfulfilled and this negatively affects career development of their children. Research by Kapinga (2014) shows that low SES negatively and depressingly affects children"s academic achievement due to high stress and tension it causes at home. Faisal (2014) argues that parents who fail to provide or support their children are considered to be capable of repressing and destroying the motivation and ability of their children.…”

Effects of Parental Involvement in Academic Wellness of Primary School Learners in the Lubombo Region, Eswatini

“…Borak, Kawser, Haque and Sharmin (2016) in their study which investigated the association of parental acceptance-rejection on academic achievement found out that parental acceptance significantly improved academic achievement whereas, parental rejection lessened the academic achievement of students. Kapinga (2014) in Tanzania ascertains that majority of parents were not involved in the learning of their children as well as in the school improvement programmes.…”

The effect of teachers’ socioeconomic status on elementary schools’ life in Indonesia: An empirical study in the elementary schools of Merauke district, Papua

“…Ahmad and Khan (2012) Kapinga, 2014) finds that effective provision of secondary education is hampered by low parental SES due to that they are fail to afford children's basic needs for schools. Kapinga (2014) asserted that children from low SES family are "at higher risk than advantaged children for retention in their grades, special deleterious placement during the school's hours and even not completing their secondary school education" (p. 123). Children from low SES family even "do not have access to extra learning facilities, hence, the opportunity to get to the top of their educational ladder may not be very easy" (Becker & Tomes, 1979 as cited in Ahmar & Anwar, 2013, p. 13).…”

“…There are vary of studies have been conducted on SES (e.g. Majoribanks, 1996;Seyfried, 1998;McNeal, 2001;Jeynes, 2002;Bradley & Corwyn, 2002;Hochschild, 2003;Eamon, 2005;Cutler, Lleras-Muney, & Vogl, 2008;Memon, Joubis, Khurram & , 2010;Ogunshola & Adewale, 2012;Ahmad & Khan, 2012;Ahmar & Anwar, 2013;Azher, Nadeem, Naz, Perveen, & Sameen, 2013;Kapinga, 2014, Werang, 2015. Unfortunately, most of them are not directly related to teachers' SES.…”