Education never fails to escape a torrent of daily political comment and operational concern heightened as exam results emerge. As the balance of the UK catches up with Scotland and returns to school three news items that emerged over the holiday period spring to mind.
In France, the most popular summer read is “Le Cahier de Vacances pour Adultes” - holiday revision guide for parents. 3.5m of these popular holiday revision guides are sold each year aimed at providing parents with a knowledge boost in readiness to support their children’s return to school, and the inevitable plea for help with homework, Their success is a combination of a genuine desire to provide more effective support to their children, and a macho challenge to ensure parents stay one step ahead of the child.
The guides are also said to be a great leveler; parents experience the complexities of the curriculum first hand, and children appreciate that parents, taking a practical interest in the school programme will be more supportive to them next term.
The guides are meant to be enjoyable, but the French unlike the English, do not just read for fun, gain reassurance from the guide’s serious and factual content. Although the British culture allows a greater sense of fun to prevail, the benefits of parent and child cementing an operational bond throughout the schooling process has a common cross-channel objective.
Many of the modern teaching resources in the UK are educational games allowing parents to take an enjoyable and highly practical role to reinforce classroom lessons with their children back at home. A far cry from the conventional one dimensional text and exercise book based homework. Seventy five percent of learning retention is achieved through practice – arguably more practical to be completed at home than in the crowded classroom.
A second news item considered the quality of schooling in the private sector, long been recognized as superior to state schools. With an average annual fee of 10,000 pounds, representing between 25% - 36% of professional incomes this has risen assiduously by 41% in the last five years. Although only 7% of children in England attend private school they attain a disproportionately high level of results in exams. The key to the success may be influenced by the average teacher to pupil ratio of 1:9.7 in the private sector, which increases to 1:30 in the state sector, representing a logarithmic increase in the teaching complexities of the larger group.

There is an opportunity for parents to offset the teacher: pupil ratio through practice at home. Parents working through a structured, enjoyable and surprisingly low cost series of say maths games dramatically improve the effectiveness of the teaching programme without the expense or limited access to private schools. The 1:1 relationship at home, critically at the pace of the child can lead to a significant improvement in performance back in school. The increased interaction between parent, child and school leads to improved awareness of the curriculum - perhaps this is what education is all about.

The third story revealed the success of Camborne Science and Community College, an 11-18 mixed comprehensive school in Cornwall. Parental involvement in the design and technology programme through a combination of home and school activities resulted in an 11% improvement in GCSE performance. Cambourne College operates in an area suffering from considerable deprivation with high unemployment and low aspiration. 21% of students are eligible for free school meals, and 15 % have special educational needs.

Modern educational games tracking the national curriculum allow parents to take on a hugely supportive role in the schooling of their children. The resultant interaction and mentoring support can take the state schooling process to new level.

Author's Bio: 

Passionate exponent of the benefits of parents' interactive role in supporting the schooling process