21/05/2020
How much do you care about the success of your child/children?
"Across fifty different studies on parental engagement, educational researchers found a connection between family involvement and academic achievement. And the earlier educators establish parent engagement, the more effective they are in raising student performance. Parent partnerships formed during elementary school years build a strong foundation for student success and future engagement opportunities."
https://www.waterford.org/education/how-parent-involvment-leads-to-student-success/
A brilliant article highlighting the importance of parental engagement in a child's education and learning. As a teacher, it is generally easy to recognise when a child's parents are engaged and involved in their learning. Understandably, it's hard to juggle the working life, parenting life and also be a teacher-of-sorts at home (a lot of you would have experienced this over the lockdown period).
So, here are a few simple ways to support your child's learning:
- Limit their screen-time (either limit what they are doing to educational activities or just limit "free-time" on devices). Excessive screen time can cause a child's brain to be overstimulated and inhibit their attention span and can hinder their ability to retain knowledge.
- At least once a week (ideally every day or couple of days) ask your child what they have been learning at school. Regular reflection helps the solidification and retention of knowledge in one's brain.
- Make contact with their teacher to touch base about how they are doing at school (socially, emotionally and academically).
Lastly, just showing a little bit of interest and exemplifying the importance of learning will go a long way!
The best predictor of student success is the extent to which families encourage learning at home and involve themselves in their child’s education.