Parent Teacher Associations
PTA groups play a beneficial part in the social and financial support of schools but through a significant refocus of their operation from the current fund raising activity they can take a pivotal role in the academic development of children in the school.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) previously known as the DfES seeks to significantly re-engage parents in the schooling process. The “Every Parent matters” programme launched earlier this year by sets out to encourage parents to take a more interactive role in the support of their child’s progress by reinforcing classroom lessons at home. Surveys show that this can lead to a 25% improvement in a child’s performance.
Overcoming the historic parental disconnect from the schooling activity, apart from homework chasing, the scheme sets out to harness a pro active interaction between parent and child using the same modern teaching resources used in school. Analysis by the National Training Laboratories in the USA shows around 75% of learning retention is achieved through practice - notoriously difficult to achieve in class due to constraints on time, class size and equipment.
Teaching resources used in school are now available to parents. They have been designed with fun in mind involving learning through a range of educational games. Practice at home at the pace of the child provides a huge boost to their progression in the subject area. As with all effective learning, enjoyment is essential and the proactive support of parents – especially fathers gives them a greater understanding of the schooling programme.
Parents need to be more aware of the performance of their child in the various subject areas. Although end of term reports and parents night now on far greater relevance, it is worth adopting the process as soon as possible. A pupil support form allowing the teacher to identify the subject area where practice is required, can be downloaded from www.keen2learn.co.uk A guide to the National Curriculum programme is also on the site showing the various subjects and the milestones children will progress through.
Parents don’t need teaching experience to support this programme as the subject areas will have been originally introduced by the teacher. Learning formats, such as a common approach to solving maths games, is achieved through the use of the same learning resource used in class by the teacher.
Alistair Owens Educational games at www.keen2learn.co.uk
