Parents in the classroom : schools must now cope with mums & dads who make their presence felt

Abstract

This is a journalism feature writing project on parents who are making their presence felt in schools. Parents today are undoubtedly more involved in their children’s education, especially at the primary school, as compared to the generation before. Rising affluence and education levels mean they are both more informed about what their children are learning in school and more are able to supplement their learning with tuition, enrichment classes and practice exam papers.

They are now more curious about school matters, and schools have had to adapt to the needs and wants of this generation of parents. This means that educators spend more time engaging and reaching out to parents on top of an already-heavy workload. Today, in a more competitive job market fuelled by the influx of foreigners, parents are more worried for their children’s future. Parents are pushed to focus on their children’s academic success in a meritocracy-driven education system. This drives them to intervene at the earliest possible stage, sometimes even when the child is of barely preschool age. Parents may also see their primary school-going children as not sufficiently mature to fully grasp the importance of doing well academically. This feature aims to look beyond the common labels attached to parents’ behaviour, such as “competitive”, “kiasu” and “kancheong”, to examine what exactly about the education landscape of today is driving their actions, and how it is manifesting in schools.