Received August 16, 2019; Reviewed March 17,2020; Accepted April 5, 2020

Abstract: Parental determinants on academic achievement of learners at any level cannot be overemphasized. The major challenge in Kenya is that early childhood development education is left in the hands of the school and parents resulting in a big variations of preschool academic performance. The objectives of the study was to find out how socio-economic orientation of parents, parental level of education, parent-teacher relationship and parent school communication impact pre-school learners academic performance. The target population included 71 headteachers,142 ECDE teachers and 763 parents and a sub county ECDE officer .The sample size was 9 head teachers, 43 ECDE teachers,76 parents and a sub county ECDE officer. The instruments for data collection were questionnaires, interviews and document analysis. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and presented in form of tables, graphs and percentages. the findings revealed that socio-economic orientation is significant in determining pre-school learners academic performance, parental level of education was the highest predictor of pre-school learners’ performance with a positive significant relationship of r=0.582 on parental –teacher relationship and academic performance in ECDE.It was concluded that higher parental level of education was required in order to improve the quality of children’s education. The present study recommends that parents should sacrifice themselves in engaging their children in education. It is recommended for parents and teachers to have high parent-teacher relationship.

Received December 31, 2020; Revised March 29, Accepted March 31, 2020

Abstract: Pre-school education is fundamental in providing foundation for learning. In the recent years, there has been noted decline trend nationally in the transition of learners from Early Years of Education (EYE) to primary schools in Belgut Sub-County as per 2018 published Sub-County Education Office report. This study investigated school-based factors influencing learner retention in public pre-schools. The study specifically sort out to; find out the learning activities influencing learner retention and explore the school environment influence on learner retention in public pre-schools in Belgut Sub- County. The study was anchored on Maslow theory. Descriptive research design was adopted. The study targeted 326 respondents comprising of head teachers and pre-school teachers. Sample size for the study was 95 head teachers and 127 pre-school teachers. Questionnaires were utilized for pre-school teachers and interview schedules for Head-teachers .Observation checklists were also utilized. The study yielded both Quantitative and qualitative data which was analyzed thematically and by use of SPSS version 22. Data was presented by use of figures and tables. The study established that there is need for pre-school learners to enjoy free movement rather than having them confined to one place. Further, the study revealed that the school environment is crucial for learner retention thus need for sufficient pre-schools amenities. The study is significant to stakeholders in positioning themselves to ensure that they maintain retention of learners in pre-school, managers and proprietors of pre-schools in devising better approaches that enable retention of learners and Ministry of Education in crafting better policy framework that clearly stipulate the roles of all the stake holders in Early Years of Education