By Holly McGuinness
With term one of the school year coming to an end, many children have been settling into the school year, while others may have struggled with their transition to a new year level this year.
For many students the school day can feel scary and exciting, leaving parents anxious on how to best support their child and encourage them to attend every day, especially if your child is having difficulties.
UNSW Professor Andrew Martin is an expert in educational psychology and says it’s common for academic adjustment problems to occur in children, but it’s important to understand why.
“Is it will, skill, or both?” he questions.
“If the problem is will, it refers to the motivation and engagement aspects of school life,” Professor Martin said.
“There are positive parts to motivation and engagement, such as self-belief and effort—as well as negative aspects, such as anxiety and procrastination.”
Whereas, he says skill refers to a child’s ability to learn and perform at school.
“It might be that they have difficulty in understanding information and the key concepts required to engage with a subject,” Professor Martin said.
“Or, they may have functional problems with things like literacy, numeracy, and even executive functions such as paying attention and focusing,
“It is important to identify which aspects the child is struggling with as early as possible because one can impact the other. For example, a student can lose motivation in the face of ongoing reading difficulties.”
To further help your child settle in this year, Deakin University early childhood education lecturer, Dr Charlotte Wilders explains the importance of engaging a child’s voice.
“Research focusing on educational transitions has identified that strong relationships between families and teachers are crucial to achieving a successful transition experience,” Dr Wilders said.
She urges parents to assist children who are struggling by supporting them through dialogue with their teachers.
“When you share information about your family culture and your child’s interests you effectively enable the teacher to create a learning space which acts as a bridge between home and school,” she said.
“When parents and teachers access children’s voices to determine their interests, individual experiences can be created that improve motivation and lead to a stronger sense of well-being, giving children a strong sense of belonging to their new environment.”
