The way parents view their role has a significant impact in how they
engage in their children's education. Parents who believe that their
role is to get children in school, which then takes over the
responsibility of their education, may not actively participate in their
children education at home or school (Hornby & Lafaele, 2011).
Other barriers might be parents' lack of confidence in their own
academic competence to support their children (ibid).Parents' beliefs
and self-theories impact the experience of each individual student.
Parents who believe children's success in school depends on their
children’s efforts and their abilities can always be developed further
may be more positive about their involvement in their children’s
education (ibid). Parents' perception of invitation of school is
important. If parents perceive that the teachers and the school as a
whole do not value parent involvement, this may serve as a barrier to
their involvement. Parents who have the cultural capital which is
generally valued by school find it easier to take part in school-based
activities (ibid). For example, Afghan parents who are educated or have
high social ranks in their communities may find it easier to participate
in school activities compared to those from educationally and
socio-economically disadvantaged families.
In Dale's term schools adopt either expert or transplant model. In the expert model the professional or in a classroom context, the teacher is the expert who holds the valued knowledge and makes all the decisions about the educational matters. In the transplant model, the professional/expert transplant their skills and expertise to the parents in order to help them become more competent to participate in the role of co-teacher or co-educator through programs such as parent classes. In both models above the power center is with the professional (here it is the teacher) who direct parent involvement based on their decision (Dale, 1996). Given the "gendered nature of parental involvementâ€(Hornby & Lafaele, 2011, p. 4) fathers often state that they do not have time as they are the providers for their families and have serious work commitment (Henwood & Procter, 2003). Gender roles also create barriers in terms of involvement of fathers. In Afghan context, where women are primarily located in the domestic sphere of life, they may not see helping their children to study as something that falls in their domain of work.
Overall, the research evidence above is largely from contexts other than Afghanistan mostly from the United States and some other Western countries. Lack of research evidence from South Asian countries particularly Nigeria indicated that parental involvement has been an unexplored area.
2.7 Academic Performance and Parental Involvement in Children Education
Academic performance is the advancement of pupils going from one phase to another or obtains a score of issues which are in middle position to higher. Henderson and Mapp (2002) argue that pupils’ achievement is most usually limited by report cards and grades, grade point averages, enrolment in advanced years, attendance and staying in school, been advanced to the next stage, and improved behaviour. In this study academic performance refers to score in school examinations.
2.8 The Influence of Home Background on the Academic Performance of Pupils
Motivating pupils to achieve set goals in school is of great concern to teachers, parents and researchers. A child’s first educational experiences are centered in the homes, his ideas, attitude and general pattern of behavior are as a result of his childhood rearing. The variation in the academic attainments of pupils could be related directly to differences in the home and its influence. For the purpose of this research, the home is categories into monogamous and polygamous type and both have effects in difference ways on the academic progress or achievement of the child. Durojaiye (1975) in his investigation among four thousand (4000) primary and secondary children from Ibadan in Nigeria found that 88% of children from extended family situation were influenced by grandparents, aunts and uncles indiscipline at home, 92% complained of being unable to study at home because of their being sent on errands by relatives. The study also found out that 78% justified the need to lie as a means of escaping blames and punishments from all sides and 75% admitted regular stealing. The extended family system, the said appeared to be the less favourably than unclear family for the emotional and academic wellbeing of the child.
Some polygamous home burden children with domestic duties that they had little time for rest or study. In some cases the children from polygamous home were left to care for their younger ones, which prompted their inability to attend school. Evans as cited n Egwuche (1981) noted that family size to a large extend determines the relative amount of physical attention and time which each child gets from his parents. Too many children in the home entails less amount of attention of terms of time available for each child. It is also possible that family size affects the level of intellectual quantity that the child brings into the classroom. Evidence from several studies suggest that a measure of intellectual quantity varies directly with the size of the family and that correlation cuts across social class line.
Musgrave in Egwuche (1981) found out that the greater the number of children in the family, the lower the number of children in the family, the lower the measure of intellectual quantity of the subsequent children. The significant relationship between socio-economic class and success in school has been shown by Fraser (1978) she looks at socio-economic class as one of the major causes of unnatural inequalities in education. In most western countries, all types of public and private schools serve different social class. She further explain that inequality of educational opportunities results when there is keen competition to enter an institution and their need to pay high fees.
