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Global Research Journal On Mathematics And Science Education ISSN 2278-0769 V1N2

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INFLUENCE OF PARENTAL EDUCATION AND INCOME

LEVEL ON STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE IN SENIOR

SECONDARY SCHOOL MATHEMATICS IN BOTSWANA

*S.P. Baliyan

*K.S.Madhava Rao

*P.S. Baliyan

ABSTRACT

This quantitative study aimed to determine the influence of parental

education and income level on the performance of senior secondary

students in Mathematics in Botswana. A survey method was adopted to

collect data from a random sample of 168 students doing mathematics.

The data were collected on the three measures of socio-economic

status; family income, father's education, and mother's education. The

level of father’s education was found to be higher than the mother’s as

no father was found to be illiterate but 7.7% mothers were found to be

illiterate. The highest of 51.2% students belong to low income level

whereas a lowest of 8.3% to the high income level families. The income

level, mother’s education level and father’s education level have

significant influence on the performance of students in maths which

indicates that these factors are significant predictors of the

performance of students in mathematics. Government as well as parents

should find effective strategies to improve their education and income

*S.P. Baliyan (Corresponding author)M.Ed. (Research and Evaluation)

Student, Department Educational Foundations, University of Botswana

E-mail: [email protected]

*K.S.Madhava Rao,Professor, Department of Statistics, University of

Botswana, E-Mail: [email protected]

*P.S. Baliyan, Lecturer, Department of Accounting and Finance, University

of Botswana,E-mail: [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]




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so as to be able not only in providing the necessary reading material

and learning environment to their children but also equip parents

in helping, encourage and motivate in learning mathematics. The

socio-economic status of the students, especially in rural areas

can be improved by offering some monetary incentives such as

rural scholarships.

Keywords: Performance, Academic Achievement, Mathematics

education, Income level, Socio-economic status

INTRODUCTION

Education is seen as an utmost important instrument of socio-

economic change around the globe and is therefore being utilized

to re-orientate the society. In broader sense, education is the

aggregate of all the processes by means of which an individual

develops abilities, attitudes and other forms of behaviour of

positive value in the society in which he lives (Fafunwa, 1984).

The First National Policy on Education in Botswana was formed

in 1977 and revised in 1994 and Mathematical education is

emphasised at all the levels of education namely the primary,

secondary and tertiary levels. Mathematics is a subject where by

knowledge on the numbers is obtained in order to enhance the

numerical ability. It is a subject that is related to other school

subjects and encompasses topics like number and numeration,

variation, graphs, fractions, logarithms and indices, algebraic

processes, solution of equation and also in area and volume.

Mathematical education is considered one of the most

important segments of the education sphere as it is an integral part

of each and every step in the human life whether it is student life

or professional or business life. Mathematics as a subject affects

all aspects of human life at various levels. The personal, social,


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economic, political, geographical, scientific and technological

aspects of social life all are centred on numbers. The basic skills

underlying all scientific, economics and technological skills are

the control of the tools of numbers and therefore mathematics is

seen as the language used to describe the problems arising in most

branches of science and technology. However, the poor

performance in maths has been a concern among the students,

teachers, parents, policy makers and other stakeholders.

Performance refers to the ability of grasping the contents of the

subject and is reflected in term of percentage of marks obtained

through properly implemented tests. Awokoya (1975), Fafunwa

(1980), both agreed in different researches that we live in a world

where science and technology have become an integral part of the

world culture, therefore for any nation to be relevant; it must not

over look the importance of mathematics in her educational

system. Accordingly, the observed poor performance in

mathematics has been a matter of serious concern to all well-

meaning educators. Students’ poor performance in mathematics

over the years has been attributed to the fact that the subject is

difficult. Observing the International General Cambridge

Secondary Examination (IGCSE) and the Botswana General

Certificate Secondary Examination (BGCSE) results over the

years, it has been realised that the students are not performing

well in mathematics as compared to the other subjects (Botswana

Education Council, 2009). The students always feel

uncomfortable to do mathematical subjects which bring a factor

of a fear among the Batswana students. The students do not show

much interest in doing mathematics which results in poor

performance. The investigations of the factors influencing the

academic achievement of students in mathematics have attracted

the interest and concern of teachers, psychologists, researchers,


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parents and school administrators and policy makers. Some of the

factors identified are low socio-economic status of the family,

students' attitude, poor family structure, poor study habit, parents'

education, income and occupation (Sogbetan, 1981; Hassan,

1983; Maple and Stage, 1991; Steinberg, 1993; Brooks-Gunn and

Chase-Lansdale, 2001). Ajila and Olutola (2000) categorise

problems responsible for students' poor performance as their

environment, which include availability of suitable learning

environment, adequacy of educational infrastructure like

textbooks and society at large among others.

Although socio-economic status (SES) has been at the

core of a very active field of research, there seems to be an

ongoing dispute about its conceptual meaning and empirical

measurement in studies conducted (Bornstein & Bradley, 2003).

As White pointed out in 1982, SES is assessed by a variety of

different combinations of variables, which has created an

ambiguity in interpreting research findings. Many researchers use

SES and social class interchangeably, without any rationale or

clarification, to refer to social and economic characteristics of

students (Ensminger & Fothergill, 2003). In general terms,

however, SES describes an individual’s or a family’s ranking on a

hierarchy according to access to or control over some

combination of valued commodities such as wealth, power, and

social status (Mueller & Parcel, 1981). While there is

disagreement about the conceptual meaning of SES, there seems

to be an agreement on Duncan, Featherman, and Duncan’s (1972)

definition of the tripartite nature of SES that incorporates parental

income, parental education, and parental occupation as the three

main indicators of SES (Gottfried, 1985; Hauser, 1994; Mueller &

Parcel, 1981). Parental income as an indicator of SES reflects the

potential for social and economic resources that are available to


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the student. The second traditional SES component, parental

education, is considered one of the most stable aspects of SES

because it is typically established at an early age and tends to

remain the same over time. Moreover, parental education is an

indicator of parent’s income because income and education are

highly correlated (Hauser & Warren, 1997). The third traditional

SES component, occupation, is ranked on the basis of the

education and income required to have a particular occupation

(Hauser, 1994). Socio-economic status like parents' education,

occupation, income and standard of living have shown to be

related to students' outcomes, such that students from middle to

upper class families tend to outperform those from less

advantaged background (Jaffe, 1985; Rani, 1998; Simon, 2004).

The educational and income are the two important components of

socio-economic status of the society and this study would only be

restricted to the variables parents' education and income level as

the factors affecting the academic achievement of students in

Mathematics. Therefore, this study was an attempt to determine

the influence of the parental education and income on the

performance of students in mathematics. The specific objectives

of this study were:

1. To describe the demographic characteristics of the respondents,

in term of gender, parental education and income level.

2. To determine if the parental education level has any influence

on the performance of students in mathematics

3. To determine if the parental income level has any influence on

the performance of students in mathematics.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITRETUTRE

There is evidence that parents' education will affect students'

academic achievement in Mathematics. According to Grissmer

(2003), parents' level of education is the most important factor


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affecting students' academic achievement. Taiwo (1993) submits

that parents' educational background influence the academic

achievement of students. Musgrave (2000) states that a child that

comes from an educated home would like to follow the steps of

his/her family and by this, work actively in his/her studies.

Onocha (1985) concludes that a child from a well educated family

with high socio-economic status is more likely to perform better

than a child from an illiterate family. Similar results were found

by Teese (2004), in his analysis of the students' performance

where he found clear and consistent trends for children from

lower socio-economic background of performing poor as

compared to the students from high socio-economic status.

Coleman (1998) state that the relationship between socio-

economic status and learning outcomes has been widely accepted

almost as an article of faith by educators. This was supported by

the Children's Defence Fund (1995) "Year Book" on the State of

America's children which indicated that the economic factor

which refers to family characteristic is the most powerful

predictor of school performance. Careful consideration of the

socio-economic status of parents reveals that the higher the

standard of living (higher income) of the parents, the higher the

academic performance of the child and vise-versa.

According to Marjoribanks (2003), the high achievers had

a high socio-economic status and they hailed from highly

educated families. Lockheed, Fuller and Nyirongo (1989) show

that students belonging to upper socio-economic status groups

showed better academic achievement than students belonging to

lower socio-economic status groups. With reference to

achievement in Mathematics, Howley (1989) and House (2002)

stated that students learn better if they are from above average or

average income family, with well-educated parents who


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participate in the school's education process and encourage their

children to learn. They established that the socio-economic status

of students affected their achievement positively.

Family background is key to a student’s life and out of

school, is the most important influence on students learning and,

includes factors such as socio-economic status, parenting

practices, maternal characters, family size (Majoribanks, 1996).

The socio-economic status of a child most determind by

combining parents educational level, occupational status and

income level (Jeynes, 2002). Students have repeatedly found that

socio-economic status affects students performance (Baharudin

and Luster 1998, Jeynes, 2002, Eamon 2005, Majoribanks 1996,

Hochschild, 2003, McNeal 2001, Seyfried 1998). Higher income

has linked with higher academic achievement. Students with high

income are likely to receive more parental attention and have

more access to resources those children from low income

families. The addiditional attention and support leads to better

performance (Eamon 2005, Majoribanks 1996). Wright, R.J. and

and Bean, A.G. (2005) studied the influence of socio-economic

status (SES) on the predictability of college performance on each

of three measures: (a) family income, (b) father's occupation, and

(c) mother's education. They found out that socio-economic status

has positive relationship with the performance of students.

Students who have low socio-economic status earned

lower test scores (Eamon 2005, Hochschild 2003). The marks of

low socio-economic students have found about ten percent lower

than higher socio-economic status students (Seyfried 1998). It is

believed that low socio-economic status negatively affect

academic achievement because socio-economic status access to

vital resources and creates additional stress at home (Eamon

2005, Majoribanks 1996, Jeynes 2002). The economic hardship


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that are caused by the low socio-economic status leads to

disruption in parenting, an increasing amount of family conflicts,

and an increased likelihood of depression in parents (Eamon

2005). For these reasons socio-economic status is closely tied to

home environment which leads to quality of life and fully

negative effect on the performance.

Maternal characters are the other key factors that affect

academic performance. Mothers who are more educated have

children who receive higher test scores (Baharudin and Luster

1998, Eamon 2005, Majorbribank 1996). Muhammad Saeed,

Muhammad Bashir Gondal, Bushra, (2005) found factors

affecting students achievement were parental education, their

occupation and guidance, social status, transport facility, self

study, book reading and home work. All these factors have a

positive or negative correlation with students’ achievement. There

was positive correlation between the level of parental education

and the performance of students. Researchers have indicated that

family's socio-economic status is based on parents' income,

education and occupation. Thus, a family with high socio-

economic status is often more successful in preparing its young

children for school because they typically have access to a wide

range of resources to promote and support their development.

They are able to provide their young children with high quality

child care, books and teaching facilities such as compuetrs, to

encourage them in various learning activities at home. This in

turn, will affect the students' academic achievement in

mathematics.

Pupils with families where parents have less education

tend to systematically perform worse than pupils whose parents

have more education. According to Nannyonjo (2007) pupils with

parents who did not finish primary or just finished primary, and


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pupils with parents who finished senior school or university

performed considerably better. The highest increase in test scores

was for pupils whose fathers had a university degree. These

results possibly reflect the ability of parents to support the pupils’

school work, and likely interactions of literate parents with their

children in school related or literacy nurturing activities as well as

their ability to support their children with home work or help with

difficult home work questions. Similarly Okumu et al. (2008)

found that high academic attainment of a mother and father not

only significantly reduces chances of primary school dropout but

also improve the performance. For a mother, this phenomenon

could be attributed to the fact that educated mothers reduce the

time spend doing household chores while increasing the time

spend with their children than their uneducated counterparts. Also

educated mothers are more effective in helping their children in

academic work. In doing so, they are also able to monitor and

supervise their children’s academic progress. While for fathers

it’s attributed to the fact that educated fathers are also interested

in their children thus they would be willing to spend more time in

helping their children in academic problems. Alisa (2010)

found that the gap in attainment between children from the

poorest and richest backgrounds grew particularly fast during the

primary school years. By age eleven, only around three-quarters

of children from the poorest fifth of families reached the expected

level at Key Stage 2, compared with 97 per cent of children from

the richest fifth. Poorer children who performed well in Key Stage

tests at age seven were more likely than better-off children to fall

behind by age eleven, and poorer children who performed badly

at age seven were less likely to improve their ranking compared

with children from better-off backgrounds – an important factor

behind the widening gap.


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Akanle, (2007) identified Parental income in his work to

be a cogent factor upon which the academic/vocational successes

of secondary school students life. He found parental income not to

be sufficient to sustain the academic and personal social life of the

student in sub rural school areas. This to a large extent affects the

psychological balance or homeostatic balance in the class room,

which causes low concentration, low perception, frustration,

sickness and emotional disability in academic performance of the

students. Therefore when a child is deprived of the essential needs

he may be found to perform poorly in his school work. Keeves

and Saha (1992) found that in most countries of the world,

educational achievements are related to the social background of

the students. Study carried out by Mok and Flynn (2008) to

examine the achievement of students showed that parent’s level of

education made a significant contribution to achievement. High

socio-economic status students scored better in the high school

certificate than the medium or low socio-economic status

students. White (1982) found a high correlation (r = 0.875)

between socio-economic status and achievement. Beaton et all

(1996) reported that the more education resources in home have

the higher the student achievement than those who reportedly

have little access to such resources. The strong relationship was

found between mathematics achievement and having study aids in

the home which are also positively related to the parental

education and income levels. Fraser (1994) found that two

variables with the highest correlated with educational

achievement are encouragement and parental education. In a

home where parents are fairly or highly educated, there is a

tendency that they would aspire to see their children better than

they are educationally. This inspiration will force them to

motivate their children by providing for their basic needs in


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education hence their performance in their academic work in

school will improve. It also explains why children from high

socio-economic status performed better than those from the

millde and low socio-economic status. According to Ogwn

(2004), the high socio-economic status parents are able to provide

their children with high quality books and other educational

material to encourage them in their various learning activities at

home. Olubadewo and Ogwu (2006) revealed that the parents’

socio-economic status greatly influenced the academic

performance of their children in English and mathematics.

To conclude this review, there is a huge complexity of

reasons why students from low socio -economic status are less

likely to excel in education. These range from family and

community expectations due to possible returns of education for

the family, financial hardship, parents ambivalent attitudes to

education, poor attendance patterns due to need for child labour.

Likewise there are also many reasons why pupils from high socio-

economic status excel in education. These include ability of

literate parents to support pupils with home and school work,

monitoring and supervision of children’s school work and access

to information and social networks necessary for their children’s

success in life.

Research questions

The objectives of the study have been translated into the

following questions:

Research question 1: Does the income level has any influence on

the performance of students in maths?

Research question 2: Does the mothers’ education level has any

influence on the performance of students in maths?


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Research question 3: Does the fathers’ education level has any


Research Hypotheses

To answer the above listed research questions, the possible

hypothesis in the alternate form can be stated as below.

H11: The income level has significant influence on the

performance in maths

H12: The mother education level has significant influence on the


H13: The father’s education level has significant influence on the


METHODOLOGY

The proposed study was a quantitative research. A positivism

paradigm has been considered. It is the best suited to the

quantitative research orientation because researchers in this study

were interested in quantifying the data, the outcomes of

positivism are exploratory in the way things really are and facts

are discovered. The research design of the study is based on the

model in which the socio-economic variables (parental education

and income level) are independent variables or predictors, and the

performance of students in mathematics (marks in mathematics

examination) as the dependent variable. A survey design was

employed to collect the relevant data. The survey is the best

method to explore the facts as the study was to explore the

performance of students in maths because survey entails the

hidden truth and facts about any social aspects and the

independent variable are the social aspects in this study. Three of

the Private Senior Secondary Schools in Botswana were selected

through a random sampling method. A total of 168 students doing

mathematics in form 5 were selected for data collection. Data on

the independent variables were collected through a pre-tested


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structured questionnaire. Data on the dependent variable were

collected from the records available with the administration of the

selected schools. The data collected were entered in the SPSS

analyser Ver.19 for purpose of analysis whereby Analysis of

Variance was used.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Descriptive Statistics of Sampled Respondents

There were 168 students enrolled for Mathematics comprised of

80 male and 88 female students which contributed to 47.6% and

52.4% respectively to the student’s population under study. The

lowest minimum of 6% and highest maximum of 96% marks are

obtained in mathematics however, mean marks were found to be

54.65%. The highest number of sampled students (81) were

staying in the urban area whereas the lowest of 39 stay in the rural

area. Reflecting that the students coming from the rural area are

only 23.21% because the school is located in the towns/cities and

it is difficult for the students to transport to and fro every day. The

fathers were found to be highly qualified than the mothers as only

28% mother have obtained university education whereas the

percentage of fathers who obtained university education was

51.25. Only 3% of fathers are educated up to basic education as

compare to 20.2% mothers who are educated up to basic

education level. None of the father was illiterate but 7.7%

mothers were illiterate. Conclusively, it can be said that mothers

are still far behind than the fathers as far as parental education

level is concerned and it may have influence on the performance

of their children. On the income of the parents of the students, the

highest of 86 (51.2%) students belongs to the low income families

whereas a lowest of 14 (8.3%) students were from the high

income families. The higher percentage students were from the


148

low income families which may have contributed to the poor

performance in mathematics.

Testing of the formulated hypotheses

In order to answer the formulated research questions, the stated

hypothesis were statistically analysed using One Way Analysis of

Variance.

The hypotheses in their null form are:

H01: The family income level has no significant influence on the


H02: The mother education level has no significant influence on

the performance in maths

H03: The father’s education level has no significant influence on


Table 1: Influence of family income on the performance

Dependent Variable: Maths Exam Marks

Source SS df MS F__ Sig_

Between Groups 8736.300 2 4368.150 113.397 .000 Error 53797.676 165 326.047 Total 62533.976 167

____________________________________________________

From the results in Table 1, the null hypothesis is rejected

because observed F (= 13.40) exceeds critical value F0 (= .000).

Also, the observed p-value (which is close to .000) is less than α =

0.05. Therefore, it indicates that the income level has significant

influence on the performance in mathematics. The result indicated

that students who belong to high income level had a better

performance in Mathematics than their counterparts whose

parents belong to the medium and low income level families. The


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findings are supported by that results found by Jaffe (1985), Rain

(1998), Simon (2004), Teese (2004), Sharma (2004), Dubey

(1999) and Crane (1993). This is because parents' education has

highest effect or predicts students' academic achievement in

Mathematics most. The parents with high income might have

enough money which can be used to provide the needed materials

and support for their children in order to arouse their interest in

Mathematics than their counterparts in low income families

whose major obligation is to provide shelter and food for the

family. These phenomena could be justified by the fact that

students of high socio-economic parents enjoy such motivational

intervention as extra home coaching, enriched home environment

with tutorial disks and programmes available in video, good

library and better state of mental health. On the other hand, the

students of low socio-economic parents are less fortunate and are

highly stressed and exploited at home through engagements in

domestic tasks leaving little time for studies which contributes to

poor performance.

Research question 2: Does the mothers’ education level has any


H02: The mother education level has no significant influence on


Table 2: Influence of mothers’ education level on the

performance

Dependent Variable: Maths Exam Marks.

Source SS df MS F___Sig_____ Between Groups 8716.070 3 2905.357 8.854 .000 Error 53817.906 164 328.158 Total 62533.976 167

_____________________________________________________


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Decision: Reject H02 because observed F (= 8.85) exceeds

critical value corresponding to the p-value (.000). Also, the

observed p-value (.000) is far less than α = 0.05. Therefore, the

mothers’ education level has significant influence on the

performance in maths.

Research question 3: Does the father’s education level has any


H03: The father’s education level has no significant influence on


Table 3:Influence of fathers’ education level on the

performance

Dependent Variable: Maths Exam Marks.

Source SS df MS F Sig___ Between Groups 12719.318 2 6359.659 21.065 .000 Error 49814.658 165 301.907 Total 62533.976 167

_____________________________________________________ The results in Table 3 support to reject the null hypothesis

because observed F (= 21.06) exceeds critical value corresponding to

the p-value (.000). Also, the observed p-value (which is close to

.000) is less than α = 0.05. Therefore, the father’s education level

significant influence on the performance in maths.

The results on father and mothers education reveal that

parents' education has significant influence on the academic

achievement of students in Mathematics. This observation

provides the evidence that students of educated parents performed

better than students of uneducated parents in Mathematics

achievement. The findings support the results of Onocha (1985),

Carlson (1997), Musgrave (2000) and Grissmer (2003) which

reported that parents' level of education was the most important


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factor affecting students' academic achievement. The results are

supported by the study conducted by Howley (1989) and House

(2002) on achievement in Mathematics, stated that students learn

better if they are from above average or average income family,

with well-educated parents who participate in the school's

education process and encourage their children to learn. In a

family where parents are fairly or highly educated, there is a

tendency that they would aspire to see their children better than

they are educationally. This inspiration will force them to

motivate their children by providing for their basic needs in

education hence their performance in their academic work in

school will improve. High socio-economic status parents are able

to provide their children with high quality books and other

educational material to encourage them in their various learning

activities at home which also explains why children from high

socio-economic status performed better than those from the

middle and low socio-economic status.

CONCLUSION

The findings of the study unveiled the factors affecting the

students’ performance in Mathematics. The level of father’s

education was found to be higher than the mother’s as none of the

father was illiterate but 7.7% mother was recorded as illiterate.

The highest of 51.2% students belongs to low socio-economic

status whereas a lowest of 8.3% to the high socio-economic status

families. The family income level, mother’s education level and

father’s education level have significant influence on the

performance of students in maths. The parents with high income

might have enough money which can be used to provide the

needed materials and support for their children in order to arouse

their interest in Mathematics than their counterparts in low

income families whose major obligation is to provide shelter and


152

food for the family. A family with high socio-economic status is

often more successful in preparing its young children for school

because they typically have access to a wide range of resources to

promote and support their development. They are able to provide

their young children with high quality child care, books and

teaching facilities such as computers, to encourage them in

various learning activities at home. Educated parents are as well

aware of the possible returns to their children and they are more

likely to have access to information and social networks necessary

for their children to engage into relatively human capital intensive

activities yielding high returns to education. The well educated

parents increasing the time spend with their children than their

uneducated counterparts and they are more effective in helping

their children in academic work. This all in turn, affect the

students' academic performance in Mathematics.

RECOMMENDATIONS

From the findings of this study, the following recommendations

can be made:

i. Since parents’ education influences students academic

achievement in Mathematics, the government and all stakeholders

in education sector should endeavour to implement its policy on

the uplifting of education for all and thus create an enlighten

society in which every parent would be educated enough to have a

positive influence on their children especially in Mathematics by

helping their children in completing their home work which will

ultimately encourage and motivate in learning mathematics.

Effective implementation of distance and adult education

programs can be very effective in improving the education levels

of parents.

ii. Parents should also try to improve their income so as to be able

not only in providing the necessary reading material and learning


153

environment to their children. It is suggested that Government can

offer some incentives such as rural scholarship to the students,

especially staying in rural areas so as to uplift their income level

status.

iii. Given that the present study is limited to the influence of

parental education and income only, studies could be carried out

in the country by including other factors influencing performance

in mathematics such as gender, location of residence, teachers’

attitudes, teacher’s qualification, influence of friends.

Biographical note of author: The main author was born on January 1, 1968 in

India. He holds Master of Science in Agriculture (Agricultural Economics), Bachelor

of Science in Agriculture Honours and Bachelor of Education degrees with 16 years

of international experience in research and teaching. At present, he is serving

Livingstone Kolobeng College, Gaborone, Botswana as an agriculture teacher and

also, reading for his second master degree (Master of Education in Research and

Evaluation) at University of Botswana. He has published eight research papers and

two books. He has served the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Agriculture in

the Republic of Botswana (Southern Africa) and in India in the field of research and

teaching. He is accredited by University of Cambridge International Examinations

for Training in school based assessment in IGCSE Agriculture, with Botswana

Training Authority (BOTA) as a Trainer; accredited with the South African Qualification

Authority (SAQA); accredited by Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) in Botswana as a

Consultant, Mentor and Trainer.

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