Parental Involvement in Relation to the Literacy and Numeracy Skills of Teenagers

Abstract

The study examined how much parents support their teenagers in developing numeracy and literacy skills. The researcher used a mixed-methods approach through convenience sampling for the one hundred seniors in high school who took a 48-item literacy and numeracy test and filled out a survey about how involved their parents were. The researchers used a validated questionnaire and utilized the weighted mean, percentage, mean, Spearman Rank Order Correlation, Kruskal-Wallis Test, and Mann-Whitney U Test as the statistical tools. Focus group discussions (FGD) and key informant interviews (KII) also happened. Results say that family participation in terms of emotional support, money, and contact between parents and teachers is "high." However, teenagers could have done better on a 48-question test of reading, writing, and math skills. The data showed no significant relationship between emotional support, financial support, and contact between parents and teachers and how well teenagers did on reading and math tests. Also, parents' involvement stays the same when put into groups based on their profiles. Even with high parental involvement, teenagers from challenging households are more likely to drop out due to financial issues. Parents also need help paying for their children's transportation, income, and projects due to job losses and increasing commodity prices. Low-income teenagers have to choose school or work to eat. To keep their teenagers in school, unemployed mothers had to relocate for work. Meanwhile, parents recommend banning smartphones during class hours to prevent gadget dependence and boost focus.