‘Supportive parental attitudes critical in shaping children’s aspirations’

A study initiated by the Campaign for Female Education (Camfed Ghana), with support from the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), has established that supportive parental attitudes play a critical role in shaping children’s aspirations, life choices and educational attainment. 

Conducted in the Greater Accra, Eastern and Northern regions, the research on, “The role of parents in their children’s aspirations, life choices and educational attainment from a gendered perspective,” also showed that parents’ socio-economic backgrounds, especially educational and income levels, tended to have significant influence on children’s educational attainment and career aspirations.

Under its programme “Extending support to girls in secondary education in Ghana, 2012 – 2016”, DFID provided support for the research with an aim to understand the role of parents/guardians in shaping their children’s aspirations, life choices and educational attainment levels.

Children’s aspirations

The research was also to find out the extent to which children’s aspirations, life choices and educational attainment were influenced by gendered upbringing.

The research gathered information from 12 schools across the three regions using one urban and one rural district in each region.

A report on the research said it would culminate in the annual forum on Girls’ Education Officers to be held in June at the University of Ghana. 

The forum would be used to provide a platform for the dissemination of the research findings to inform policy decisions. 

Overall, the research calls for the institution and strengthening of interventions at school and community levels that focus on building parental or guardians’ awareness, orientation and capacity to provide support to their children and wards as a pathway to improving children’s chances of doing well in school and fulfilling their long-term aspirations.

Other key findings

The research found that parental supervision of children’s homework was strongly associated with children’s expectation to attain higher education among both boys and girls. 

It also found that parents’ levels of education were positively associated with children’s educational attainment and career aspirations, specifically the academic performance of children whose mothers had tertiary education was markedly higher compared to children whose mothers had lower levels of education. 

Also it showed that maternal education had a stronger influence on the educational attainment of female children than male children.

The research also perceived that financial difficulties seemed to constrain children’s educational and career choices and lowered parents’ expectations regarding what their children could achieve.

Parental perceptions of the roles and expectations of their children were not strongly gendered, especially in the Eastern and Greater Accra regions, as compared to the Northern Region, according to the study.

Background

DFID and Camfed Ghana have shared values and commitment to the provision of quality education, particularly for the girl-child in Ghana. 

Funding support from DFID has over the years been used to finance the education of many girls to ensure they achieve their fullest potential. 

As of 2014, a total of 31,000 girls were supported with DFID funding to attend junior and senior high school in the Northern, Upper East, Upper West and Central regions. 

In addition to other programmes and interventions, DFID provides funding support for educational activities under the partnership between Camfed Ghana and the Girls’ Education Unit (GEU) of the Ghana Education Service (GES).  

Camfed Ghana and the GEU have had a cordial working partnership since 2008 and the objective of this partnership has been to expand educational opportunities for girls through advocacy and the provision of financial and other support to girls who, due to financial and other constraints, may not have access to education. 

A major component of the partnership between Camfed Ghana and the GEU is research and this is in tandem with Camfed’s strategy to undertake programmes and interventions based on evidence and research data. 

The report said DFID and Camfed Ghana would continue to fall on this collaborative approach to ensure that interventions to maximise opportunities for school-aged children, especially girls, were grounded on evidence and research data.