A note from

Mr Day, Director of Studies

The need to engage in your child's learning...

‘Parental engagement matters. Student achievement improves when parents play an active role in their children's education, and that good schools become even better schools when parents are involved. It is recognised that parent engagement is a key factor in the enhancement of student achievement and well-being’ (Ontario Ministry of Education).

Too often I hear the cliche ‘primary parents are far more involved in their children's learning than secondary’. While this may be a natural progression of letting children grow up as they progress to adolescent years, it can be to the detriment of the adolescent’s behavior and learning. It is normal to grant more responsibility to children as they grow up, the key is to do so, whilst staying engaged in all aspects of their life. Researchers at the Harvard Family Research Program argue that ‘schools alone cannot fully meet the learning needs of our children’, and that a mutual partnership is essential to foster quality learning and education.

With this in mind, how can parents partner with schools more, to become actively involved in their child's learning? Knowing the basics such as what subjects your child is taking, what topics they are currently working through and the names of your child’s teacher/s are important. Keeping regular contact with all your child’s teachers is also important in gaining a full understanding of their whole learning experience.

Talking with teachers at Parent Teacher Interviews presents parents with opportunities to meet with teachers to discuss student progress. These meetings are vital in gaining a snapshot of where students are at in class, any issues that are developing or occurring, upcoming assessment and ways in which parents can help the learning partnership develop.

Examination times and assessment tasks often cause many students to become stressed and anxious. Knowing when these times or tasks are approaching will help you identify changes in your child, and hopefully an opportunity to provide support. From next year, a simple way of finding out examination and assessment task dates, as well as keeping regular tabs on your child’s progress is by logging into your child’s profile on Edumate (link on the College website).  You can also view basic details about assessment tasks in the ‘Assessment Handbook’, issued at the start of every year.

Engaging in your child’s learning is important and there should be an openness at home to regularly discuss the school day. Asking open questions that lead to conversation about subjects, topics and tasks is best. By asking open ended questions, the easy yes/no answers will be avoided. The best engagement you can have is where there is full transparency between school and home, as well as parent and child.             

Taree Christian College is committed to partnering with students and parents in providing the most engaging learning opportunity possible. As this new year begins, be challenged to partner and enthusiastically engage in your child's learning.

Adam Day

Director of Studies