After 20 years the National Curriculum is still evolving. News of the mounting stress levels affecting teachers through continuing changes to the curriculum, teaching systems and procedures emerge daily. As the performance of a school is scrutinised to such an extent statistics tend to be massaged to present a far rosier position than reality. It is also unlikely that any revolutionary change can break through to make a real difference to the load.

Overseas the pressure on schools is similar, but the emerging difference is the general realisation that the problems are not of the school system alone.

Compelling evidence indicates a family’s involvement in the schooling process has a marked benefit in the performance of a child and school. Politicians cite the essential parental role required to adopt and maintain effective citizenship and the CBI voices concern over the long term competitiveness of the UK in world markets.

If we are to seek a sea change in the educational standards of our children the onus cannot lie with the schools alone. The one enormous resource that can be quickly mobilised with proven capacity to make a difference lies at home.

The process that started with the parent and infant child can be re harnessed in an enjoyable way to reinforce the classroom lessons at home. A child’s learning retention is greatly enhanced through practising at their comfort pace – a key element that is difficult at school due to the class size, availability of equipment and time.

Technology has made the process much easier and enjoyable. Parents with no teaching skills are now able to access the modern teaching aids used in school and replicate the practice function of the classroom at home. Concerns of the child can be overcome and confidence and competence established back in the classroom.

Allowing teachers to enlist dedicated support at home presents a fantastic opportunity to ease the pressure and gain a huge boost to the teaching capacity of our schools. Parents’ more intimate and dynamic knowledge of their child’s performance can only be beneficial.

By Patrick Murphy, news desk chief of the Columbus Telegram USA

You never really stop going to school until your kids graduate. I never realized that until I had children. I used to think school ended when I graduated.

In some ways, being a student was the easy part. Going to school can be less nerve-racking than sitting at home, hoping your child is soaking up a good education. As my wife and I attended another set of parent-teacher conferences this week, I was reminded of how much work we have to do and how much more work our kids must take on.

It is a team process and, while teachers can teach and parents can make sure studies are studied, it is up to the students to take it from there. I never understood that early in my educational journey. It did not sink in until high school when the desire for good grades really kicked in.

Our kids have a pair of watchdogs who are trying to prepare them for when Mum and Dad are not around to make sure they are staying on task. I remember my Mum talking to me about school and grades, and they were not always easy talks or cordial. We have had a few of those talks in our house.

You do not realize how badly your parents wanted you to succeed until you are a parent yourself. Kids never think about why their parents worry, why they ask the questions they ask or why they make the rules they do.

Someday it will all make sense. Our kids, just like I did, will find themselves falling back on the same things they heard as a child. The light bulb will go on, and they will see the light of their parents’ reasoning.

Like everything else in life, school has changed. The days of sending your child off to school and knowing they will come home, take care of chores and their studies are long gone. There are so many more distractions that are far more entertaining than sitting down and learning something new.

These are the same distractions we embrace at times. It’s great to have an iPod or surf the Net, but moderation and monitoring are all part of that equation.

Maybe it was OK at one time to leave the teaching up to the teacher, but they cannot do it alone, nor should they have to. Without backing by parents at home, teachers are outnumbered.

Kids are only in school for so many hours a day and teachers get one crack at them a day to teach them something and most importantly to make them want to learn. Parents have far more greater exposure to their kids and have to take that responsibility seriously. Without Mum or Dad at home taking an interest in the educational process, it breaks down.

Education is a right, extracurricular activities a privilege. Don’t know what the distant future holds for our kids, but the immediate future includes homework, studying and a lot of prompting from Mum and Dad.

By Patrick Murphy. Reach him at pmurphy@columbustelegram.com

Do your homework before you go out; watch the telly; go to the cinema! The cry of many a parent anxious that their children do well at school, and yet the well intentioned advice is said at arms length. When the child was younger the parents took a hands-on role to support, guide and reinforce their learning. As they grow older this vital role seems lost in translation. Perhaps a mixture of a misplaced inadequacy – it’s up to the teacher isn’t it ? Or not wishing to interfere – they teach it differently to my day? all conspire to distance the parent from the very real opportunity to reinforcing the learning process at home.

The days of chalk and talk, text books only, 64mm film-strip slide shows and Banda handouts have long gone. Technology has changed the face of the teaching support now available. DVD’s, CD’s, board games and modern teaching aids are comprehensively used to support the four stages of the curriculum. Using these same teaching resources at home facilitates one of the most effective elements of learning – practice! Supporting the conventional text and exercise book homework this highly effective method reintroduces the parents’ interaction with the child in the practise function to the benefit of the child, parent and school.

Learning retention, self confidence and competence builds steadily in a child being able to reinforce the classroom lesson. The process is ideally performed at home allowing parents to re-engage in their child’s schooling. The products available are mostly self evident and teaching skills are not required. Research shows that 75% of learning retention is achieved through practising, a process that is all too often limited in school due to class size, time and equipment availability.

Covering all levels from foundation through Key Stage 1-4 (5 -15 years) the relaxed environment at home allows parents to monitor progress dynamically in conjunction with the teacher. A far better situation than the end of year report when corrective support may a little late. But would teachers support this activity? A recent survey showed overwhelming interest from teachers wanting to engage parents in this form of schooling support. The dynamic proactive support of your child compared to an end of term report shock – what would you choose?

As a registered customer I’d really like to enter birthday dates for my nephews and nieces and have reminders sent a month in advance with product ideas. What do others think? Richard Castle, Melbourne

Claims that around £20bn of electronic toys bought last Christmas are now fast approaching their demise perhaps comes as a shock. Nothing to do with flat batteries; interest in the toys is waning and unless the functionality can be upgraded the spent carcass is already destined for the cupboard, loft or recycling.

A better objective involves the purchase of a “toy” with sufficient depth to stimulate the enquiring mind over a longer period, and link in with the schooling process. Technology has lent a hand to produce teaching aids designed to support the national curriculum that hold a child’s interest longer and develops confidence at school. Sounds banal perhaps, but developments in technology over the past 5 years has resulted in a huge range of interactive resources that stimulate whilst inducing learning. The keen 2 learn byline of “Learning in Disguise” reflects the desired outcome. Progression through the eight levels of the five key stages of the curriculum can be reinforced in a hugely enjoyable way at home. Programmable robots, microscopes linked to PC monitors, interactive DVD’s even experiments in DNA profiling add up to an opportunity to excel at school and build a structured interest that could become a career objective.

Homework can be a bit boring! Using text and exercise books is not necessarily the most inspiring process and tends to exclude effective parental support. Yet the lack of their involvement in the work at home process is a huge missed opportunity !

A recent survey of teachers showed an overwhelming desire to involve parents in a more constructive role in the schooling process. Definitely to be avoided is the parental manipulation of homework that can overstate a child’s ability, and induce chagrin as their mark is lowered as part of the teacher detection process. Resulting from the launch of a new web site there is a very practical role that parents can now play with their child.
Technology in education has moved on since the days of chalk and blackboards, 64mm lantern slides, Banda prints – are you old enough to remember the smell of the spirit used ! Technological developments has resulted in dramatic changes in the equipment now used by teachers. Interactive whiteboards which act as a huge computer screen seen by the whole class use CD’s, DVD’s, board games and teaching aids developed by educationalists to meet the demands of the modern teaching environment. They are designed to inform and stimulate children through a range of audio, visual and practical exercises.

One of the key areas of learning is the amount you retain. Studies conducted by the National Learning Laboratories reveal that when listening to a lesson only 5% of the subject is retained. The retention level is improved by using a combination of additional inputs, such audio visual, discussion group etc. But the most significant area of learning retention with a massive 75% occurs with practice-doing. Ironically this is often the most difficult to achieve by the teacher. Class duration, numbers in the class, availability of the resource all conspire to reduce the practice element, yet this is the one area that parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts can easily get involved at home!

Practice at home reinforces the classroom lesson. Allowing a child to run over a lesson using similar teaching aids in school, at their own time and pace produces confidence and competence and huge benefits back in the class. Anyone using the aids will find them to be self explanatory or supplied with teaching notes. Maths games for example come with worked examples, and a time challenge that builds speed. One of the best lessons is on line with a “teacher” talking the pupil through the lesson with animated diagrams. Many parents have enjoyed the lessons so much that it has rekindled their own enthusiasm to continue to learn, and maybe understand algebra for the first time!

If a child doesn’t understand you just rewind and recap. Repetition is a key element of practise and the encouraging atmosphere at home in relaxed environment is ideal to encourage, and watch the speed build up. There is nothing more rewarding in seeing a child develop a new skill, be it riding a bike or mastering science. You get to enjoy a far more productive role in your child’s schooling, get closer to what they are being taught through the National Curriculum and take a dynamic view of progress in place of the annual parents night, when perhaps it’s too late.

www.keen2learn.co.uk was established to allow parents access to the same wealth of teaching aids used in school. Matched to the subject and key stage the product selection is very easy – especially if the teacher has also provided the Keen2learn pupil support form ( which can be downloaded from the site ). The site also provides a bedrock of information for Parents on the National Curriculum, key stages and subject areas.

Over 1000 products from key 25 suppliers can be found on the site which is laid out to give rapid access to the product. The style content and potential of the site allowed it to gain recognition by winning a national competition run by Intel just 8 months the launch in 2006.

Professor Gervase Phinn is a retired school inspector who has become a best-selling author. His forthright views on the current trials and tribulations of the teaching profession appeared in the Yorkshire Post 13 January 2007

TEACHERS returned to school this term to learn that the Government has commissioned a report calling for a major overhaul of the school system with its accompanying raft of proposals and schemes.

“In my 37 years as a teacher, then an education adviser, Ofsted inspector and Visiting Professor of Education, I have witnessed a series of unremitting changes in the education system. Teachers have had to cope with a constant reworking of the school curriculum, with incessant new initiatives, endless guidelines and ceaseless evaluation. They have had to deal with targets and league tables, new procedures, strategies and recommendations, and a frighteningly rigorous, and now refined, inspection system – and still try to maintain their enthusiasm and dedication.

I am not against change. There needs to be some re-evaluation of what goes on in schools, but let us not forget that at the very centre of the process of education is the teacher.

It is the teacher who makes the difference in a child’s education. At a time when fewer young people are entering the teaching profession and more experienced teachers are taking early retirement, high teacher morale and job satisfaction are more important than ever. Reports and guidelines will gather dust, initiatives will come and go but the inspired teacher in our lives will never be forgotten. I was an average scholar, a member of the unremarkable majority, a quiet, biddable ordinary little boy, but I achieved because I had the winning combination of loving, supportive parents and enthusiastic, challenging teachers who built up my self-esteem and confidence and had great expectations of me.

My father, a steelworker at the great foundry of Steel, Peach and Tozer, in the Don Valley, never swore or shouted or smacked me. He greatly valued education and took me to castles and abbeys, museums and libraries, long walks on the beach at Filey and visits to Clifton Park on Sunday afternoons. He was a great storyteller who encouraged me to ask questions and give my opinions. My mother, an avid reader, read with me every night. I was taught not to drop litter, not to answer back, to stand up on the bus for elderly people, to do my homework and finish household chores before I went out to play. My parents were the very best models for a growing child and they endeavoured to instil in me politeness and kindness, unselfishness and truthfulness, self-control and application.

Unlike some parents, they respected, valued and supported my teachers and if, God forbid, I got into trouble at school, I would be in twice as much trouble at home. It is all very well for the Government to introduce new initiatives in schools and burden teachers with yet more work, but parents have to play their part and accept their responsibilities in their children’s education. They have to take an active interest in what goes on in school, have aspirations for their children, provide them with opportunities, read with them, ensure that they attend school regularly and complete their homework and, above all, they need to support teachers in what they are endeavouring to do.

All Government strategies will ultimately fail without parental commitment and involvement. There was a quotation in the Yorkshire Post some months ago, which is well worth repeating. It was taken from an address, written in 1871, to parents bringing their children for admission into the Brampton New National School:
“You must remember that you have not done all that is required by merely gaining admission for your child into our school. Do not suppose that its education is left entirely to the care of the master or mistress, and that you are to do nothing. Unless you labour together with them for your child’s welfare, disappointment to all parties will be the result.”

“Whoever educates a child,” wrote Samuel Wilberforce more than 100 years ago, “undertakes the most important duty in society.” All of us – parents, teachers and Government Ministers – would do well to remember this.

13 January 2007

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