Transition to high school- what schools can do to help parents

“I am a principal of P-12 school and in primary they are engaged 
but in secondary it is hard to get them involved”. 

Some schools feel that “parents blame us for the onset of adolescence as their child was not like that in primary school”. So, some schools run What it is like to be an adolescent courses for parents or Understanding your child’s brain development courses. I would just suggest that the school is a great source of good information and it is the school’s responsibility to get this information to parents who are often overwhelmed by all the poor information on the internet. The key according to Hattie (2015), is to teach parents the language of learning so that they can have conversations with their child about their learning and be truly engaged in their learning. 

We also need to ask ourselves as teachers in secondary schools are we really interested in the wellbeing of the students in our history class or just their end results and whether they fit the bell curve. If they don’t achieve it is not my fault or my teaching it is that they were not motivated and taking responsibility for their learning which is their job when they reach secondary not mine.

Parents are not involved in secondary schools. 

"They say to their child that they need to be independent now and look 

after their own assignments” as if a switch is pulled and they 

become adults over the chiristmas holidays. 



Parenting adolescents is just like teaching adolescents. It 

requires a mixture of direct instruction/coaching and facilitation 

and evaluation (Kolb & Klob, 2018) based on the maturation level of 

child and their individual needs.      

I would argue that the fragmented nature of subjects especially in senior secondary and time constraints make it difficult for a teacher to really be concerned about each and every child in the class let alone know their family situation. Parents and teachers face “logistical challenges when it comes to trying to build meaningful relationships” (Hill & Tyson, 2009, p. 759) when a child reaches secondary school.

The move to secondary can be difficult for parents as it involves a lot more teachers than primary; it involves more difficult work that parents feel less capable in helping with and it involves more assignments.

“The possibilities for involvement reduce between primary and secondary school, with parents feeling less in touch with their children’s learning as they grow older” (Peters et al., 2007, in Goodall, 2013, p. 10)

Teachers matter and according to Hattie and should have an effect size of greater than 0.4. Effect sizes are a way of showing the significance of an intervention by comparing the difference in outcomes between a test group who have experienced the intervention and a control group which has not experienced the intervention. Hattie would argue that there are many interventions and programs in education but unless it has an effect size of 0.4 or greater it is not worth spending the educational budget on.  

What happens in the home has the potential to accelerate or have a negative impact on students.

Although teachers are important and what they do in the classroom is important, I would argue that  teachers will come and go especially in secondary but parents will be the constant in their lives.

For success Brofenbrenner, says that each child needs one adult that is crazy for them and I argue that the parents are key. As seen in the diagram above, students experience one teacher each year of primary and at least eight or sometimes many more in secondary. The constant in the child's life long learning journey is are the parents at least till the end of year twelve.

Here are some suggestions for your communications with parents.

Overall message is that the aim is for students to be confident that they have got this secondary school worked out. They know the different aspects of the school and where and who to go to for help. It is exciting and they are ok with the number of teachers they will have.

Message to parents

The move to secondary can be difficult as it involves a lot more teachers than primary; it involves more difficult work that parents feel less capable in helping with and it involves more assignments. But please be aware it is important that you remain engaged with your child’s learning. It is a very important time for their growth into adults and it is important that the school and the home work together to help them with the challenges of adolescence. Teachers will come and go especially in secondary but as parents you will be the constant in their lives.

• The key ways to do that are to communicate with your child about school interest in homework and school work, 
• have high expectations for them and communicate these and the value and enjoyment of learning to your child
• discuss school progress and foster aspirations for lifelong learning and make preparations and plans for the future
• have dinnertime discussions that link school work to current events and other topics 
• For assignments/homework it is not about supervision or surveillance but helping them break down what the assignment is about; plan for its completion by the due date around other commitments; get them to take charge of their learning and know when to ask for and where to go for help; and discuss learning strategies with them. Ask the following questions of them

• Your parenting and expectations are so important at this stage for your child’s success. A supportive parenting style works best - it won’t always be easy but maintain a relationship with them that communicates a balance between boundaries and love so you need to take the teachable moments that come along and be ready to have those conversations with them. Listen listen listen.

1.Decide what is important for your family - what sort of qualities would you like them to have as adults and model and teach them these qualities. 

2. Adolescence can be a time of turbulent social and emotional growth. Mistakes will be made by everyone teachers, parents and students so it is important to learn from those mistakes and develop the ability to say sorry. It is important to model and teach them appropriate behaviour and expression of emotions. 

3. support them to build and maintain positive relationships with peers and teachers. This requires learning the skills to do this. 

4. learn what you can about development through adolescence and about pathways through school and the language of learning

If you are running an orientation day or evening you may want to have a sheet available for them with some points on it that convey the messages below.

• The names of people they can contact and their role.
• know that the school welcome's their input into their child’s education-we need to collaborate with you and your child
• how important their role is particularly at this time of transition

Parents know their child better than any of the teachers will ever be able to in the short time they have them.So it is important to let the school know

1. if the child is experiencing problems with homework or work load
2. anxiety about school 
3. relevant information about your child/family that would assist teachers at the school
4. let us know what we can help you with
5. It is important that the home and school are on the same page both holding high aspirations and expectations for the child. 

It maybe too much for one meeting but it is the main messages according to research that schools need to get across to parents over the course of next year. Just keep repeating aspects of it and know that engaged parents are just as effective as teachers in the classroom and a free and under utilised resource.