Influence Of Family Structure On Pre-School Learners’ Class Participation In Public Pre-Schools In Mwingi Zone, Mwingi Sub-County, Kitui County- Kenya

ABSTRACT

Modern society is characterized by changing family structures and changing lifestyles

and Mwingi zone is not an exception. This study was designed to investigate whether

family structure has influence on pre-school learners’ class participation. The objectives

of the study were to establish the influence of intact-biological parent families on preschool

learners’ class participation , to determine the influence of single- parent families

on pre-school learners’ class participation, to determine the influence of grandparentheaded

families on pre-school learners’ class participation and to establish the influence

of child-headed families on pre-school learners’ class participation. The study was carried

out in Mwingi zone, Mwingi Sub-county of Kitui County. The target population of the

study was 1030 pre-school learners and 88 pre-school teachers from 67 public preschools

in Mwingi Zone. The findings of the study are hoped to form a basis for different

stakeholders to assist the learners cope with the challenges emanating from their family

structure backgrounds. The researcher employed descriptive survey design for the study

and obtained the sample size of the study by using both probability and non- probability

sampling techniques. The sampling techniques included stratified random sampling and

purposive sampling. The researcher used a representative sample of 10% of the targeted

pre-school learners, and 20.5% of the targeted pre-school teachers. To collect data from

the respondents, the researcher used questionnaires and observation checklists. The

questionnaires were used to collect data from pre-school teachers while observation

checklists were used to collect data from pre-school learners. The researcher processed

data by editing, coding, classifying and tabulating it and then analyzed the processed data

using descriptive analysis, frequency distribution tables and percentages and Pearson

Correlation Tables. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze

data. The study found out that there was a strong positive correlation (r=0.814, P