Parents are under siege. In a stretched financial environment they have to work harder and longer to pay the regular household bills, if their children are of school age, their worries increase. Some parents find that the demands of work make it impossible for them to keep up with their child’s academic progress. As a result of these pressures, some schools use technology as a form of communication.
Knowledge is always powerful
If you as a parent don’t have time to digest the education pages of your daily newspaper or you don’t feel that you fully understand your child’s curriculum needs, then you should ask the school if they are using an online interface to help you appreciate what your child is doing at school. Contemporary options, including the website www.parentmail.co.uk, will give you the tools to monitor your child’s homework progress, pay for outings and meals and complete forms, permissions and surveys all from your computer, tablet or mobile phone. After all, most people use electronic communication in their social and work lives, why not take advantage of technology to learn more about your child’s school activities?
It’s vital to keep in touch
Parent/teacher face-to-face interaction is always important. The BBC website cites the importance for your child’s success, if you become more engaged with your child’s schooling. ‘Research shows that good links between you and your child’s school improve their enjoyment and chances of doing well,’ it says. If a child feels that their parents don’t care, then they might stop caring about their own progress. Texts between schools and parents are common these days; you’ll always be informed about school outings, or if a teacher is concerned about your child’s lack of progress in the classroom.
Education can be confusing
With a constant barrage of information in the daily media, concerning the national curriculum, Ofsted league tables and the relationship between employment and education, it’s really difficult for a parent to understand what’s going on in a school. Most schools have a website, and you should be able to see from exam results how academically successful a school is. Exams though aren’t everything, and a good school that encourages its pupils’ happiness as well as academic prowess should be able to demonstrate these assets online. A vision statement look great, but does the school actually live up to its online aspirations? For example, how long does it take a parent receive an answer to a question via email or text?
Technology in school
Some schools appreciate the difficulties faced by many parents and post a weekly homework schedule online so that parents can ensure their children are doing all the necessary work. A recent article in Education Business highlights the fact that schools need to use technology more extensively in order to empower parents of disadvantaged children. All of this increased communication does place extra onus on the underpaid and overworked teacher. But an engaged parent is more likely to help a teacher than the reverse. Texts, emails, online platforms and school websites are superb, but there still remains a responsibility on parents to maintain a presence in and around schools when appropriate – and this probably won’t ever completely be erased.