Parental Involvement and Public Basic School Pupils’ Academic Achievement in Cape Coast: The Moderating Role of Academic Effort

Abstract

The study investigated the influence of parental involvement, moderated by academic effort of pupil, on public basic school pupils’ academic achievement in Cape Coast, Central Region of Ghana. The ex post facto research design was used. The study population was 17,220 public basic school pupils. The computer random number selection procedure was used to select 70 public basic schools, and 391 pupils made up of 190 boys and 201 girls. A questionnaire and achievement test for pupils and an interview guide for parents were the instruments used. Out of the 391 pupils targeted, we were able to collect data from 387 pupils, representing 99.0% response rate. Both descriptive and inferential statistical tools were used to analyse the data. Parental involvement contributes only 49.3% of the variance in pupils’ academic achievement. However, the total contribution of parental involvement when pupils’ academic effort was introduced increased to 79.7%. Pupils’ academic effort is able to boost the potency of parental involvement on pupils’ academic achievement up to 38.1%t. Also, lack of resources, lack of cooperation between parents and schools, time constraints, and parents’ work schedule are some of the factors that normally bar parents from actively participating in the schooling of their children. In all, parental involvement does not strongly influence pupils’ academic achievement. It does so when pupils are able to exhibit high level of academic effort. We recommend to the Director of Education in the Metro to organise workshops and other activities that specifically target the training of parents and teachers on family responsibilities and roles, and guidance and counselling services in schools. This will help both parents and teachers to be educogenic, and also help them to counsel and motivate pupils to help boost their academic effort which in the long run will enhance academic achievement of pupils, all things being equal.