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I hope you are not a parent who is having a child tutored for the National Assessment Program, Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests. If you are perhaps you should not read any further as I am sure to upset you.
Tutoring and coaching in Australia is a billion dollar business. A lot of money is being spent and for some families in a very wise way. However, unfortunately also a lot of money is being wasted on tutoring that is totally unnecessary or even just plain useless.
Tutoring for NAPLAN tests in my opinion definitely fits into the latter category. There is a certain amount of practice that a child should do for any type of test as it will make them less nervous about the test and help them understand the format and what is expected of them. But no matter how much practise a child does in sitting NAPLAN tests it will not increase their skills in literacy and numeracy. You actually have to teach a child those skills to increase their test results.
Spend your money by all means but on a tutor who is a qualified teacher who can teach literacy and numeracy skills not on someone who will get your child to practise tests. (By the way you can download the tests yourself from the NAPLAN website http://bit.ly/k5am8J)
Which brings me to when should you have a child tutored?
There are times when tutoring is the best solution to a problem a child is having at school, such as when they get a bad teacher, they are struggling to learn to read or work with numbers, they feel they are not keeping up or are not being extended. Always ask at the school first for any help that might be available but if you can afford to get a properly qualified teacher to step in these are the times it would be very effective.
Another good time to spend your hard earned family money on tutoring is in the senior years. Children are usually much more receptive to tutoring at this stage of their schooling as they are doing subjects they want to do and are trying to maximise their school leaving results.
In NSW a lot of money is spent on tutoring for the selective schools tests. In other states this is a burgeoning industry. I have quite a bit to say about this in my book, including the pros and cons of selective schooling. But suffice to say the coaching colleges offering selective school preparation are often selective themselves in who they will take into such programs. I believe many children who are subjected to months (some for years) of after school study for selective school tests would have been selected anyway.
If you are considering having your child tutored probably the biggest consideration is to put it into perspective. If your concern is for their future, there are other things in a child’s life that are important to help them grow and develop into happy adults.
I have seen the whole spectrum of what can happen from children who had been tutored for years dropping out of their selective school long before they made it to Year 12 to a child who grew up to get a university medal after getting outside school help to learn to read in Year 3.
The only thing I would say is absolutely vital is to make sure you use an Australian Tutoring Association (ATA) accredited tutor. Visit the ATA website http://bit.ly/lb5aIV to find those nearest you.
And just a small PS, if you have any spare likes please visit the Facebook page for my book http://on.fb.me/iDX6SF
You can read more from Maralyn at her Daily Telegraph column http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/maralynparker/
In my experience most problems parents have with their child’s school are due to a misunderstanding or miscommunication. Usually it can be cleared up with just one note or a conversation with the teacher. I know teachers can be very embarrassed and upset to discover something is wrong and will quickly move to fix it.
However there might be a time when you have a problem that is not sorted out so easily and how you approach the school about it can be vital in whether you get it solved to your satisfaction or not.
Usually I get to hear about a problem only after a parent has stormed up to the school and had an angry encounter with a teacher, or even the principal, that was very unsatisfactory. I often have cause to wish they had come to me first because, unless it is an emergency where a child’s safety is at risk, my advice is to do some thinking and planning before you approach a school about a problem.
One of the easiest ways for a school to avoid facing a problem is to make the parent, and in particular the parent’s behaviour, the problem instead. If you are angry and rude or abusive in any way I can guarantee that will become the problem and whatever you wanted attended to will easily be forgotten.
So take some time to think about exactly what the problem is. Talk to family or friends about it so it is clear in your own mind. Even write it down and take the note with you so you can communicate it more easily. Don’t be embarrassed about reading something out. Any teacher or principal you read it to will immediately understand it is an important issue for you. Take a friend for support if you feel anxious or frightened.
Of course never insult or say something defamatory about a teacher even if the teacher has done something you consider to be very wrong. Teachers in Australia have successfully sued parents for defamation. Try to put the problem as something that you are asking the school to help solve for you. Also try to put it as an “I “ statement. Such as, “I was very upset to hear what happened between you and my son last week.”
If you have a solution in mind you need to suggest it. In the nicest possible way of course. The bottom line is, if you are polite and calm the teacher or principal will respond to you politely and calmly and hopefully you will agree on what should be done to fix the problem.
There are formal procedures to make a complaint if you can’t solve it at school level. Every Australian school must have one. I have outlined these in my book but you should be able to find them on school authority or individual school websites.
Visit me on the Facebook page for my book http://on.fb.me/iDX6SF and tell me what you think of it.
You can read more from Maralyn at her Daily Telegraph column http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/maralynparker/
Teachers hate me using the term bad teacher. The politically correct word is ineffective. The idea being there is a possibility for an ineffective teacher to become effective given the right support or further professional development.
The trouble with that is while the possibility might well be there for a teacher to improve, they are doing a lot of damage to many children until they do. Of course many never improve. And because it can be very difficult to sack teachers they can go on doing damage year after year. Next year it could be your child.
No matter how you look at it that is bad. So sorry to any teacher who might be offended but parents need to know the effect of getting a bad teacher.
The same research I mentioned in the previous blog that shows the effects of good teaching also shows the effects of bad teaching and it is the exact opposite. A child can fall behind if they have a year with a bad teacher. Instead of advancing the usual twelve months in standards they might only advance six months. A child may never catch up on that six months. And just as the effect of good teaching is cumulative so is the effect of bad teaching. A child who gets a second or even third bad teacher (I give a list of things bad teachers do in my book) can fall so far behind they can leave school with a much lower result than they would have normally achieved.
So my advice to parents who have a child in a bad teacher’s class is do something. It might be impossible but at least try to get your child out of that class. This is the best solution but there are other things you can do.
Do anything you can to help the child at home with the work they are doing in class. If you can afford it now is the time to have your child tutored so they don’t fall behind. Also you might summon up some courage to tell the principal about your fears. Take other parents with you if you can. Bad teachers are usually bad for all children all of the time, so there are sure to be other unhappy parents around. (Check out the next blog about how to make a complaint at school.)
There are many things principals can do to ameliorate the damage a bad teacher can do, including having some sort of whole grade program. For example the whole grade could be split up for reading groups where the children in the bad teacher’s class get other teachers for part of the day. Also a supervisor might regularly help teach the class or various support staff can be appointed to the class.
Of course a bad teacher can indeed be put on an improvement program to make them more effective. By some small miracle they might even improve in time to not do any lasting damage to your child.
Visit me on the Facebook page for my book http://on.fb.me/iDX6SF and tell me what you think of it.
You can read more from Maralyn at her Daily Telegraph column http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/maralynparker/
There is no gentle way to tell you this. Everything you have ever thought about how important it is for a child to get a good teacher is true. In the education world we have known for a long time that quality teaching can make a difference, but now we know how much difference that can be.
Give a child a high quality teacher for a year and they can progress eighteen months in their achievements, far beyond the expected twelve months.
Research in Tennessee schools in 1996 and by Durham University from 1999 to 2005, following thousands of children through several years of schooling, found that the effects of one year with a good teacher could still be measured six years down the line.
If your child gets a second or even a third high quality teacher they will finish with a much higher school leaving result than they would have normally achieved. It can significantly change the direction of their lives.
I always feel bad about telling parents all of this because while you can choose a school you don’t get to choose a teacher. Knowing about the effects of good teaching can just add to the anxiety parents have today about their child’s schooling.
But I can do some reassuring. From my experience in teaching in both public and private schools in Australia, Africa and England and since then writing on education for The Daily Telegraph I know you can come across a brilliant teacher in any school. (In my book I list about ten things good teachers do that parents will recognise.) Often where there is one great teacher, others will be influenced. So other teachers at your school might be on a quest to improve the quality of their teaching too.
Helping such attempts along, every school authority in every sector across our nation is now investing in programs to increase the quality of their teachers. The Australian Government is leading the way with around $20 million dollars invested in quality teaching programs across the nation to 2013.
Now that has to increase the odds your child will get a run of high quality teachers. So stress no more. Well, until you read my next blog on what to do about a bad teacher.
Visit me on the Facebook page for my book http://on.fb.me/iDX6SF and tell me what you think of it.
You can read more from Maralyn at her Daily Telegraph column http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/maralynparker/
Your parents probably had no problems deciding where you went to school. Any anxiety they felt would have been more likely about getting your school shoe size right (it had to be at least half a size too big) than anything else. Certainly whether you fitted a school or a school fitted you was not top of the list.
Today getting the child/school match right has almost become a science. School choice anxiety is so widespread even parents who know exactly where they are going to enrol their child will worry. Some are so overwhelmed by having to choose a school they actually pay someone else to do it for them. Good luck to the consultants who charge hundreds of dollars to match a school to a child and to the parents who can afford to pay them.
For the rest of us choosing a school involves a lot of talking and thinking and unfortunately also endlessly listening to (and worrying about) gossip around teachers, schools, school heads and principals. Be warned the best gossip usually comes from those least involved in the school they are gossiping about.
The good news for any Australian parent suffering school choice anxiety is you now have the My School website http://www.myschool.edu.au created by the Australian Government that gives you information about schools, including the school’s performance in national literacy and numeracy (NAPLAN) tests, school finances and student background, that has not been given the rose coloured glasses treatment by the school.
Just about all of the information the site offers is useful to parents. While I do have several criticisms, you can check them out in my book, I know if you visit the website you will learn something new about your school.
Of course you can also worry about what the site does not tell you. After I had written my first chapter on how to use the site (I explain each item and how useful it might be to you) I started a second chapter on what the site does not tell you, and eight chapters later I had a book.
My biggest tip however on how to deal with school choice anxiety is to start by crunching some fairly basic data from My School. I promise you the website will help you draw up that short list of schools for you to visit.
Visit me on the Facebook page for my book http://on.fb.me/iDX6SF and tell me what you think of it.
You can read more from Maralyn at her Daily Telegraph column http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/maralynparker/
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