Family dynamics have changed immensely over the last 50 years. Most homes nowadays are two-income households with both parents working five to six days a week while the children are left to the care of the school and babysitters most of the time. It’s actually quite refreshing to see parents, mothers especially, being actively involved during their children’s growing up years. Actually, that’s really the original dynamic of parent-child relations. The mothers traditionally were the repository of knowledge of the children but as society redefined the role of women over time, family dynamics changed along with it.
A lot of parents however are trying to go back to their traditional role as parents; they try to be as involved in their children’s lives as much as they can and some even sign up to be teaching assistants at their children’s schools. There are people who deem the move too overbearing while there are those who focus solely on the benefits of the set-up.
There are great advantages to having parents as a teacher’s assistant especially at preschools. Firstly, they have the experience in dealing with young minds and they have that parental instinct that only desires the best for kids. Secondly, other parents have this natural affinity for communicating with children so dealing with sensitive matters becomes easier and it helps teachers, who as professionals can never show partiality, communicate more efficiently. Thirdly, parents are more sensitive to what the children are feeling and they can focus on monitoring behaviours in class while the teachers can focus better on the delivery of lessons.
From the parents’ perspective, signing up to be a teaching assistant can be advantageous because it gives them peace of mind. They get to keep tabs on their children and they actually get to have a say on some of the class activities. Additionally, the time spent with their children in class is priceless even if it’s actually a job.
Parents who actually get hired as teaching assistants by the school are never just hired on the spot so not all parents can sign up to be assistants. Other parents who may take issue with other parents becoming teachers’ assistants can take comfort in the fact that the school board, and the school establishment, uphold a set of standards that every teacher’s assistant—parent and otherwise—must abide by to ensure that every class still adheres to Britain’s exceptional quality of education.