Influence of Parental Support on Early Years Learners’ Literacy Competencies in Nyamira South Sub-County, Nyamira County, Kenya

Abstract

Early childhood is an important stage of life with respect to children social, emotional, intellectual and physical development hence utmost care and involvement is critical. This study looked at the task of involvement of parents on early year’s learners’ literacy competencies in Nyamira South Sub County. The study specific objectives were to determine the influence of parental education, parental access to home literacy resources, and parental social economic level on early years learners’ literacy competencies in Nyamira South Sub County. This study was guided by Coleman and ecological systems theory. A descriptive research design targeting 7,494 parents of children enrolled in early childhood development centers from Nyamira South Sub County were involved. From the population, Yamane formular was utilized to compute a sample size of 380 parents through multi-stage sampling. Collection of primary data was done using structured questionnaire. The quantitative data was processed and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24.0. Inferential analysis was conducted to develop a study model through multiple regression analysis, and the model was validated using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The findings indicated that parental education level had a positive but moderately insignificant impact on preschool children's literacy skills (β=0.167; p=0.0133; r=0.538). The availability of home literacy resources showed a positive and moderately significant effect (β=0.222; p=0.042; r=0.550), and parental economic well-being demonstrated a positive moderate significant influence (β=0.309; p=0.009; r=0.586) on literacy skills of preschoolers in Nyamira South Sub-County. Based on these findings, the study recommends that parents should strive to enhance their literacy skills and equip their homes with appropriate learning materials suited for their preschool children. Significantly the study will inform policies on involvement of parents of early years of learning.