| dc.description.abstract | Deterioration of students discipline is a serious problem in schools globally. The purpose of this study was to investigate the family factors that influence parental participation in management of learners’ discipline in public day secondary schools in Kitui County, Kenya. The hypotheses were: there is no relationship between parents’ level of: economic status, education, drug and substance abuse and exposure of students to electronic media facilities and parental involvement in management of student discipline. The study was based on Social learning theory. The sample was obtained by purposive sampling, simple random sampling and stratified proportionate sampling. There were 70 public day secondary schools, 70 Principals, 70 Parents’ Teachers’ Association (PTA) chairpersons, 86 Form three class teachers and 354 Form three students. The instruments were questionnaires, interview guide and focus group discussions. Questionnaires were validated by conducting a pre- test and through expert judgment by the supervisors. A test-re-test method was used to test reliability. Data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The significance level was set at alpha = 0.05. Pearson’s correlation coefficient test results for hypothesis Ho1 showed a strong positive correlation (r = 0.645, P< 0.05) hence the hypothesis was rejected. It was established that the parents of low economic status were less involved in management of students’ discipline. The results of Pearson’s’ correlation coefficient test for Ho2 indicated a strong positive correlation (r=0.714, P < 0.05) hence the hypothesis was rejected and conclusion was made that the parents with low level of educational attainment were less involved in the education of their children. The Chi square test results P-value=0.000 indicated that the hypothesis Ho3 was rejected and the alternative hypothesis that there was a strong association between parents’ drug and substance abuse level and their involvement in management of students’ discipline was accepted. Based on the results of Chi Square P-value=0.066, the hypothesis Ho4 was accepted implying that there was a weak association between parents’ level of exposure of students to electronic media facilities and parental involvement. It was concluded that family factors such as parents’ economic status, education level, drug and substance abuse level and level of exposure of students to electronic media facilities influence parental involvement in management of students’ discipline. The following recommendations were made: The school board of management should organize workshops to equip parents with parental skills on home supervision, parents should avoid drug and substance abuse in the presence of their children and monitor use of electronic media facilities by their children. The Ministry of Education Policy makers should establish some policies on family-based parental involvement in regulation of learners’ discipline. The Teachers Service Commission should establish in-service training programs for teachers to equip them with skills for sensitizing parents on parental supervision. It was suggested that further research could be carried out on effectiveness of parental involvement in management of students’ discipline in public boarding secondary schools in Kenya. | en_US |
