Imagine that! Two hundred and forty remedial students are assigned to one Secondary School. At my school, there has been a 150% increase in the number of remedial students assigned. It is a very alarming situation. From what I have been hearing from other colleagues, there numbers have also been quite staggering. No doubt, there is urgent need for a multi-pronged attack to address this issue. Let's focus on the parental element for now. I am not convinced that many parents are shouldering their responsibility at home with respect to providing the stimulating learning environment. Of course, there are many parents who have not abdicated their responsibility and we definitely highly commend them. I am sure that they reap the rewards of their labour. The number, however, of parents who fail to consistently provide the support is too high.
What can be done at a national level to instil in delinquent parents a commitment to nurturing a home environment conducive to learning/ reading? Does the National PTA body have a programme for this? I will investigate. As individual reading specialists who know the value of family literacy and who would have read the research which supports it, we can do our part in our schools by keeping in contact with our parents and using segments of our PTA meetings to educate our parents. I applaud the efforts of Barbara Bush, whom some refer to as the First Lady of Literacy who established a Foundation for Literacy. Many NGOs are given grants to establish centres where families can visit and be immersed in a learning environment. What else can we do in our country to encourage our parents to partner with us for the benefit of their children, our future leaders?
You can visit barbarabushfoundation.com for more on her incredible work.
That is alarming! I agree that many parents are not leading the way to literacy in their children. However, we must remember that many of the parents of remedial students, they themselves may not be able to read well if at all. So in fact, the numbers are even more mind blowing if you consider 240 struggling readers added to 240 times 2 parents who are also struggling with literacy issues. Certainly, the state must offer a system that caters for those who can't get help and motivation to read at home. I believe that the recent introduction of new ECCE Centres which focus on building reading readiness is a step in the right direction.
ReplyDelete1.What is the roles and responsibilities of a teacher?
ReplyDelete2. What is the roles and responsibilities of a parent?
3. What are teachers expectations of parents?
4. More so, what are your expectations of your parents? What do you consider as attributes of an effective parent? If these parents do not meet your expectations, what next?
I am always alarmed and concern when educators get involved in the parent and student relationship dissertation as a factor that inhibits a child's achievements (when I speak about achievement I am not only speaking of academic excellence).
Although parental engagement (not involvement) plays a critical role in the life of a child it is not the major issue in the plight of the underachievement phenomenon. As it stands most students are not performing at their maximum potential and I am certain that this is not a parenting issue.
Let us track the children who do well in the SEA exams, at the end of their five years in the secondary school settings they do well because they attend a lot of extra classes courtesy their parents. If it was not for these same parents and the many classes these children attended; they might not of performed exceptional at the CSEC exams. Some of these same students might of barely make a grade three in their selected subjects of study.
The same PIRILS report that you referred to in one of your blogs have attributed the under performance of students to two important factors; these are teacher training in the execution of their instructions and the curricula implemented, delivered and used. The researchers recommended retraining for educators and the re-writing of the curricula to facilitate the needs of our students. This brings me to another key point; how much information learnt in secondary school education can be applied to the real world settings.
The Long and short is that teachers are responsible for teaching as well as adding value to our education system and the lives of their clientele. Many of us are responsible for the underachievement scenarios that most learners are placed into. We need to understand that parents are not responsible for the teaching of the country's school curricula
Dear Nicole,I appreciate your response to my blog.I, however,don't want you to get the wrong impression about my views on this parental issue which I do believe plays a very critical role in the success of a child. Firstly,I absolutely don't expect the parent to teach the curricula.No. An 'effective parent' is one who, as I wrote, would provide a nurturing environment conducive to study.I expect parents to encourage their children, for example, to do their homework, to discuss what was done in school, to limit tv time so that they can read some more,etc.This is the kind of engagement/involvement expected from the parents. The parent does not have to be 'educated'. Have you read or seen the story of Ben Carson, the world's top black neurosurgeon (He has a website.)?His illiterate mother is responsible largely for his success. Read his autobiograph, Gifted Hands or The Big Picture. You asked if the parents don't meet our expectations, then what? As I said in the blog, we must partner with them and provide them with advice and we can dedicate a portion of our time at the PTAs to educate our parents.Your reference to the successful SEA students proves my point; the effectiveness of parental engagement. Those parents DID SOMETHING to assist their children. Family literacy is indeed a big issue in research. Parents and teachers must do their parts to ensure holistic development of our children.
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