INFLUENCE OF FAMILY AND FACILITATOR FACTORS ON ADULT LEARNERS’ RETENTION IN IBADAN, OYO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

 Many factors have been considered to affect adult retention, ranges from family finance, children school fees, distance to study center, and work related issue. Thus achieving retention becomes difficult if all these are not well managed and even to achieve academic success become unrealistic. It is against this background this study examines influence of family and facilitator factors on the retention of adult learners in Ibadan, Oyo State, the study utilized purposive sampling technique to select participants from facilitators and adult learners actively engaged in literacy programmes across two (2) local government in Oyo State. Facilitators' average is between 31.02 +6.53, while adult learners' average age is between 22.02 +4.23 The findings revealed that several factors contributed to a negative impact on adult learners' retention. These factors included financial constraints hindering access to study materials (2.47>2.18), the burden of high school fees affecting families' ability to afford meal (2.56>2.18), distance to the learning center causing missed classes (2.75>2.18), and family responsibilities impeding program completion (2.56>2.18). Additionally, facilitators' strategies, such as post-class summaries and active classroom management (3.56>3.43)., were found to positively influence retention rates. Family finances, financial constraint, burden of school fees other familial issues significantly affect adult learners' retention as found from the study.  It is recommended that adult learners should endeavor to mitigate any factors that may impede their retention rates to enhance their learning outcomes.   Key Words: Retention, Adult learners, Literacy Programmes, family, facilitator factors