How Can Parents Assist Students and Teachers in EFL?
The parent’s role in education is important because the root of the development of every human started in the family. It is important for our society that parents be the primary role models for their children because children can easily be inspired by what their parents do. When parents become involved in their children’s education, the teacher can focus more on the educational content, and teachers, parents, and students can work together to help the students to succeed. From birth to adulthood, education can come from a mixture of different sources of influence, such as family, school, church, neighborhood, and social media.
This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Pamphile Y. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.
Family vs. School
However, the family and school have a vital role, and responsibility, to play in education. Before, it was the parents, the community, and the church who were responsible for raising children. During modern times, the state began to assume the responsibilities and introduced the educational school system.
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Primary Teachers
Firstly, Parents are the first source of education, therefore they are the most important educators. Parents assume the role of educator from birth. Children are a product of their upbringing and they need to have a peaceful atmosphere at home where the parents can teach the concept of a schedule and be provided with learning activities to prepare them for starting school. Parents are the ones who lay the emotional and intellectual foundations for the child to function in society and to develop appropriate attitudes and values. Their role is critical because the future of the child is strongly conditioned by the family situation he or she grows up in.
While a family should positively contribute to the child’s education, they can also have a negative influence on the child. This miseducation can come from different circumstances such as domestic violence, divorce, or absentee parents that may naturally influence the child’s education. Parents need to make their children’s education a priority. The parents need to teach their children not to skip school and take their education seriously. Parents should have full access to the education system for their children, and they should be engaged in the education of their children and know what their children are learning in school.
The parents have the right to access information from educational institutions about their children, parents must communicate to their children's schools all relevant information to achieve their common educational goal and should choose for their children the education that best corresponds to the beliefs and the values which they consider essential in the education of their children.
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Legal Responsibilities
Secondly, the school needs to play its role as well, but it’s still up to the parents to fulfill their legal obligation to ensure the presence and active participation of the child in school. The parents must educate their children on how to function in society, while the state and school must train the children to be good professionals and state citizens. As a result, there is increasing confusion about the respective roles of parents and teachers. They tend to blame each other for not doing what is necessary to educate the children. No one disputes the fact that both have responsibilities, but in changing social, economic, and cultural conditions, the distribution of tasks is changing as well as how everyone perceives these responsibilities. The respective influence of parents and school also varies from one country to another, according to different cultures, traditions, and religions.
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In conclusion, it is clear that the parent’s role in education is important, but there needs to be a clear definition of the important responsibilities that belong to the parents and teachers, respectively. It is especially important to encourage them to become more aware of each other’s respective roles in addition to understanding and following through with their roles in the child’s education. Ultimately, increased dialogue and the formation of a true partnership between parents, teachers, and children is the best way to move forward in education.
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