The South African College of Applied Psychology wishes to assist parents in supporting their children during exam periods, which can be stressful not only for the learner but also for the parents.
Experts agree that stress is not always a negative thing - it's like an ignition spark that gets the car going.
Jogini Packery, counselling psychologist and head of the South African College of Applied Psychology’s (SACAP) Johannesburg campus, claims that stress is what gives us the necessary tension, drive, and enough motivation to pursue our goals.
However, when it prevents us from achieving our goals and having sufficient mental capacity to focus on and complete a task, we have a problem.
The educational landscape has changed over the past three years in comparison to what it was like 10 years ago, according to Stephanie Dahon, content and events manager for the SACAP.
Parents may not be familiar with curricula because learning and education are constantly evolving, but there are still ways you can help your children, Dahon shared in a webinar.
Therefore, hybrid and online education as well as the significance of parental readiness in supporting learners and useful coping mechanisms for parents or anyone in a position of support, are of crucial importance.
Catherine Clarke, a learning designer at SACAP and a former matric teacher, says that understanding the era of flexible learning, which is referred to as blended learning, has required both children and parents to adapt to change.
Although blended learning is something that was accelerated and is vastly different from the traditional learning space, which is more personal, learners get feedback and there’s team work.
Clarke claims that both virtual and blended learning have advantages and disadvantages, and that their goal as educators is to focus on the advantages of each and identify areas where problems are identified by learners, educators and parents, which can be addressed in the future.
Virtual learning can be beneficial for people with various life circumstances and needs. There's no comparison in the sense of being different or struggling with work. It’s a way of competing with yourself at your own pace, says Clarke.
How do you address these issues and get them resolved for the benefit of learners?
Being conscious of the fact that change itself, even good change, can lead to stress is important. Life is more chaotic than we need it to be. Everyone needs guidance. The more you know how to support the more you’ll know how to navigate through situations.
Technology is so fundamental to everything, but finding new uses for it can be difficult. Despite the fact that there are workarounds, access to technology remains a problem for some students, says Clarke.
There is a distinction between a student who is supported and one who must overcome obstacles on their own.
Changes to infrastructure, increased public wi-fi in various locations to help marginalised students — which has been a lifeline for students who don't have access to wi-fi at home — and the purchase of data bundles have all been successful.
Having realistic time expectations helps. Education is no longer just about school hours and homework you have to do after school. The issue is that because they don't know how much time to spend on a concept, some people might want to take a short cut.
Parental involvement is encouraged because it means that an adult will be able to judge how much time could be spent on a given concept based on real-world examples, and talk to students about their future goals and putting in effort that reflects those goals, states Clarke.
Creating workspaces to enhance focus: this doesn’t have to be anything fancy, but a place where to learn comfortably
Study groups may not be beneficial for everyone due to people having different levels of comfort.
It's important for parents or guardians to listen to what their children are saying and to avoid living vicariously through them because doing so will lead to unreal expectations, pressure, and internalisation of those loops, which will lead to placing stress on the child, shared the counselling psychologist.
“Let’s get out of the habit of taking from our perspective and get into the habit of listening to their perspective.”