Slack news reveals startling opportunites.
The weekend press reflected the cyclical dearth of news as the Northern hemisphere lunged into holiday mode. Journalists dredging the news agencies reported on three educational stories involving parents that could otherwise have easily slipped into obscurity.
Education, as a prime activity, escapes from its daily torrent of political comment and operational concern, yet three story lines pervaded the emptied corridors displaying a tangible link.
In France the most popular summer read is “Le Cahier de Vacances pour Adultes” Holiday revision guide for parents. Aimed at providing parents with a knowledge boost in readiness to support their children’s return to school, and the inevitable plea for help with homework, 3.5m of these popular holiday revision guides are sold each year. Their success is a combination of a genuine desire to provide more effective support to their children, and a macho challenge to ensure parents stay one step ahead of the child.
The guides are also said to be a great leveller; parents experience the complexities of the curriculum first hand, and children appreciate that parents taking a practical interest in the school programme will be more supportive to them next term.
The guides are meant to be enjoyable, but the French, unlike the English, do not just read for fun gain reassurance from the guide’s serious and factual content. Our culture allows a greater sense of fun to subsist, but equally the beneficial outcome of parents and child cementing an operational bond throughout the schooling process has a distinct and lasting payback.
The majority of modern teaching resources have been developed in educational games format. This presents the ideal opportunity for parents to take an enjoyable and highly practical role in reinforcing classroom lessons at home - far an away from the conventional one dimensional text and exercise book based homework. Seventy five percent of learning retention is achieved from through the practice function – more practical to be completed at home.
And this links to the second news story. The quality of schooling in the private sector has long been recognised as superior to state schools. The average annual fee of £10,000 represents between 25% - 36% of professional incomes has risen assiduously by 41% in the last five years. Although only 7% of children in England attend private school they attain a disproportionately high level of results in exams. The key to the success lies in the detail, private schools have an average teacher to pupil ratio of 1:9.7 whereas in state schools this increases to 1:30. This presents a logarithmic increase in the teaching complexities of the larger group results in a hugely depleted comparable output in teaching. But the link to the first news story could herald salvation.
The involvement of parents in the “practice at home” activity dramatically improves the effective teaching ratio to give their children a better change without the expense or limited access to private schools. The 1:1 relationship at home, critically at the pace of the child leads to a significant improvement in performance back in school. This functional interaction between parent, child and school also leads to a widening of knowledge and perhaps this is what education is all about.
The third story reveals the success achieved at the Camborne Science and Community College an 11-18 mixed comprehensive school in Cornwall. Having introduced practical parental involvement in the design and technology programme through a combination of home and school activities resulted in an 11% improvement in GCSE performance. It should be pointed out that Cambourne College operates in an area which suffers from considerable deprivation with high unemployment and low aspirations. 21% of students are eligible for free school meals, 15 % have special educational needs. Getting Parents on board
All parents can now take on a hugely beneficial role in the schooling of their children. Their practical interaction, moral and mentoring support leads to a mutual benefits that can take the state schooling process to new level.
