COMMONWEALTH ASSOCATION FOR
EDUCATION, ADMINISTRATION AND
MANAGEMENT
ISSN NO 23222322-0147
DECEMBER
2013
VOLUME 1 ISSUE 4
Impact of the Economic and Social Factors on the Academic Achievement
of Secondary School Students: A Case Study of Jorda
Excellence International Journal of Education and
Research (Multi- subject journal)
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VOLUME 1
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Impact of the Economic and Social Factors on the Academic Achievement of Secondary
School Students: A Case Study of Jordan
By
Atef Yousef Makeed Alkhutaba
Researcher Scholar
Department of Education
Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh
E,Mail id : [email protected]
Abstract
This study examined Impact of the economic and social Factors on the academic achievement of
secondary school students: A case Study of Jordan. Two hundred and Fifty-five students were
selected randomly. From each of the randomly selected schools the researcher selected. A
questionnaire consisting of sixteen items were prepared. A number of related materials both of
empirical and theoretical importance were reviewed. This study adopted a simple survey research
design and made use of questionnaire in facilitating data collection. The statistical description
(such as mean simple percentages and standard deviation) Pearson moment correlation
coefficient, Based on result obtained:
(a) There is significant effect of socio-economic Factors on student’s academic
Achievements in their branch of education.
(b) ) there is significant effect of socio-economic Factors on student’s academic
Achievements in their gender to female. Moreover, recommendations were made for
the academic Achievements students, teachers, parent’s government and curriculum
developer on ways to improve academic achievement and inculcating positive
attitudes in students towards learning.
Key words: students’ academic achievement, secondary school students.
Introduction
The belief that socio-economic status is a key determinant of student’s educational
achievement and that individual teachers, schools and education systems have a responsibility for
ameliorating the disadvantage that may arise from low socioeconomic status has been an
important aspect of educational policy making in Jordan for more than 100 years now.
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Socio-economic status may therefore also be linked to family structure. As sole parent families on
average have lower levels of income, are headed by parents with lower educational attainment
and are less likely to be in the labor force, children from these families are likely to have lower
educational performance (Rich, 2000). Other factors in sole parent families that are likely to
adversely affect educational outcomes of children compared to those from two-parent families are
said to include: As well as socio-economic status, research has shown the importance of the type
of school a child attends in influencing educational outcomes. While research in the US has found
that SES variables continue to influence educational attainment even after controlling for
different school types, the school context tends to affect the strength of the relationship between
SES and educational outcomes (Portes& MacLeod, 1996).
Similarly research in Britain, shows that schools have an independent effect on student attainment
(Sparkes,1999). While there is less data available on this issue in Jordan, several studies have
found that students attending private non-Catholic schools were significantly more likely to stay
on at school than those attending state schools (Long et al., 1999). Students from independent
private schools are also more likely to achieve higher end of school scores (Buckingham, 2000).
While school-related factors are important, there is again an indirect link to SES, as private
schools are more likely to have a greater number of students from high SES families, select
students with stronger academic abilities and have greater financial resources. The school effect is
also likely to operate through variation in the quality and attitudes of teachers (Sparkes, 1999).
Teachers at disadvantaged schools, for instance, often hold low expectations of their students,
which compound the low expectations students and their parents may also hold (Ruge, 1998).
Academic achievement is generally regarded as the display of knowledge attained or skills
developed in the school subject (Busari,2000). It is the level of performance in school subject as
exhibited by an individual (Ireoegbu,1992). In the school setting, it is referred to as the exhibition
of knowledge attained or skills developed in school subject. Test scores of marks assigned by
teachers are indicators of this achievement. It is the schools evaluation of the pupils class work as
quantified on the basis of marks or grades (Adedipe,1985).These marks assigned by school could
either be high or low, which means that academic achievement could either be good or bad.
As well as the economic need of the family - rich - can provide the requirements of the student
and create the right atmosphere to him for study and performance of assigned duties and not
to any other work is focusing on studying and learning.
While most economic level of households is less than the normal level are demanding their
children to do other work such as agriculture, livestock grazing and other works of other barriers
between the consultation and the performance of duties as required. May have health conditions
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and inadequate food and this in turn leads to lack of proper environment at home for collection, it
can be a positive influence to the level of economic and family can be a positive impact of the
economic level of prisoners on student achievement by providing financial incentives for their
children after each collection is high. We are all well aware the role of motivation in the process
of learning and achievement. But it must be rationed stimulus and not to be random so that there
is no stimulus after every successful business.
Statement of the Problem:
Empirical evidence in Jordan educational system indicates that secondary school
students’-Ghour Alsafi academic achievement is still not at its best. The grades that students get
at the end of a course of study continue to be on the decline. This is due to a number of factors
some of which have been indicated in the introductory part of this study. The result of this
situation is that the goal of secondary school education as highlighted by the national Policy on
Education has not been fully realized.
A number of factors may be responsible for this.
Prominent among factors such the economic and social Factors The effect of this is that
Principals of secondary schools have no clear determined administrative leadership styles that
beget good and productive school culture. The effect is that school teachers and principals are
always at variance in terms of what needs to be done to achieve the goal of secondary school
education. This in the final analysis affects the level of students’ academic achievement.
Objective of the study
The objectives of this study is the extent to which the socio-economic background of the parents
in public secondary schools local government area has on students’ academic performance. It is
also to enable us find out if the urban and rural affect the academic performance of students in
academic achievement of secondary school students in Ghour Alsafi - jordan .
Hypotheses of the study
The following null hypothesis were formulated
1- There is significant effect of socio-economic Factors on student’s academic
Achievements in their (gender, branch education)
Delimitation of the study
The study was mainly restricted to students in secondary schools in Ghour Alsafi-jordan
in 2010-2011.
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The literature review
A Survey of related studies was undertaken by the investigator to get an insight into the
work that has already been in the field of this investigation and also to get suggestion regarding
the ways and means for the collection of relevant data and interpretation of results. The studies
reviewed are mainly on Factors and academic achievement of the Secondary pupils. The available
literature related to the present research work.
P K Aggarwal, Anil Sharma,(2010)The Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) the largest
public sector undertaking of India having own townships for its employees is exemplary from
corporate-social-responsibility point-of-view and provides the best living conditions in India with
modernized health-care and education-systems. The SAIL-run schools in these townships give
excellent academic results. Seventy six thousand children take education in 140 schools with
2274 teachers. They have been performing exceptionally well at the board examinations both in
English and in vernacular-languages with the 5th, 8th, 10th and 12th results touching 100% at one
or the other location every year. The administrative factors like the government policies and their
execution and institutional parameters are responsible for these achievements. But, equally
contributing are some unique socio-economic and socio-cultural factors present here. This paper
establishes the contribution of such unique socio-economic-cultural factors like the family-size,
the social amenities, learning environment, cosmopolitan and competitive atmosphere etc in the
excellent performance of the children in SAIL townships at different locations.
Jihyun Lee and Valerie J. Shute (2010) Our extensive literature review in the field of
educational, social, and cognitive psychology has led us to identify about a dozen variables that
demonstrate direct empirical links to academic achievement at the K–12 level. Those variables
are grouped into four major categories: student engagement, learning strategies, school climate,
and social-familial influences. We then categorize the two variables as personal factors and the
latter two as social-contextual factors. We document empirical finding that have shown particular
relationships between the reviewed personal and social-contextual factors and academic
achievement, mainly in the areas of reading and mathematics. Based on our conceptualization, we
propose an integrated perspective that students’ personal factors in the domains of behavior,
affect, attitude, and cognition as well as their social-contextual environment have to work in
concert to produce optimal school performance. We conclude with a discussion on educational
implications and future research to be addressed.
Jagpreet Kaur, J. S. Rana and Rupinder Kaur(2009) The present study is an attempt to
explore academic achievement and home environment as correlates of self-concept in a sample of
300 adolescents. The results of the study revealed self-concept to be positively correlated with
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academic achievement, though not significantly so. A significantly positive relationship of home
environment component s of protectiveness’s, conformity, reward, and nurturance with self concept is revealed, thereby meaning that use of rewards and nurturance from parents should
be done for positive self-concept development among adolescents. However, the correlation of
social isolation, deprivation of privileges and rejection components of home environment is
significantly negative with self-concept among adolescents indicating that for positive self
concept development among adolescents, there should be less or no use of social isolation,
deprivation of privileges and rejection. The study has implications for educationists and parents
as well.
Zahya HanafiA, (2008) this study focused on two aspects of family socio-economy, that is,
mother’s and father’s educational level and reading materials in the home. Four-hundred thirty
five students from three secondary schools in a district in Kedah were involved in this case study.
The findings of this study support previous studies where both parents’ level of education and
reading materials available in the home were related to children’s academic achievement.
Findings are discussed and suggestions for further study are forwarded.
MIL Fellow, (2007) this project explored the role of students’ emotions in academic settings
through the development and implementation of classroom lessons in bioethical dilemmas. The
following general research questions were addressed: (1) what role do academic emotions play in
student learning? (2) What is the effect of students’ existing beliefs on the academic emotions
they experience when faced with controversial subject matter in biology? (3) Can lessons in
bioethical dilemmas be used to promote student engagement and critical thinking? (4) Can
lessons in bioethical dilemmas be used to help students learn biological concepts? Students in an
introductory cell biology class (BIO 156) were coached how to think critically. They completed
two surveys, one to assess their beliefs about the appropriate use of biotechnology, and another to
assess the emotions they experienced before, during, and after two assignments, one that did not
contain controversial subject matter and one assignment about a bioethical dilemma.
Observations were made about the students’ level of engagement and use of critical thinking
skills during both assignments. Data from the questionnaires were analyzed to compare the
emotions experienced during each type of assignment and the effect of students’ pre-existing
beliefs on their academic emotions. Results suggest that controversial subject matter evokes
higher degree of negative academic emotions while at the same time contributes to greater student
engagement. Results also suggest that students’ existing beliefs can play a role in their level of
engagement and can affect their ability to think critically. Further, the study results indicate that
lessons in bioethical dilemmas can promote student engagement and critical thinking as well as a
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deeper understanding of biological concepts.
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Academic Emotions 3 Academic Emotions in
Student Achievement: Promoting Engagement and Critical Thinking through Lessons in
Bioethical Dilemmas
Methodology
Sample
The sample of the present study consisted of 255 students. They were randomly selected
from different secondary schools in Ghour Al Safi, Jordan.
Instruments
Instruments developed by the researcher were used for the study. The instrument was a
questionnaire designed to tap information on instructional resources that were available in each of
the schools for the teaching and learning. The student’s questionnaire comprised of (16) items.
Reliability of the Instrument
The Spearman – Brown formula of finding the reliability of an instrument was employed for.
The coefficient of the split-half reliability of 0.83 was then obtained, thereby making the
instrument good enough for the study.
Procedure
The questionnaire items were distributed to randomly selected students, who gave prompt
attention to the task of completing the questionnaire. All the participants had no inquiries
while answering the questionnaire.
Results
This study aimed to identify the Impact of the economic Factors on the academic
achievement. The following table shows the means, standard deviations, percentage, Rank order
of the items.
Table (1)
Items
SD
I suffer from Fear and anxiety of my future, to complete my 1.00
study
Mean
3.00
Ranked
1
I suffer from non-availability of appropriate conditions for my
studies
Low monthly income to my family
The possibility of the material does not help my family to pursue
higher education
Commodity prices are expensive in school canteens
1.16
2.88
2
1.19
1.23
2.85
2.78
3
4
1.15
2.74
5
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My family is suffering from financial problems.
My Monthly expenses are not enough to study costs
Bothers me the high prices of textbooks
Bother me being able to keep up with my friends in personal
expenses
I suffer from non-availability of appropriate conditions for my
studies
I suffer from old customs and traditions of society which might
be changed with time
I face difficulty to participate in group discussions
I feel troubled when I have difference of opinions with others
My family expects more from me than my capabilities
My friends deal me away without respect and appreciation
My grades did not allow me to study the course which I want
Total
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1.21
1.30
1.23
1.23
2.60
2.48
2.36
2.35
6
7
8
9
1.13
2.26
10
1.20
2.22
11
1.13
1.13
1.13
1.13
1.01
1.16
1.72
1.72
1.66
1.66
1.66
2.31
12
13
14
15
16
It is evident from the table (1), the averages and standard deviations for the study sample
refer each paragraph of the first field the Impact of the economic Factors on the academic
achievement, the arithmetic mean (2.58), and standard deviation (1.21) and this mean the Impact
of the economic Factors on the academic achievement is high.
It has been arranged paragraphs the field according to their importance in the table (1), explaining
that paragraph, highest arithmetic Mean (2.99) to paragraph I suffer from Fear and anxiety of my
future, to complete my study” to explain that of the causes of the problem as identified the
financial costs are too high for the study cannot cover the student to complete his university
education.
Results of analysis on education students found out the extent of contribution of the associated
with the impact of the economic Factors on the academic were as follows:
Table.1 (a)
Field
Impact of the
Factors on the
achievement
Variable
economic Branch of Academic
academic education education
Vocational
education
S.D Mean
0.82
2.52
0.71
t-test
Level-α
2.28
0.024
2.82
As shown in Table No.1(a) There is significant effect of socio-economic Factors on
student’s academic Achievements in their branch of education ,which arithmetic
mean for Vocational education (2.82) greater than arithmetic mean for Academic
education (2.52),and the value t-test ( 2.28) , the Level-α (α =0.024) less than α =
0.05 ,there was statistically significant. The hypothesis is accepted.
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Table.1 (b)
Field
Variable
Impact of the social Factors on Gender
the academic achievement
S.D Mean
0.61
2.09
0.64
2.27
Male
Female
t-test
Level-α
2.24
0.026
Shown in Table No.1 (a) there is significant effect of socio-economic Factors on
student’s academic Achievements in their gender to female ,which arithmetic mean
for female (2.27) greater than arithmetic mean for male (2.09),and the value t-test (
2.24 ) , the Level-α (α =0.026) less than α = 0.05 ,there was statistically significant.
The hypothesis is accepted.
Discussions
That
the
most
important conditions and
most influential academic
achievement is
the conditions community family so that the level of family culture and their potential and their
ability to assist the student in school performance, as well as provide a conditions of domestic
formatted for the collection and based on positive interactions
parents and
siblings as
well
as
the
care
and
between the student and his
guidance positive family of
the sons
of all conditions The factors and their presence leads to the achievement of excellence.
That the affiliation of the child to the social level - a specific economic affects in different
ways in the circumstances that surround it in school and in the relations between him and his
colleagues, but in the motivation for achievement and attainment.
The school conditions supplementing the family environment where in the student spends half
his day at least, is affected by two main aspects in which the teacher and peers. Teacher is directly
responsible for
and located by
surroundings are an
the pros
important push
and
factor for
cons, and
peers are ina line parallel
the behavior
to its
and motivation for learning
achievement.
Do
not
represent
the geographical
environment is
a
key
factor in
educational
attainment compared to the social environment, while the student is from a rural environment,
civil, this issue requires a separate search of itself.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the results of the study, the researcher made the following recommendations:
Government should organize programme that will truly help to solve the problem of poverty in
the country. Existing poverty allegation programme should be implemented properly and
improved so that it will solve problem of social and economic disadvantage families. The
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problem of chronic under funding of education sector should be reviewed by the government in
order to cater for the building of schools, provision of infrastructural facilities needed to study .
They should also help make the school environment conducive for learning so as to improve
students’ academic achievement. Curriculum developers should try and include activities that will
allow parent participation in order for them to carry them along in their child academic. Parent
should show more interest in their children’s educational welfare especially those in science by
improving their financial obligation towards their children’s education.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the results of the study, the researcher made the following recommendations:
Government should organize programme that will truly help to solve the problem of poverty in
the country. Existing poverty allegation programme should be implemented properly and
improved so that it will solve problem of social and economic disadvantage families. The
problem of chronic under funding of education sector should be reviewed by the government in
order to cater for the building of schools, provision of infrastructural facilities needed to study.
They should also help make the school environment conducive for learning so as to improve
students’ academic achievement. Curriculum developers should try and include activities that will
allow parent participation in order for them to carry them along in their child academic. Parent
should show more interest in their children’s educational welfare especially those in science by
improving their financial obligation towards their children’s education.
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