Discuss about the Impact of parental separation on the school engagement during middle school years.
Karibayeva and Bogar (2014) stated that for school students, parent and teachers are considered as two major educators of the children’s life. Parent’s involvements are important for the students to get involvement and engagement in the middle school (Karibayeva and Bogar 2014). The academic progress of the children, their development of the language ability, behavior, general perception towards life and social skills is associated with the involvement of the parents (Koepke and Denissen 2012). Wang and Sheikh?Khalil (2014) highlight another main reason for the distraction of the student in their middle school is parental separation due to which the academic progress of the student gates affects as they cannot concentrate in their studies. This research thus aims for finding out different ways due to which parental separation can impact school engagement during middle school years.
The main reason for parental separation
According to the report of Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS), it has been found that the main reason for the parental separation is due to communication problems, changed lifestyle desires, incompatibility and unfaithfulness (Aifs.gov 2018). People nowadays are more concerned towards self-fulfillment and have less tolerance of unsatisfying relationships. The report also shows that the difference among the men and their counterparts leads in abusive behavior that furthermore related to the separation (Aifs.gov 2018). It is also found in the report that 45% of the people gets separated on their own decision; while, 34% divorced on the decision by their spouse (Aifs.gov 2018). Lastly, the in the remaining 21% cases, the decision to get separated is mutual (Aifs.gov 2018).
Importance of school engagement among youngsters
School engagement can also be segregated in different forms. Coleman (2018) stated that the term behavioral school engagement signifies involvement of a student in form of regular attendance, following the school regulations and completing the homework regularly within the time. Another form of school engagement is emotional school engagement that refers to positive and negative attitudes towards study values, study orientation and student-teacher relationships (Galindo and Sheldon 2012). Lastly, another form of school engagement is cognitive perspective on school engagement which shows the technique a student uses to accomplish their regular studies that is whether they study in-depth or they just memorize the lecture notes (Elder 2018). The children of divorced parents are more likely to secure a bad grade and lacks performance in extracurricular activities too. The result of the parental disputes leads to the bad scores in examinations and repetition of a grade. Thus, the school engagement is essential for the development of the children as it allows them to enhance their skills and grab all the knowledge that is being taught to them in the school (Edwards and Redfern 2017). Wang and Sheikh?Khalil (2014) stated that middle school student need more support as they are in the transitional period and should have to progress for the future.
Relationship between parental separation and school engagement
Lack of family resources
Thomson and McLanahan (2012) stated that the availability of the family resources is one of the reason due to which some youngsters have difference to growing up in an intact and non-intact family. Barth (2017) depicted that intact family are the one where both parents are present. However, family resources can be categorizes into three different parts- financial resources, human resources and social resources (Shoshani and Slone 2013). Zentgraf and Chinchilla (2012) stated that students grown up in a financial stabilized family have more school engagement compared to the family that s suffering from financial hardships. The main reason is that in financial hardship, parents are more likely to quarrel with each other (Galindo and Sheldon 2012).
Lack of concentration
Flacking et al. (2012) stated that student have to study more and understand the knowledge of the middle school syllabus as they have to make their position for the higher studies. Thus, in such crucial stages if parent develop disputes among them and get separated, student gets emotionally disturbed. In such cases, they cannot concentrate on their studies and their academic progress automatically diminished (De Lange, Dronkers and Wolbers 2014).
Leaving the school
According to the research data of the AIFS, due to financial problems and the disputes among the parents, in such cases nor the father or the mother desires to take the liability of the children (Aifs.gov 2018). Thomson and McLanahan (2012) also highlight that in such case the lack of enough money results in leaving the school after their elementary study. After dropping out of the school, either the student joins some work for earning money or opted illegal activities (Song, Benin and Glick 2012).
Failed grades and repetition of school grades
It is found that one out of the two Australian failed in crucial subjects like Science and Mathematics (The Australian 2018). The OECD report also shows that this problem is mainly shows in the 15 years children (The Australian 2018). This poor performance of the children leads to the high risk of dropping out of school which leads to illiteracy among them. It is also found that 14% of such children remain illiterate (The Australian 2018). Another source stated that middle school students emotionally disturbed as they need to be get supported and encouraged by their parents (Familycourt.gov 2018).
Research Approach
Gale et al. (2013) stated that there are two categories of research approaches- inductive and deductive. Gray (2013) stated that in deductive research approach, the research outcome is based on theories and concept developed by other research scholar used in the research. Gale et al. (2013) on the other hand depicted that, in inductive research approach, new theories and concepts has been developed in order to find a new direction regarding the research topic. In this research study, the deductive approach will be utilized.
Justification for Research Approach
The research aims for finding the ways that impacted the academic progress of the middle school children due to their parent’s separation. Thus, the results of the divorce or separation of the parents will be identified based on the research carried for developing the literature review in order to address the research question. Thus, there are no new theory and concept formulated based on the research topic.
Research Design
Descriptive and exploratory are two different types of research design and is used to answer the research question (Vaismoradi, Turunen and Bondas 2013). van Wyk (2012) portrays that descriptive approach illustrates verification of the developed research question based on the findings in the literature review and data analysis. On the other hand, exploratory research design highlights new insights regarding the research topic. In this research, descriptive research design will be considered.
Justification for Research Design
This research study aims for a well defined research that answers to the question “In what ways can parental separation impact school engagement during middle school years?” Thus, in order to answer this research question, a highly structured data will be appropriate. The research findings from the literature review and data outcome form the analysis will be used to answer the research question precisely.
Data collection method
According to McDaniel and Gates (2013), the two different ways to collect the data for the research study are primary and secondary data collection. In primary data collection, the data are gathered directly from the research respondents through the medium of survey, questionnaire, interview and polls (Wahyuni 2012). Smith (2015) on the other hand stated that some data for the research are collected through research papers, government sites, academic journals and company’s websites. These data is known as secondary data collection and is used when a large demographic has to be covered. In this research study, primary data collection from the students and teachers of Campbell High School (Canberra) will be considered.
Justification for Data collection method
The research topic will find the impact of parental separation on the school engagement during middle school years and the answer to this research question will be obtained better from the primary research. The students will be asked question regarding the problem they faced due to the separation of their parents through questionnaire. The students are selected as they can precisely quote their problem and difficulties that they are feeling due to the separation of their parents. Moreover, the teachers are considered for the interview method in order to know about the progress of selected students. The teachers are selected as they have the data regarding how many students repeated grades in the middle school stages and how many of them secured ‘A’ grades.
Data analysis Method
Data obtained from the research can be analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively (Bernard 2017). Hair Jr et al. (2015) stated that when there is numerical data present while analyzing the obtained data, it is known as quantitative analysis method. However, when data analyzed is theoretical in nature, it is known as qualitative data analysis method. In this research study, both the quantitative and qualitative data analysis method will be used.
The data gathered from the student will be analyzed through regression analysis in order to find the relationship between the independent variable “parental separation’ and dependent variable “school engagement” using Microsoft Excel. However, the data collected from the teachers of the school through interview will be evaluated theoretically to find the difference in the academic progress of the student, whose parents are separated to those who do not have such experience.
Five sample question
Demographic question
Q1. In which grade you are studying?
Question on parental separation
Q2. According to you what is the main reason for the separation your parent?
Q3. Do you agree that your parents are not giving you proper assistance in your homework due to the disputes among them?
Question on school engagement
Q4. How far do you agree that your parental separation is the main reason for you to not attend the school regularly?
Q5. Do you agree that the disputes among your parents results in lower concentration in the study?
Interview question
Q1. Did you notice any differences in behavior of the student who suffered parental separation to those who did not suffered?
Q2. Is there any difference in their academic results among those who do and do not face parental separation?
Q3. What counseling activities are present in your school in order to support those children, who witnessed parental separation and help them to enhance their academic result?
Sampling method
Probability and non-probability are two different methods to select sample for the research (Fowler Jr 2013). In probability sampling technique, all the members have the equal chance to get participated in the research and in non-probability; all the respondents do not get equal chances to participate in the study. In this research student, non-probability sampling technique will be selected (McDonald, Mohebbi and Slatkin 2012).
Justification for sampling method
The student only from the 6th to 9th grade will be considered as the research aims for the finding the impact of the parental separation in the transitional period between elementary school and that of the high school. Since, not all the students are selected for participating in the research, the sampling method will be appropriate. Moreover, in case of selecting the teachers, the non-probability sampling technique is used as only the class teachers for these classes will be selected.
Sample size
Nardi (2018) mentioned that the total number of participants of the research is known as sample size. In this research 200 students are selected for the questionnaire method and 4 teachers each from every grade from 6th to 9th will be considered.
Justification for sample size
Since, the students from 6th to 9th grade are considered in the middle school; hence, 50 students each from each grade will be considered. Moreover, the class mentors are selected as they have the report of each students of their respective class on all subjects. Thus, in this way, the accurate data required for the research to answer the research question will be obtained.
Recruiting plan for selecting sample size
All the research respondents will be considered from the Campbell High School (Canberra). The students belong to the middle school are selected so that they can better answer their situation and the problem they are facing due to the separation of their parents. The class teachers have all the progress report of the students of their respective classes and thus, these teachers will be able to report accurate data.
This research study will not force anyone to participate in the study and all the research respondent are provided with a consent form. The consent form will be signed from each one of the respondent. It will be mentioned in the consent form that the research survey or interview will no longer take than 30 minutes and all the research respondent will also allowed quitting the survey anytime they want. Moreover, no respondent will be forced to change their answers regarding the research questions. All the data gathered from the questionnaire and interview will be protected under the legislation Data Protection Act 1998. In addition to that, all the data obtained from the research study will be kept anonymous. The data will not be shared to any other organization and other people. The research result will also be shared to the respondent in order to proof that the data are collected for the research purpose only and not for any other benefits. The data will be stored in the laptop maximum of 1 year and then will be deleted from there in order to avoid any kind of discrepancy. All the research respondents are also provided with the contact details of the survey and interview conductor so that an active communication can be establish and the respondents can ask any details about the data they have provide. Thus all the research ethics will be followed to conduct this research.
References
Aifs.gov., 2018. Family factors in early school leaving. [online] Available at: https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/publications/family-factors-early-school-leaving/parental-involvement-protective-factor-against [Accessed 18 Jun 2018].
Aifs.gov., 2018. Towards understanding the reasons for divorce. [online] Available at: ttps://aifs.gov.au/publications/towards-understanding-reasons-divorce/initiating-separation [Accessed 18 Jun 2018].
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Coleman, J.S., 2018. Parents, their children, and schools. Routledge.
De Lange, M., Dronkers, J. and Wolbers, M.H., 2014. Single-parent family forms and children’s educational performance in a comparative perspective: Effects of school’s share of single-parent families. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 25(3), pp.329-350.
Edwards, V. and Redfern, A., 2017. At Home in School (1988): Parent Participation in Primary Education. Routledge.
Elder, G.H., 2018. Children of the great depression. Routledge.
Familycourt.gov., 2018. https://www.familycourt.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/fcoaweb/family-law-matters/parenting/children-and-separation. [online] Available at: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/one-in-two-teens-fail-reading-and-maths/news-story/3a9a961fb84ece67c675e52c99606871 [Accessed 19 Jun 2018].
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