PATH ANALYTICAL STUDY OF THE INFLUENCE OF PARENTAL, TEACHER AND STUDENT FACTORS ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING

Abstract

Evidence from the results released by public examination bodies in Nigeria annually clearly indicates persistent poor achievement by students in financial accounting. This study therefore sought to develop a causal model that can provide deeper insight into parent, teacher and student factors that could account for the academic achievement of students in financial accounting. A sample of 807 senior secondary two (SS2) financial accounting students and 56 financial accounting teachers were selected from 56 public secondary schools in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Data were collected using Teachers’ Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (TJSQ); Financial Accounting Teachers’ Attitude to Teaching Scale (FATATS); Parental Involvement Questionnaire (PIQ); Financial Accounting Students Attitude Scale (FASAS) and Students Score Profoma (SSP). Both face and construct validity of the research instruments were carried out. TJSQ had a reliability coefficient of .94, PIQ had an overall reliability coefficient of .88, FATATS had a reliability coefficient of .75 and FASAS had a reliability coefficient of .73. The result of the study revealed a parsimonious path model that provides explanation of the achievement of students in financial accounting based on parental, teacher and student factors. The model fit-indices indicated a chi-square value of 2.1; a RMSEA value of .03; a NFI value of .92 and CFI values of .95 .The model as a whole explained 8.2% of the total variance in students’ achievement in financial accounting.