The Influence of Family Socio - Economic Status on Girl Student Academic Achievement in Public Secondary Schools in Kisumu East District, Kenya

Abstract

Family socio-economic status affects children's education. It has been noted that the girl child is performing poorly in Kisumu East District when compared to the boy child in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education Examinations. For instance in 2008, in Nyanza Province only 5 girls compared to 25 boys were ranked among the top 100 nationally. Among the 5 girls there was only one girl fr<lm Kisumu East District. In 2009, only 6 girls compared to 26 boys were ranked among the top 100 position nationally from Nyanza Province; and there was no girl while there were 4 boys from Kisumu East District. Therefore the purpose of this study was to find out the influence of family socio-economic status on academic achievement of secondary school girls in Kisumu East District. The objectives of the study were to: examine the influence of parental level of Education; find out the influence of family income; establish the influence of family size and birth order and find out the influence of cultural factors on girl student academic achievement. The theory used was Pearson's gender relations theory (Pearson, 1995). The research designs used were correlation and descriptive survey designs. The study population consisted of 1560 form four girls and 33 head teachers. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 300 form four girls. Saturated sampling technique was used to select 30 head teachers. Data collection instruments included questionnaire, interview schedule and document analysis guide. To ensure face validity of the research instruments, experts from the Department of Educational Management and Foundations, Maseno University were consulted and their input included in the final draft of the instruments. Pilot study was conducted in three (10%) schools and Pearson Product Moment correlation coefficient was used to determine the reliability of the questionnaires at alpha level of significance of 0.05. Students' questionnaire had a Pearson r 0.75. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics in form of percentages, means and frequency counts. Inferential statistics that is Pearson Product Moment correlation coefficient was used to establish the relationship of family'S socio-economic status and academic achievement of girls. Qualitative data was analyzed in emergent themes. The study established that the father's and mother's levels of education influenced positively girl students' academic achievement. The Pearson product coefficient were 0.777 and 0.423 respectively. Family income had a strong positive influence on girl students' academic achievement with a Pearson r coefficient of 0.87l. Large family size had a strong negative Pearson r coefficient of -0.648 while birth order positively influenced girl student academic achievement as it had a Pearson r coefficient of 0.844 with an implication that earlier borns having higher academic achievement. Cultural factors also influenced girl student's academic achievement depending on whether they were academically oriented or not. For example positive community attitudes enhanced girl students academic achievement while domestic chores negatively impacted on girl students academic achievement. The study concluded that parental level of education, family income; birth order, and cultural factors influenced academic achievement of girls. The study recommended that the government should sensitize parents on the need and importance of supporting girl child education for better performance, parents should also be sensitized by the school on the importance of providing for the needs of the girl student. The findings of this study are significant to stakeholders in education on issues of gender equity in education and family socio-economic factors that influence academic achievement of the girl student in secondary education.