Former minister urges parents to ‘ask dumb questions’ on their kids’ education
Parents should not be intimidated by “know-it-all” teachers who speak in jargon — and they should ask dumb questions about their children’s education. It comes as former education minister Adrian Piccoli revealed he couldn’t understand the jargon during parent-teacher interviews.
Parents should not be intimidated by “know-it-all” teachers who speak in jargon — and they should ask dumb questions about their children’s education.
Former state education minister Adrian Piccoli has revealed even he couldn’t understand the jargon during parent-teacher interviews, despite being in charge of one of the world’s largest education systems.
In a new book about schools, he said he had no idea what a reading level 12 was but had “played along to avoid looking silly”.
“My wife and I had joined the very long list of parents who don’t know enough about how schools operate, don’t understand the complex language and jargon teachers often use and don’t fully understand what we as parents can do to help our children learn,” he writes in 12 Ways Your Child Can Get The Best Out Of School.
Now director of UNSW Gonski Institute for Education, Mr Piccoli said that he had summoned his education bureaucrats the following day to explain what reading level 12 was.
University of Sydney education expert Dr Rachel Wilson said on Sunday that a teacher should simply show parents a level 12 book, rather than use education parlance.
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“Teachers just forget most parents are not familiar with that — the easiest way to explain is to show them what a kid is reading,” Dr Wilson said, adding that parents should ask about anything they do not understand.
“There are no stupid questions.
“As long as you do it in a respectful way. Remember to keep your manners — if you do that in a pleasant way as possible you can learn a lot from the teachers.”
Mr Piccoli’s book also takes aim at school reports, saying most “are not informative enough on their own” and that parents should ask teachers for more information.
As children head back to school this week, University of Newcastle education expert Professor John Fischetti said parents should open the lines of communication with teachers early.
“Small things in February can be big things in June, so the earlier they are addressed the better,” he said. For bigger problems, parents should ask for a meeting with the teacher and principal — and not be afraid to ask for another teacher if needed.
“Sometimes it doesn’t work out and you may have to ask for a change of teacher,” Prof Fischetti said.
“That is highly unusual but parents should not be shy to ask for that if the situation warrants.”
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