<b>Bridging the home–school divide: The role of parental involvement in enhancing students’ academic engagement in public secondary schools in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria</b><b></b>

Abstract

Academic engagement among learners is an important determinant of educational success, yet students in some Nigerian public secondary schools exhibit passive participation levels. This study determined the level of parental involvement among public secondary school students in Ife Central Local Government Area (LGA), Osun State, Nigeria, it also examine the level of students’ academic engagement in the study area, and lastly it assessed the relationship between parental involvement and student academic engagement among public secondary school students in Ife Central Local Government Area, Osun State. A descriptive survey research design was adapted for the study. Data were collected using a multi-stage sampling technique; a sample of 250 students across five public secondary schools in Ife Central LGA, Osun State, was selected for the study. Two standardized instruments titled “Parental Involvement Scale (PIS) and the Student Academic Engagement Scale (SAES), were used to elicit informations from the respondents. The data collected were analysed using mean, standard deviation, and regression analysis. The findings revealed that most students experience a moderate level of parental involvement at 68.4% and a similar level of academic engagement at 52%. The regresssion result also showed a strong poossitive correlation between parental involvement and student academic engagement. The study concluded that parental involvement is a key determinant of student academic engagement.