Parental support is vital for every child’s education. It sets the tone for children’s attitudes towards learning both inside and outside the classroom, and helps children to deal with and bounce back from adversity, among many other benefits.
From beginning to end, your child’s education journey is likely to span an average of 15 years. As parents, you will need to support your child every step of the way from preschool to junior college, before he or she finally enters university where students are expected to assume full control and ownership of their education.
15 years is a long time, and to play the role of supportive parent over this period means having to make adjustments for each different academic stage your child is currently in.
Here’s what you need to know about how you should support your child in 5 key academic stages.
1. Preschool
Nursery 2 to Kindergarten 2
Preschool, the first stage your child enters, is also the one where parents arguably have the most significant role to play. Given your child’s tender age, your support will be crucial in building the foundation that will serve your child well throughout the rest of his or her education journey.
Preschool serves two main purposes — to help children acquire basic academic skills, and to prepare them for primary school.
As parents, you should closely monitor your child’s progress in English literacy and numeracy, and encourage and foster good habits that contribute to the acquisition of these key skills. For example, you can help your child develop a reading habit by reading aloud to them often, or furnishing them with a wealth of age-appropriate books.
Your support during the preschool stage also helps prepare your child for the qualitative changes that will come in making the transition to primary school, such as by helping them learn how to get along with other children and how to behave appropriately in the classroom.
2. Lower Primary
Primary 1 to Primary 3
Compared to preschool, primary school offers a much more structured learning environment, which is something your child will have to get used to. The hours spent in the classroom are longer, and your child will encounter homework and formal assessments for the first time.
This means that he or she will also require a more structured learning environment at home, as daily and weekly timetables, dedicated homework time and goal-setting become new realities.
Parental support is key in helping children make this adjustment well and quickly, so that children can continue to enjoy learning and be motivated learners. At the same time, you will also have to continue to keep a close eye on your child’s mastery of the foundational concepts that are being introduced to him or her for the various subjects in lower primary.
Talk to your child’s teachers or tutors to find out what milestones he or she should be hitting, and work with them to ensure that your child is up to speed.
3. Upper Primary
Primary 4 to Primary 6
Upper primary typically brings two major changes from lower primary. The first is an increased workload and added responsibilities for your child, who will be learning how to juggle their CCA commitments and any other extracurricular classes on top of their regular schoolwork.
Parental support during this stage comes in the form of guiding your child to manage their time wisely, and providing understanding and encouragement when your child is stressed and tired.
The second change is a greater emphasis on examination strategy with the PSLE looming in Primary 6. Knowing the content is half the battle, but the other half is being able to execute under examination conditions.
A large part of academic performance comes down to a child’s mental state, and a supportive home environment can make a crucial difference in motivating children to do their best while being unafraid of failure.
4. Secondary School
Secondary 1 to Secondary 4
Your child’s workload will increase again once he or she enters secondary school, where there is both a much larger amount of content to be absorbed and heavier CCA commitments.
One way secondary school can be thought of is as a slow preparatory march towards the O-Level, a major undertaking on a different level from anything your child has encountered before.
With their focus and energies spread out among a larger number of subjects, children may need more help with shoring up their weaker subjects through tutoring or other alternatives.
Secondly, the growing pains associated with puberty and adolescence mean that the secondary school stage is likely to be a tense period for parent-child relations. While easier said than done, parents should take extra care in managing their relationship with their children during this delicate phase.
5. Junior College
Junior College 1 to Junior College 2
If secondary school is a slow march to the O-Level, then junior college is a mad sprint to the A-Level finish line.
This means that there is a much smaller margin for error compared to secondary school, and falling behind in JC1 could leave too much ground for your child to make up for in JC2.
While your child may be much more independent at this age, you should still check in with them regularly to make sure that they are able to balance their schoolwork with perhaps the most extracurricular commitments your child will see in their education journey.
Part of these extracurricular commitments involves preparing to apply to tertiary institutions and accruing the requisite achievements to spruce up his or her portfolio. Parental support is key here too, not to insist on a particular path for your child, but to discuss and then endorse whatever decision he or she comes to.
The Learning Lab is now at 9 locations. Find a location that suits your needs.
If you have any questions about our range of programmes or class schedules, you may contact us at 6733 8711 or drop us an email at enquiry@thelearninglab.com.sg.
Your Partners for Every Stage of Your Child’s Education Journey
Parental support should be a constant throughout your child’s education journey, but it has to change and evolve for each successive stage your child enters.
At The Learning Lab, we take pride in helping you do just that by offering programmes tailored to the needs of children at all different levels, helmed by teachers who guide students not just in what to learn, but how to learn.
Click here to find out more about how our programmes can offer your child the propulsion to confidently take on every stage of his or her academic journey.
The Learning Lab is now at 9 locations. Find a location that suits your needs.
If you have any questions about our range of programmes or class schedules, you may fill in the form below or contact us at 6733 8711 / enquiry@thelearninglab.com.sg.