| Azaraimy HH |
SCHOOLS undoubtedly play very important roles in guiding students to achieve academic excellence, however studies indicate that parents hold the main card in helping their children realise this outcome, Minister of Education Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Suyoi bin Haji Osman noted.
The minister, who was speaking at the ‘Parents’ Care for Education’ Convention held at the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Berakas yesterday, added however that even though there had been many success stories where students achieved academic excellence with strong support and guidance from their parents, there are also cases where students have failed in their studies due to lack of parental support, guidance and involvement during their schooling years.
Further emphasising the importance of strong parental involvement in their children’s studies, the minister said, “This is seen as the cause of students’ failures, where they did not have the motivation to study.
“They looked at schooling as a daily routine and were often absent. In this situation, when sitting for their examinations, it is hard for these students to achieve excellent academic results, in fact (many of such students failed in their exams).”
The minister said there were studies confirming the important role parents play in helping their children achieve academic excellence.
“Inspecting their children’s homework, asking how their school day went or how their school activities were, sitting together with their children during homework, (participating in) reading and other academic activities (with them) are all important (in ensuring the children do well in their studies),” said the minister.
“Children will have positive thoughts towards school, feel more prepared to study, and have the confidence to face their teachers and their classmates when their parents (pay close attention to their) studies.”
During his speech, the minister also alluded to studies carried by psychologists Betty Hard and Todd Risley where they indicated that professional parents talked a lot more to their children compared to parents who were not professional (not working), causing word gaps in the children reaching 30 million words or more by age three.
The minister pointed to another piece of research at UCLA which indicated two-way interactive conversations between adults and their children was six times more effective in promoting linguistic command compared to cases where only the adult did the talking.
“What is being talked about by the parents is equally influential in aiding child development and learning. Children who are always exposed to numbers or encouraged to participate in calculation exercises at home will be better at mathematics when they begin school,” said the minister.
Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Suyoi pointed out that the Ministry of Education (MoE) has initiatives in place to improve the literacy and numerical skills of children through a special age-based coaching programme called the Literacy and Numeracy Coaching Programme (LNCP).
He stressed however that solely relying on classroom learning will not be adequate, adding that parents should continue teaching their children in this area at home.
The minister also revealed another one of the MoE’s initiatives – programmes conducted at the Brunei Darussalam Teachers’ Academy (BDTA) to improve the skills of teachers to help them achieve Grade 3 and above (Grade 3 is equivalent to a “good” grade under the MoE’s Teacher’s Performance Grade assessment system).
“We know teachers’ teaching abilities play a big role in the students’ education.
“So teachers need to have the right attitude towards students, delivering lessons with full responsibility, commitment and the appropriate pedagogical approach – by implementing differentiated teaching – as well as possess deep knowledge on their subject areas,” said the minister.
“For students who need extra attention, many schools have additional and intervention classes to help them.”
Other than efforts to ensure a conducive learning environment, the MoE has also put in place school leaders – ‘instructional’ guides – who can lead schools in all areas including monitoring children’s education in the classroom.
School leaders are given leadership training through the Brunei Programme for Senior School Leaders (BPSL) so that they can lead their schools to achieve academic excellence and realise high standards of teaching.
Another initiative, the minister noted, to improve the school-home link between schools and parents is the Parents-Teachers Association (PTA). “All these initiatives, either at the primary or secondary level, will not be successful if parents are not playing an active role in the process, or not supporting those initiatives,” stated the minister.
He said that Brunei still has a lot of room for improvement in academic achievement, highlighting the country’s deficiency in subjects like Mathematics.
“The low level of numeracy and literacy skills among students is deterring them from understanding questions that need ‘higher-order thinking skills’ (HOTS) which involve a ‘multi-step approach’ in the solving process, making it difficult for them to answer questions in good order,” said the minister.
“The poor standard of these skills, coupled with the lack of close support from parents, has caused students to become demotivated to learn and do their own self revisions at home.”
The Minister of Education noted further that based on these findings, “it is clear that most of the problems and challenges that are being faced involve families and parents.
“Thus it is important for all parties to chip in and identify their respective roles and priorities, and work together to devise a strategy and take appropriate actions to overcome (this student-parent education gap).”
The minister finished off by sharing findings from studies which have demonstrated the positive impact of parental involvement in their children’s studies.
These include scoring highly in exams; increased inclination towards registering for higher education programmes; inclination towards attending additional classes; lower dropout rates; higher graduation rates; and higher probability of enrolling into tertiary education institutions.
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