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Helping students become more self sufficient
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WHEN I went to university, it was a few hours down the railway track. If there was a problem I could just go home to my mom. How times have changed! When our children eventually leave for the next stage in their education, it may be a completely different country that they choose to go to. By the very nature of the distances involved our children have to be more resourceful, more confident and as far as possible self sufficient.
So how does this happen? How can we be sure that they can confidently deal with the demands of university life both academically and socially? Well, the first is in school selection. Does your school encourage independence in their students? Are students encouraged to become involved in different activities within the school, whether sporting, academic, charitable or social? Is homework honored but pristine homework corrected by parents or outside tutors discouraged? Does the school have a good balance between academic activities and social opportunities for involvement and interaction? Are there school trips and lessons that encourage active learning or is the school only interested in rote or outmoded forms of teaching that stifles independence and self-motivation?
A school that directly tells you how your child can improve without involving the student in the process misses a golden opportunity to help empower them to be active in becoming independent learners, supporting them to become responsible and reflective. You can underpin this by also not feeding your son or daughter with the quick answers they crave. Throw their questions back at them. Ask them how they would start to tackle the problem or get them to think about how they could research the answer themselves. Spoon-feeding answers rarely helps progression as quickly as encouraging independent problem solving.
Finally though, is the onus placed on your shoulders alone to motivate your child or does the school directly encourage their students to be active participants in class? Does the school provide them with interesting lessons and extra-curricular activities that will be truly memorable that they will look back on with pleasure and pride? Will the activities help develop the skills set needed so students become independent learners, providing them the ability to grow into the educated, mature, confident and sociable young adults we need them to be before they fly the nest for university life a continent away?
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