Kids that have their own homework area, who own books and visit and talk about museums and films with their parents, will find themselves at the head of the class.

teen boy classResearch into who has more influence over children’s learning; mums and dads or teachers, has found that mums and dads come out on top.

The Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY) report, commissioned by the Family-School and Community Partnership Bureau, found that taking an active interest and showing a love for learning is far more important than how much calculus a parent understands.

So parents should not be worried if they only achieved a modest level of education themselves.

The key for teachers is being able to engage parents and talk with them about the best ways to encourage and motivate learning.

“The report underlines the strong impact parents can have to assist their children achieve at school, particularly when they work in partnership with the school,” said Dr Lawrence Eckerton, ARACY executive.  “For a school, there is massive potential in enhancing learning outcomes by nurturing effective parental engagement.”

Parental engagement may well be the missing jigsaw piece in education reform.

Dr Eckerton believes, “When we look at what has worked in other countries and the evidence in this report, we need to look at ways to advance partnership development in schools and empower parents equipping them with tools to best help their children.  In that way, we will all benefit from a stronger educational program in Australia.”

At Red Tick Education, we’ve created a tool that we believe empowers parents to help their children with their study routines at home. Once their children reach high school, I think many parents are apprehensive about how best to help their kids because much of the content is new or foreign to them.  The tools that we provide bring everyone to the same page – their own individualized planner.

Red Tick Education planning tools help the school to communicate expectations and provide an opportunity for parents to become actively involved at home without the tension that normally accompanies discussions about study and homework. Once a planner is completed for the term, there is no hassle if the Internet drops out or the phone batteries go flat! The planner needs no batteries and there is something to be said for physically writing down one’s goals and plans.