ABSTRACT

This thesis titled, ‘Teachers’ Perception of Influence of Home Environment on the Academic Performance of Basic Education Pupils in Abia State, Nigeria’ was a descriptive survey guided by seven (7) research questions, seven null hypotheses also were tested at 0.05 confidence limit. The study was conducted in Abia state within the three education zones of Aba, Ohafia and Umuahia. A total of 9,552 teachers in public primary schools made up of 773 males and 8,729 females made up the population. A sample was 384 teachers sampled using multistage techniques involving the Taro Yamen Formula. A researcher made questionnaire code-named “Influence of Home Environment on academic performance questionnaire (IHEAPQ) was used for data collection. The questionnaire was validated by three specialist two (2) from curriculum and instruction and one (1) from educational measurement and evaluation, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike. The reliability of the instrument was established through pilot testing with a grand reliability index of 0.82 on the Pearson Product Moment Correlation. A total of 384 copies of the questionnaire was distributed with the aid of four (4) research assistants out of which three hundred and seventy-one (371) copies were retrieved giving a retrieval rate of 96.61%. Data collected were analyzed using frequency, mean and standard deviation to answer the questions while the t-test statistics was used to test the null hypotheses. Findings of the study indicated among others that environmental factors that influence academic performance of primary school pupils include parental socio-economic status, educational attainment, parenting style, family size and structure. Recommendations were made among which are that pupils should be made to understand that parent-related factors or conditions should not limit their academic performance. Counselors should fully engage pupils to address the negative influence of parental factors.