After the recent school closures caused by the coronavirus pandemic, parents are now more actively involved in their child’s education than ever before. Parents have always had a role to play, and this begins long before their schools years, but with remote learning and homeschooling being more prominent, many parents are unsure what role they should or need to play when it comes to their child’s education.

As a British international school in Hong Kong, we have always encouraged parents to play an active role in their youngster’s learning. We believe that this helps them academically as well as helps to increase their self-confidence. Fortunately, we have a range of extracurricular activities that both students and parents can participate in. If you are unsure about what you can do to assist with learning, here is our brief guide.

1. Help them to understand that failing is part of the learning process

Children of all ages feel that they are under pressure to always succeed in school. While we all want our children to achieve their potential, we must allow them to fail on occasions. It is something that will help them throughout their lives and give them an appreciation that failure is a crucial part of the learning process. When they do fail, offer encouragement to try again and never dwell on failures but instead present them as a learning opportunity.

2. Always encourage children to follow their dreams

As parents, we often have aspirations about what we would like our children to be, but we shouldn’t let our dreams eclipse their own. Students should be encouraged to pursue the career that they want and, as such, study the subjects that they want. It is not important if you found the topic “boring” or “hard”, if it is something which they enjoy, you should encourage them wherever possible. Even if their dream may seem a little farfetched, it is up to them to discover this for themselves.

3. Try to make things relevant if they ask for help

Students often ask their parents to help them with their homework, and we appreciate that this can be a challenge. However, where possible, try to make your explanations relevant to real-life events and things that they may have experienced. It will help them to process the information in a way that means more to them, and they are, therefore, more likely to understand. It can be challenging for parents if students are asking about more advanced subjects such as A-levels.

4. Motivate children with “consequence rather than punishment”

Offering rewards for doing something is far more beneficial than punishing them for something that they haven’t done. For instance, you could say that when they finish their homework, they can play on the iPad, or gain good grades in a test or exam, you will take them somewhere that they want to go. If this is accompanied by positive reinforcement, it will have many benefits.

5. Work on depth of processing

Often students take down notes in a hurry and they may have meant something at the time of writing but will do little to help them to remember things long-term. Work with your child to rearrange their notes in a way that will make it easier for them to process and understand in the future. The practice, known as depth of processing, has been proven to help when it comes to the retention of information.
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September 21, 2020