| dc.description.abstract | Early Childhood Development (ECDE) is the bedrock of formal education systems in developed and developing countries alike, including Kenya. Parental involvement in a child's education is regularly related with a positive correlation between academic success and parental involvement. However, little research has been conducted on how and to what extent parents participate in their children's pre-primary education. The goal of this study was to determine the effect of parental participation on pre-primary children's acquisition of reading competence in Kenya. The study's precise aims were to determine the effect of home-school communication, the home parenting environment, parental volunteerism, and home learning on preschoolers' development of reading competences in Manga Sub-County, Nyamira County. The study was founded on Epstein's overlapping spheres of influence hypothesis, focusing on parental participation through Epstein's theoretical lens. Concurrent triangulation research was used in this study as part of a mixed-methods strategy. The study used 65 public primary schools as its units of analysis, which included 65 head teachers, 65 ECDE school lead teachers, 210 preschool parents, 210 preschool children, and three ECDE divisional coordinators. Twenty head teachers, 136 preschool parents, 136 preschoolers, 65 ECDE lead teachers, and three ECDE Divisional Coordinators were included in the study sample. The study collected data through the use of questionnaires, an interview schedule, and focus group discussions. The instrument's validity was verified through expert assessment, while the questionnaires' reliability was established through the test-retest method, yielding an overall coefficient of 0.724. Additionally, the questionnaire's internal consistency was determined using Cronbach's alpha coefficient analysis, which yielded an average alpha value of 0.811. Quantitative data were examined using both descriptive and inferential statistics with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0. Thematic analysis was used to assess qualitative data. The study's findings indicated that, on average, preschool parental participation was low or moderate in all four dimensions of parental involvement: at-home parenting, home-school communication, volunteer services, and at-home learning. However, the study showed that there was a statistically significant positive association between all the four aspects of parental involvement and the acquisition of literacy competencies among pre-schoolers. Home parenting accounted for 26.4% (Adjusted coefficient R2=.264), home to school communication accounted for 23.9% (Adjusted R2=.239), parental volunteering services accounted for 14.6% (Adjusted R2=.146) and home learning accounted for 38.5% (Adjusted R2=.385) of the variation in the acquisition of basic literacy competencies. All the four aspects of parental involvement were significant predictors of the acquisition of basic literacy competencies among preschoolers. As a whole, parental involvement through Epstein’s theoretical lens accounted for 80.6% (Adjusted R2=.806) of the variation in the acquisition of literacy competencies among preschoolers. It was concluded that effective parental involvement through Epstein’s is vital for basic literacy competencies acquisition. The study advised that preschool parents be educated on the value of parental involvement in their children's education. This study, it is anticipated, would be significant for all stakeholders in education. Finally, a study on successful parental home determinants of pre-primary learning might elucidate the present study's findings. | en_US |
