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PARENTS as Education Partners

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rose markerPARENTS AS PARTNERS
"PARENT" is used here to mean the parent, grandparent, guardian or responsible person in the child or young person's life.

We cannot emphasise enough how important parents are to us in our work.
This is why we make sure you can contact us by phone any weekday until at least 7pm in the evening (UK). Your emails are answered the same day or if received later on, the following day.
We also provide our amazing personal Report. This shows you all on one page exactly what your child is doing. It is not written up each term, or each week or even each day. What happens is whenever work is set, or sent in, or marked, the Report shows you that has happened. You can also look at the work itself and read teachers' help and advice.
It is crucially important that you check the Report at least once a week. Ideally more. This is because your child needs you urgently through these few short years to help. This is the period which shapes their future success in life. You are the most important person for them at this time.
We do a great deal to help you do your part well.
To start with we recognise and respect just how important you are.

image of parent + teacher + child Essentially NO student succeeds without a good parent supporting them.

The child or young person is too young to cope with time + work management – getting work done on time.
They desperately need the immense power of a parent's smile – your approval.
They rely heavily on your understanding of their habits, strong and weak both.

We can do our job brilliantly but we do not know your child as you do. You have been there from the start. Quite simply, we need your help.

rose marker Parents are the primary educators of their children. This is far too often overlooked or even not known. But it is parents who carry the years of continuity from birth through to adult independence. Teachers, although they carry great influence and considerable authority for a while, are temporary, sometimes very temporary.

It is therefore imperative that parents are recognised as educator partners, and welcomed into the school community as fully as they wish it.
rose marker The power of the parent as central educator was resoundingly demonstrated in a fascinating study by Professor Charles Desforges: "The Impact of Parental Involvement, Parental Support and Family Education on Pupil Achievement and Adjustment." DfES 2003, available at www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RB433.pdf Desforges examined a wide range of school age influences on children, including the main different educational methods, family background, family money etc. What he found was that the single greatest influence on success in education and later on - is PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT.
The huge importance of parents as educators is also demonstrated by the fast growing home education movement, which generally achieves better results than ordinary schools.
rose marker There are three types of parent in terms of their wishes for involvement
(various studies by Dr. Catherine Hakim, LSE).
Some live mainly with and through their child/ren: the children come first before all. Others adore their children, but other things in life are almost equally as important. These parents go to great lengths to balance their different commitments. The third group have a strong commitment to something big in their lives, and their child/ren must fit round it. High achieving parents often belong to this group and they are 'organiser parents,' making sure that others provide good care for their children.
None of these three groups are the "best" parents. They all do their best, but in different ways. The main difference is in how much time each type of parent has to give their children directly. But as long as a parent who doesn't have very much time with their children understands how crucially important that time is, they will use it well, and all will be well.
rose marker Parents possess an amazing, almost magical power to lift their children into success, or otherwise.
Even among full time DIY home educators though, this does not mean parents have to get a blackboard and give lessons every day. What parents are needed for, what cannot be done by anyone except a parent or closely trusted person, is to give encouragement. Desforges found that especially around the transition into the teens, encouragement by parents has a deep, long lasting effect in later life.
What does this mean? It has to mean giving time to the young person, and taking an interest in what they are doing. Struggling alone almost every day to get homework done, or trying to understand a tricky book or instruction manual, is lonely, and anyone can get discouraged with that. But paying attention, giving encouragement, is surprisingly straightforward. It doesn't mean understanding what the student is doing! It doesn't mean asking clever questions! It doesn't mean explaining the work! That isn't the magical bit.

The really fascinating, wondrous PARENT process is in giving compliments: e.g. "That looks interesting." "That looks like good work you're doing."
"Good heavens! Have you done all that? How clever!"
From a parent these comments dive into the brain like lasers, leaving a mark that will strengthen and inspire over the years.
Similarly saying anything negative like "Haven't you finished YET?" or "Hmm that looks a bit messy" - even said lightly, with humour or affection, these too lie in the brain for many years. Parent power must be used carefully just because it is so very powerful.

At home, asking questions must never test or interrogate, unless the student asks for help with self-testing. The parent should never worry about not knowing the answers. Stick to the compliments! Of course if you do know the subject you'll be able to share the knowledge that you have. (Aim for asking helpful questions that point your child at the item you want to share.)
But don't let sharing knowledge hold you back from your all-important role of ADMIRATION.

rose marker The other, less pleasant side of parent involvement is politely known as pushing,
All hail the pushy, pushing parent! Put more clearly this is nagging. Reminding. Checking due dates.
As already noted your child is too young to cope with getting work in on time. The brain rarely develops this skill until the later teens or even 20s. If you have a rare one who does work without 'pushing' be deeply thankful for your home miracle! If not never feel s/he has let you down by needing your help. You have a normal child. This is your job.
The child or young person needs to have an agreed time every weekday to do their work. Without a set time homework keeps floating off into "later." Perhaps the same time each day is not always possible, but consistency does help.
The list of days and times for work to be completed needs to be prominently displayed around the home so all the family know, and can check them easily so as to 'push' the student about it.
With our personal Report system it is possible for a parent to quickly check if work has been done - even from 1000s of miles away!
With an easily distracted or very resistant young person, the computer they use needs to be 'overlooked.' That means placed somewhere easy for others to see it, not shut away privately. Otherwise it is far too easy to drift into gaming or social life online.
Where necessary it may take strict discipline to get results. This is unpleasant on both sides, but it is tough love: likely to be one of the most valuable tasks of love a parent can do. It is not an easy period for any parent, so we will work with you closely through such difficulties.
Given loving, firm guidance almost all young people can and do learn to work successfully. But without the all-important help from the parent, or whoever is doing the parent job, a child or young person has a miserable future ahead.

rose marker First College recognises parents as our educational partners, but also that parents have different needs for involvement in different styles.
As teachers we will try to work with your individual family, as the third and essential corner of the education triangle: made up of student, family, and teachers.
image of parent + teacher + child
The site is being newly designed (May 2011).
This side menu will soon have links to lots of updated pages with details on each subject we teach.

rose marker LIST OF SUBJECTS
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First College UK is a family business. It was created to educate our son, who gained his exams, then went on to become a teacher in the school. As well as the family there are four other teachers making a team of seven in all. See ABOUT OUR TEACHERS.