An Examination of Parental Involvement in Homework and Implication for Adult Education

Abstract

Homework, as an instructional adjunct, has been found by educational psychologists to improve primary school pupils study habits, time management, learning responsibility, amongst others. Accordingly, parents are being encouraged to guide their children whenever homework tasks are assigned by class teachers. This study therefore examined the contribution of parents’ profile (demographic variables) to their involvement in children’s homework in Cross River State,(CRS)Nigeria. The study adopted a survey research design. 622 out of 2,898 parents whose children are attending twelve heavily populated primary schools in three of the eighteen Local Government areas in CRS were randomly sampled for investigation. A three part questionnaire, with reliability co-efficient of 0.89, was administered to the subjects, of whom 523 were accessed. The study employed descriptive and the independent t- test analytical statistics. The results showed that parents are not participating actively in helping children with their homework. Only one out of ten possible areas of assistance was consistently mentioned. Also, the study proposition that parental profile does not influence their involvement in homework was not wholly accepted. Four variables (age, education, family size and income) out of ten were significant. Adult education intervention strategies were recommended to change the status quo. Using churches and PTA meetings to create awareness amongst parents is one of the strategies.

Key Words: Parents Involvement, Homework, Profile, Adult Education