(…) Research shows that parents have a big impact on their child’s progress at school.

The complexities of modern society, with changing family units, a faster pace of living, more stress and less time can all affect the quality of the parent-child relationship.

The teaching and learning research director at the Australian Council for Educational Research, Prof Stephen Dinham, has studied how models of good parenting can be models for good teaching.

He says American psychologist Diana Baumrind grouped parenting styles into authoritarian, authoritative, permissive and uninvolved in the 1960s.

“Baumrind found that students of permissive parents had high self-esteem and were popular, but they tended to go off the rails at high school,” Dinham says.

“Parents who adopted an authoritarian style often ended up with rebellious kids down the track.

He says the aim is to balance “demandingness with responsiveness” and that good parents, teachers and leaders are “highly responsive to the person, treat them as an individual, meet their needs and motivate them, but they also have high expectations, get the best out of people and don’t settle for second best”.

Dinham says few people fit neatly into Baumrind’s categories and circumstances can alter their response.

“You might need to be authoritarian until things are on an even keel and then you can be more responsive.”

It’s also difficult to reverse an entrenched parenting or teaching style. If you’ve been a permissive parent, you’ll find it difficult to suddenly be authoritarian.

“The same with teaching. It’s easier when you take over in class to ease off a bit than it is to try to get tougher or demanding later on,” Dinham says.

A lecturer at James Cook University’s School of Education, Dr Helen Boon, says parents can be too concerned about how their kids perceive them.

“Often there are parents who want their kids to love them and think, ‘If I do this, my child won’t be pleased. Can I punish them? How are they going to feel?’ Generally, put the wellbeing and welfare of the child first, and how that affects you second.

“That holds also for good teachers.” (…)

Source: Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia
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