Chrissie McMahon from Virtual School Victoria shares her tips for teachers as they support learning from home
As students moved to remote and flexible learning at the start of Term 2, many parents took an active role in monitoring and supporting their child's education. For students at Virtual School Victoria (VSV), this has been an ongoing feature of their learning – a strong culture of parent engagement and partnership.
Chrissie McMahon, a Parent Engagement Expert and Leading Teacher at VSV, believes that teaching is a 'team effort' between parents and teachers, and that their teamwork can help students achieve their best.
'It's about establishing a really authentic partnership, at VSV we call it the team around the learner,' Chrissie says.
Teachers and parents offer different perspectives on the student's learning, which they can then use as a team to support the student.
'Parents will let teachers know about difficulties with learning, not the child. Parents also have a lot of knowledge about what their kids can or can't do.'
'By building a positive relationship with parents, both parents and teachers can use their expertise as a team to facilitate the student's education.'
Steps for establishing such partnerships with parents
For Chrissie, there are three steps that teachers can take to establish a partnership with parents.
Open the lines of communication, but keep expectations (of both parents and teachers) reasonable
'Supporting student learning at home becomes an easier process when teachers and parents have very open lines of communication,' Chrissie says.
'By managing expectations, parents understand that you are not reluctant to get back to them but there are practical limitations and time pressures.'
Focus on key learning outcomes
In recent times, circumstances have meant disruption for many students. Chrissie suggests that parents and teachers work together to get back to the core curriculum and key learning outcomes.
Proactively engage with parents
Students learn and approach tasks differently.
Chrissie suggests teachers should proactively reach out to parents to ensure that students are supported in their learning at home, by saying to parents 'here's what I need from this student to ensure success in the subject' and asking 'how do you think we can achieve this?'
'Listen to the parent to gauge their capacity to support the student and develop an approach that best suits the family.'
How parents can support learning at home
Teachers can encourage parents to become more engaged with their child's learning, even as students return to the classroom. For Chrissie, parents can take on the role of a 'coach' by encouraging their child with tasks set by teachers.
Parents can take steps such as:
- encouraging their child using growth mindset language
- observe their child's learning to determine their strengths and weaknesses – do they prefer visual learning? Do they need printed materials, or do online resources work better?
- allowing their child to direct their own work – which task would they like to do first? How would they like to structure their time? Routines don't work for all children
- allow their child to give progress updates – what are they finding difficult?
- praising progress and completed tasks
- allowing their child to figure out how they will tackle problems and challenges independently.
About Virtual School Victoria
Virtual School Victoria (VSV) is one of Victoria's largest state schools and
specialises in virtual and blended learning. It was established to meet the educational needs of Victorian students whose circumstances, such as medical, distance or travel, prevent them from attending mainstream school. Students at VSV learn through online courses, live online classes and face-to-face communication.
More information about learning from home
The Department has prepared resources and tips for parents and carers, principals and teachers to support students learning from home.
Access more tips for supporting students learning from home
Visit the Department's Learning from Home web page