Helping young people learn - What you can do in secondary school
Parents’ engagement with young people’s learning and education is important in the secondary school years. It is related to their academic success, career aspirations and their wellbeing; however, research tells us that parents’ connection to the school and learning can drop off as they become teenagers.
The following tips and ideas are for families to help their young person’s learning throughout secondary school.
The following advice is also available as a download for printing (PDF 214KB).
Why it matters
“Family involvement in education – defined as parenting, home-school relationships, and responsibility for learning outcomes – is just as important for older youth as it is for younger children.” (Harvard Family Research Project, 2007)
The benefits of parents staying involved in their child’s secondary school education include:
- improved academic achievement
- higher completion rates
- young people with stronger aspirations for post-school learning and employment
- positive student attitudes and behaviour within school
- increased self-esteem and productive social relationships amongst adolescents
- fewer mental health issues
- improved attendance rates.
Why it’s challenging
There are many reasons why parents might be less involved in the secondary school years:
- Teenagers naturally become more autonomous, play a more active role in their education and begin to question their parents’ authority. For parents this means that the way they used to support their child’s learning may start to become more difficult.
- Secondary schools are set up differently from primary schools, with different structures and processes in place to communicate student progress. As a child grows older, parents may feel less confident about being involved in their child’s learning, particularly as the content of school work becomes more complex or they take on specific interests.
- In secondary school, the style of communication changes and parents may feel that there are fewer invitations to participate, both from students themselves, and from schools.
What matters most
Research shows that children’s development in secondary school is strongly influenced by the value families place on school, their expectations and aspirations for their young person’s future.
When parents and caregivers create an environment at home that encourages and supports learning, it influences how children learn, more than direct parental involvement with the subjects they are studying.
- Be sensitive to how teenagers want to be more independent, while giving them structure and support.
- Value education and show that you do.
- Discuss aspirations and expectations for your child’s education and future achievement.
- Aim to provide a stimulating and supportive home learning environment.
- Have conversations and participate, with them, in activities relevant to learning and the wider world.
- Keep connections and communication open with teachers and support staff in secondary school.
- Balance support for school expectations such as homework with the need adolescents have for independence and other parts of life such as sport or work .
