We all want our children to get the most out of their school experience, but how can we help them outside of school hours? Rescu. asked Dr Helen Street, applied social psychologist and Director at the National Australian Positive Schools Initiative, to share her expert tips on how to help your child learn, choose the best schools, and make the most of their free time.
RESCU: Children seem to be starting schooling earlier than ever before — can you tell us a little about the pros and cons of this?
Dr Helen Street: The reasons behind this decision are concerned with introducing basic literacy and numeracy skills and exposure to both literacy and numeracy at an earlier age in hope that this will lead to long term better outcomes for education. If a child has no access to literature at home or little chance to learn (eg. if they are babysat by the TV) then there may be some benefit in sending them to school.
However, there are many reasons why this is a bad idea – namely that time spent in formal structured learning is time away from unstructured free time to play and develop creatively – essential for adult life success and mental health.
Ideally young kids would spend most of their time free to actively explore their world and play – ie. in self-directed learning. If this occurs in a world where there is opportunity to listen to books being read and to participate in different activities, then this is learning at it’s best.
RESCU: In addition, there is a trend to pack our children’s lives with extra-curricular activities, tutoring, and enhanced learning activities. What is worrying about this to you?
Dr Helen Street: As above, the time taken to participate in adult led structured activities is time away from unstructured time to develop creatively, socially and emotionally in a self-directed way. Certainly TV and game time is not a good alternative to participation in other activities, but free time in which kids need to lead and create their own learning experience is vital. Health is also vital – if kids sit in a class all day, they need time to run around!
RESCU: Parents obviously have the best intentions when setting these extra-curricular activities for their kids — how can they switch their thinking to make free time a positive?
Dr Helen Street: Understanding that free time is not time out from learning but rather, a vital opportunity for learning in itself helps enormously. It is also important for parents to realise that free time is child led time – not TV or being passively entertained in some other way. We all want our kids to be self-directed, to engage in life and to discover their passions – free time is vital for these aspects of successful living to develop.
RESCU: When our kids are under-performing either at school or showing a slowed uptake of learning how do you suggest parents get them up to speed?
Dr Helen Street: First, find out if there is a specific problem (eg. hearing or visual problem, psychological issue or learning difficulty). If there is, this will need addressing with specialist help.
If there is no specific problem, then embrace your child as an individual who is doing things their way in their time. Help kids to build on their strengths and find and embrace their passions. The fast food approach to education that insists we all become academics and meet the same standards at the same time – is killing individuality, creativity and the chance for many kids to shine in a whole variety of different ways
RESCU: What are your top three tips for helping kids excel in school without creating a stressful environment?
Dr Helen Street: Communication is key – talk to them about how they feel, how they are doing socially, what subjects they enjoy. Support them emotionally and socially and you are supporting a vital foundation for learning.
Second, avoid placing too much pressure on assessments and exams – even in year twelve. There are many roads to life success and not everyone is going to be ready to make career decisions at age seventeen. Life success is more about social and emotional wellbeing along with opportunity than it is about any specific grades.
Be a cheer squad, a support during times of stress, but do not try and ‘make’ your child be something they are not, out of a misplaced fear of their failure.
RESCU: What’s your opinion on having children skip grades when they’re excelling academically at school?
Dr Helen Street: I think it is a terrible idea in most instances unless you really do have a child prodigy – and then I am not sure that school is the best place to be anyway… Kids need to develop peer relations with peers who are at a developmentally similar stage socially and emotionally – being good at maths does not mean your eleven year old is ready to hang out with teenage friends.
If you have an intelligent child have confidence in their ability to create and engage in life at an appropriate level – it is fine for them to be reading a novel when others are still learning, it is fine for their project to be more advanced, their art to be more creative. It is not fine for them to feel socially and emotionally out of place.
RESCU: Do you have any advice for parents of children who are particularly bright and seem to need near-constant stimulation?
Dr Helen Street: Provide lots of opportunities to learn! Let them seek out and engage with different things. We need to stop thinking we have to entertain our kids – rather I see our role as providing opportunity so that they can learn to entertain themselves.
RESCU: What are your top four tips for choosing the right school for our children?
Dr Helen Street: When you enter the reception area look at what is on display – this tends to represent the values of the school. Can you see trophies heralding the victories of a few top achievers or can you see community projects reflecting shared endeavours?
RESCU: Geography makes more difference than we often realise – do not underestimate being part of a local community
Dr Helen Street: Try to find the opportunity to chat to staff and kids at the school – especially to the kids… Do they enjoy school? Do they want to tell you how great it is, or are they reluctant to say anything at all.
Consider the individual needs of your child – whereas one child may excel at a school that favours academic brilliance, another may excel at a school that embraces the arts.
Rescu. Recommends: Better Than OK: Helping Young People to Flourish at School and Beyond. This expert book, edited by Dr Helen Street and Neil Porter, provides useful and easy-to-implement strategies for helping children to flourish. With essays from 27 of the world’s top experts in Positive Education, this accessible guide demystifies the world of effective learning and development for children. RRP: $29.99, available from May 22nd at selected bookstores.