Dubai: GEMS Education has launched a Parent Engagement Week to encourage parents to be co-educators at home and complement schools' efforts in imparting education.
During the week-long event which runs until Saturday, 25 schools run by GEMS in the UAE will organise lectures and talk shows to give parents tips on how to get engaged in their children's learning in addition to having entertainment events for both students and parents.
Ralph Tabberer, Chief Education Officer of GEMS, said international research shows consistent parental engagement in their children's education proves beneficial in improving their grades, behaviour and confidence.
"This region has got an advantage in that it has parents who show more interest, and are more involved in their children's education than in many western countries. In the light of international research, we are sharing the GEMS learning experience with our parents and helping them become better educators at home," said Tabberer.
Schools will also host a variety of events such as fashion shows in which children will dress their parents, vegetable carving contests, painting and quiz contests, family workshops and live video streaming of classes which will see parents and children work as a team.
Wendy Berliner, Director, Parental Engagement at GEMS, said parenting and education are two sides of the same coin. "Parenting is education and education is parenting. They are more less the same. Even if you scratch the surface of ‘parenting' a bit you will find these are lessons in life. So parents are the child's first and longest serving teacher so why not then should a parent be backing up the formal lessons of school.. With about 85 per cent of a student's waking hours spent outside the classroom, parents are the real educators."
A website www.learnaspirebe.com has also been set up by GEMS to support parenting and learning at home.
Anjana Sankar