The Perceived Role of Parental Involvement in Secondary School Management: Implications for Student Counselling and Managerial Decision Making in Kericho County, Kenya

The Perceived Role of Parental Involvement in Secondary School Management: Implications for Student Counselling and Managerial Decision Making in Kericho County, Kenya

Dr. Peter Kiplangat Arap Koros

The Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA), Kenya
DOI: https://doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2023.7524

 Received: 08 April 2023; Revised: 22 April 2023; Accepted: 27 April 2023; Published: 23 May 2023

ABSTRACT

This research paper examined the perceptions of stakeholders regarding parental involvement in secondary school management and its implications for student counselling and managerial decision-making. ANOVA quantitative data analysis revealed that there was a significant difference in stakeholder perceptions of parental involvement in regularly checking and advising on syllabus coverage, while stakeholder perceptions were almost similar for parental involvement in counselling on open days, advising children on academic days, spiritual guidance, and dealing with deviant behaviour through counselling as indicated in the high F-values and low corresponding P-values at the 5% significance level. The findings suggest that school administrators who involve parents in school management decisions are likely to receive more support from parents, while those who do not involve parents may face resistance. Based on these findings, the study recommends that school administrators involve parents in the management of student counselling, as it can positively impact parental support and improve managerial decision-making. Future research can also explore other areas of parental involvement in other aspects of school management.

Keywords: Parental involvement; Student counselling; School Management.

INTRODUCTION

Background information

Parental involvement in secondary school management improves academic performance and behaviour (Fan & Chen, 2015; Jeynes, 2016). In secondary school, many parents are not involved in their children’s education (Hill & Tyson, 2020). They may not understand their role in school management (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 2017). This study examines how parental involvement in secondary school management affects student counselling and managerial decision-making. Parental involvement in education has been studied, but little is known about how parents affect school management and other areas (Epstein & Sheldon, 2016).

Secondary school management by parents affects student counselling. Hill and Tyson (2020) found that middle school parental involvement improved student self-concept, motivation, and academic performance. This indicates that parental involvement in their children’s schooling may benefit them intellectually and emotionally. Parental involvement improves student counselling by making schools more supportive and collaborative. Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler (2017) found that involved parents feel more connected to the school and are more likely to communicate with school officials. This can improve school culture and aid student counselling.

Parental involvement in student counselling helps identify and address student needs. Asplund and Nilsson (2017) found that parents’ involvement in school management can reveal their child’s academic and emotional needs. This can inform student counselling and help students succeed academically and personally. Involving parents in school management can boost student achievement, attendance, and school attitudes, according to research (Mapp & Kuttner, 2019; Hill & Tyson, 2020). The majority of parents do not play an active role in their children’s schools, which can miss opportunities for collaboration and student outcomes.

Secondary school management lacks parental involvement for many reasons. Parent-school communication is a major issue (Fan & Chen, 2015). According to Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler (2017), parents felt uninformed about how to get involved in their child’s education and unwelcome by school officials. Lack of communication and disconnection can deter parents from school management.

Cultural or language barriers can also hinder parental involvement in school management (Hill & Tyson, 2020). Non-native speakers may feel less confident in navigating the school system or communicating with school officials. This can make parents feel isolated and excluded and make school management harder.

Finally, not knowing how parents can get involved in school management can also cause issues (Epstein & Sheldon, 2016). Parents may not know what’s available or how their involvement can help their child’s education. Educators and school officials can help solve this problem by explaining how parents can get involved and emphasizing its benefits.

Recent literature has highlighted the lack of parent understanding and involvement in secondary school management (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 2017; Hill & Tyson, 2020). This disconnect between parents and school officials can prevent collaboration and student improvement (Mapp & Kuttner, 2019). Parental involvement improves academic performance and student behaviour, according to research (Fan & Chen, 2015; Jeynes, 2016). However, there are no well- document evidence on how parents are involved in school management and related implications on student counseling and decision making (Epstein & Sheldon, 2016).

Asplund and Nilsson (2017) examined parents’, teachers’, and administrators’ views on parental involvement in Swedish primary school management. All three groups agreed that parental involvement was important, but they disagreed on how much. Mapp and Kuttner (2019) found that school-family partnerships improve student outcomes. When schools and families work together, students are more likely to attend school, complete homework, and get better grades. The study did not examine parental involvement in school management. Henderson and Mapp (2017) stressed family involvement in education. Family engagement improves student achievement, but the study did not examine parental involvement in school management.

Parents’ involvement in their children’s education has been shown to improve attendance, homework completion, and grades (Fan & Chen, 2015; Jeynes, 2016). This study could improve student counselling programs and school-family partnerships by focusing on parental involvement in school management.

These studies suggest that parental involvement in education improves student outcomes, but little is known about how parental involvement in school management affects student counselling and managerial decision-making. This research aims to close that knowledge gap by exploring how parental participation in school management affects student counseling and administrative decision-making from the perspectives of parents, teachers, and school administrators.

Recent studies have examined parents’, teachers’, and administrators’ views on parental involvement in school management to fill this gap. Hill and Tyson (2020) surveyed parents, teachers, and school administrators about middle school parental involvement. They found that parents, teachers, and school administrators agreed on the importance of parental involvement, but they disagreed on how best to involve parents in school management.

This research gap limits our understanding of how parental involvement in school management can improve student outcomes. This study addresses this gap in the literature and provides valuable insights into how parental involvement in school management can be effectively used by exploring the views of parents, teachers, and school administrators.

The study examines parents’, teachers’, and administrators’ views on parental involvement in secondary school management and its effects on student counselling and managerial decision-making. Communication between parents and school officials, cultural or language barriers, and knowledge about how parents can get involved will be examined (Epstein & Sheldon, 2016; Hill & Tyson, 2020).

Finally, studying parental involvement in secondary school management improves student outcomes and fosters parent-school collaboration. The gap in the literature on this topic suggests that more research is needed to determine how parents’ involvement in school management affects student counselling and managerial decision-making. This study’s findings can improve student outcomes and parent-school collaboration. This study can help develop effective strategies to improve student outcomes by emphasizing parental involvement in school management.

This study seeks to understand how parental involvement in school management can improve student outcomes and foster collaboration between parents and school officials by examining the perspectives of parents, teachers, and administrators.

Purpose of the study

The purpose of this study is to explore the Perceived Role of Parental Involvement and its Implications for Student Counselling and Managerial Decision Making in Public Secondary Schools in Kericho County, Kenya.

Hypothesis

The study proposed to test the following hypotheses:

Ho1: There is no significant difference in stakeholders’ perceptions of parental involvement in checking syllabus coverage in their schools.

Ho2: There is no significant difference in stakeholders’ perceptions of parental involvement in school guidance and counselling in the district.

Ho3: There is no significant difference in stakeholders’ perceptions of parental involvement in these areas of student counselling (parental involvement in counselling on open days, advising children on academic days, spiritual guidance, and dealing with deviant behaviour of children)

The study grouped stakeholders’ perceptions of parental involvement in different areas of interest (e.g., syllabus coverage checks, school guidance and counselling, counselling on open days, etc.) based on their responses. ANOVA was used to test hypotheses by comparing group means to see if there were significant differences.

Significance of the study

The study emphasizes parental involvement in secondary school management, particularly student counselling. School managers should actively involve parents in these activities because stakeholders’ perceptions of parental involvement differ. This may increase parental support and ownership of school management decisions. The study emphasizes parent-school collaboration in secondary school management. The findings can improve student outcomes and improve parent-school relations, which is crucial for a supportive school environment.

Statement of Problem

The lack of parental involvement in guidance and decision-making negatively impacts the academic success and general well-being of Kenyan students. Cultural norms and traditional beliefs discourage parental involvement, and parents, school administrators, and policymakers are unaware of the value of parental involvement in these areas. The problem was found in a mixed-methods research study conducted in Kericho County. According to the study, parents in Kericho County miss out on opportunities for collaboration and better student outcomes because they are uninformed about and uninvolved in student counselling and decision-making. Parents should actively participate in decision-making and counselling sessions with their children to address this issue. Parents, school administrators, and policymakers should all be informed about the value of parental involvement in these areas. This study fills a knowledge gap on student counselling and parental involvement in Kenyan school decision-making. By influencing policy and practice, this study should improve student collaboration and outcomes. The improvement of student education and parental involvement will result from addressing this issue.

Theoretical framework

The complex interaction between people and their environment is explained by the Social Ecological Model (SEM), a theoretical framework. Urie Bronfenbrenner, who stressed the significance of multiple levels of influence on human behaviour and development, advanced this model (Bronfenbrenner, 1977). The SEM is a popular framework in public health research and has been used in several fields, including education, to comprehend the variables that affect behaviour and results.

The study focuses on how parents are viewed as contributing to student counselling and decision-making in secondary schools. With independent variables being the different levels of influence that affect parental involvement in school management, including individual, interpersonal, community, and policy factors, the SEM offers a useful framework to examine the key variables, questions, and factors involved in this topic. The perception of parental involvement in student counselling and decision-making is the dependent variable.

The SEM offers a helpful framework for comprehending the complexity of the variables affecting parental involvement in school administration. The individual level, or characteristics of the individual, including their beliefs, values, and attitudes, is a part of the SEM, according to Bronfenbrenner (1977). Interpersonal relationships, such as those between family members and friends, are included. The social context of the school, neighbourhood, and culture are all included at the community level. The laws, rules, and policies that influence the social and physical environment are included at the policy level as well. The SEM has been used in several studies of education research to examine the variables that affect parental involvement in school administration (Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2010; Kim et al., 2016; Nguyen & Epstein, 2018). These studies have demonstrated how family relationships and both individual and interpersonal factors, such as parents’ attitudes and beliefs, affect parental involvement in school administration.

Along with community factors like school climate and cultural context, policy factors like rules and regulations at the school also have an impact.

The SEM’s presumptions or hypotheses are pertinent to this study because they emphasize the significance of multiple levels of parental involvement in school administration. The SEM assumes that people interact with their physical and social environments to influence their behaviour and results. The SEM also makes the assumption that the various levels of influence are connected and that changes at one level can have an impact on levels below it.

This emphasizes the requirement for a thorough strategy to address the issue of parental involvement in school administration that takes into account the various levels of influence.

For understanding the perceived role of parental involvement in secondary school management of student counselling and decision-making, the SEM provides a useful theoretical framework, in our opinion. This model enables the classification of important variables, inquiries, and factors into independent and dependent groups. In educational research, the SEM has been used to examine the variables that affect parental involvement in school administration, emphasizing the significance of individual, interpersonal, social, and policy variables. The SEM’s presumptions or hypotheses are pertinent to this study, highlighting the need for a comprehensive strategy to address the issue of parental involvement in school administration.

METHODOLOGY

Research Design

This study would benefit from a quantitative research design specifically cross sectional research design because it would enable the researcher to measure variables and test hypotheses using statistical techniques (Creswell & Creswell, 2017). The secondary school management of student counselling in this study uses an ANOVA statistical analysis to measure the differences in stakeholder perceptions of parental involvement.

The ANOVA analysis assists in determining whether significant differences exist in stakeholders’ perceptions of parental involvement in secondary school management of student counselling (Field, 2013). In this study, where stakeholder perceptions are being compared, this statistical analysis is appropriate for comparing means across multiple groups.

Large sample size is also possible with a quantitative research design, which improves the study’s generalizability and lowers the risk of bias (Creswell & Creswell, 2017). A mixed-methods approach was used in this study to examine stakeholders’ perceptions of parental involvement in various facets of secondary school management. This approach included surveys and focus group discussions.

Overall, a quantitative research design, particularly cross-sectional research design using an ANOVA statistical analysis, is a suitable method for gauging stakeholder perceptions of parental involvement in secondary school management of student counselling and forming judgments about the function of parental involvement in this area of education.

Instruments

It was appropriate to use questionnaires and interview schedules for the data collection in this study. The study’s objectives were captured by the questionnaires and interview schedules, which included questions on parental involvement and its subsequent effects on secondary school management in Kericho District over the previous five years. While the items on the interview schedules were structured, those on the questionnaires were rated using a Likert-type scale.

The instruments used in this study were created using the guidelines for creating questionnaires (Finster, 1997; Openheim, 1992; Adams, 1990). These guidelines encompass reliability, relevance, and clarity. The theoretical ideas, study’s scope, earlier research, and literature review all were key in the development of the instruments’ items.

In quantitative research designs, questionnaires and interview schedules are typical research instruments (Creswell & Creswell, 2017). These tools can be used to measure variables and test hypotheses, as well as collect large amounts of data from a variety of subjects.

Finally, it can be said that the use of questionnaires and interview schedules was a suitable method for gathering data for this study. These instruments were created following the rules for creating questionnaires and included questions that were created based on the theoretical ideas, the scope of the study, earlier research, and the literature reviewed. Large amounts of data were gathered and hypotheses were tested thanks to the use of these instruments in a quantitative research design.

Sampling

Sampling is a crucial component of research design because it establishes how broadly the results of the study can be applied to the general population. Appropriate sample size and participants from the target population were chosen using a sampling strategy in the study on the perceived role of parental involvement in secondary school management and its relationship with student counselling and managerial decision-making in Kericho County, Kenya.

All of Kericho County’s public secondary schools were the study’s target population. The D.E.O’s office provided a list of all the district’s public secondary schools. Krejcie and Morgan’s (1970) formula was used to calculate the sample size for the study, and Mugenda and Mugenda’s (1999) formula for populations under 10,000 was used to further adjust it. 28 schools made up the final sample, including 22 county/sub-county schools and 6 additional county schools.

Proportional sampling was used to decide how many institutions from each group would be included in the study, and the schools for the study were chosen by random sampling. Then, 390 respondents from each school, including 8 Form Four prefects, 4 HODs, and 1 principal, were chosen using a purposeful sampling method.

Based on the size of the target population and the requirement for a representative sample that could be extrapolated to the larger population, the sampling strategy employed in this study was justified. Purposive sampling ensured that participants with relevant experience and knowledge were included in the study, and proportional sampling ensured that schools from both provincial and district categories were represented in the sample. The sampling strategy employed in this study was suitable for achieving the study’s goals and ensuring that the findings could be applied to a larger population.

Data Analysis

Based on the study’s goals and hypotheses, data analysis was done. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences was used to initially code, roster, and process the data collected (SPSS). The data was then examined using ANOVA tests and descriptive statistics. In quantitative research designs, ANOVA is a statistical technique that is frequently used. ANOVA is used to determine whether or not differences exist both within and between the investigated groups (Field, 2013).

This approach does not pinpoint the precise point at which differences exist within or between groups; it only demonstrates the existence or absence of differences.

As recommended in social science research, the significance level for all statistical tests of significance was set at 5%. (Field, 2013). Following the use of inferential statistics, the findings were interpreted in light of the study’s goals and hypotheses. The findings were interpreted to make judgments about the function of parental involvement in secondary school management, as well as its connections to managerial choice-making and student counselling.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The purpose of the study Perceived Role of Parental Involvement in Secondary School Management and its Implications for Student Counselling and Managerial Decision Making in Kericho County. Three hypotheses were tested using the data analyzed from the ANOVA.

The first hypothesis, Ho1, looked at how differently stakeholders perceived parental involvement in vetting the curriculum in their schools. The results demonstrated a significant difference with a mean square between groups of 6.911, an F ratio of 3.89, and a level of significance of p=0.001*.

The second hypothesis, Ho2, examined the variance in stakeholders’ perceptions of parental involvement in school guidance and counselling in the district. With a mean square between groups of 5.265, an F ratio of 2.44, and a level of significance of p=0.027*, the results also revealed a significant difference.

The third hypothesis, Ho3, examined how different stakeholders perceived parental involvement in particular aspects of student counselling, such as counselling on open days, giving children academic advice, providing spiritual guidance, and handling children’s deviant behaviour. The findings revealed no discernible difference between parental involvement in open-day counselling, academic day advice for kids, spiritual guidance, and involvement in dealing with children’s deviant behaviour.

The research’s findings imply that parents’ involvement in curriculum coverage checks and school guidance and counselling matters to stakeholders. This emphasizes how crucial parental involvement is to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the educational system. The study also raises the possibility that parental involvement in particular aspects of student counselling may not be as significant. This may be explained by the fact that most parents lack the formal knowledge and guidance necessary to engage in these activities in an effective manner.

To improve educational outcomes, the study advises schools to involve parents in syllabus coverage checks as well as school guidance and counselling. To increase parents’ effectiveness in particular areas of student counselling, schools should also give them formal training and direction.

The study sheds light on the significance of parental involvement in secondary school administration and makes recommendations for ways to improve parental involvement to strengthen student counselling programs.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The study’s findings imply that parents’ involvement in curriculum coverage checks and school guidance and counselling matters to stakeholders. However, due to a lack of formal training and direction, parental involvement in particular aspects of student counselling may not be as significant.

To improve educational outcomes, it is advised that schools involve parents in syllabus coverage checks and school guidance and counselling. Additionally, to increase parents’ effectiveness in particular areas of student counselling, schools should give them formal training and direction.

The study concludes by highlighting the significance of parental involvement in secondary school administration and outlining areas where parental involvement could be strengthened to improve educational outcomes. Schools can increase their effectiveness and efficiency in achieving their objectives by involving parents in the educational system.

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