Supervised Prep

[6thmum]

My DS in boarding school is performing well in class work but finds it difficult to study independently and it's bringing down his grades. His homework is often poorly done or not done at all. This has been going on since Year 9 and he's in Year 11 now. I think the school should make him do his prep under supervision so that he gets it done and he has someone to ask if he gets stuck, but they haven't really done this so far. If he was a day boy I would get him a tutor but in his school they pretty much leave them to their own devices and expect them to know that they should do their home work. I expect that too but I also expect that boys who are consistently not doing so should be made to do prep under supervision until they learn the habit of studying independently. They don't do this in my DS' school. Am I expecting too much or are there other schools that do things differently?

ds school only do supervised prep for those with learning difficulties, but its a prep school, so they are quite a bit younger than your ds.

The problem is that without the motivation to do it (and a lot of boys are like that) even supervised might not achieve anything as he'll do the same thing, but with an adult in the room!

If hes boarding, presumably there is a housemaster or tutor you could contact as ask to speak to him and ask that it be monitored more throughly.

tbh I think by that age they should have developed the skills to enable independent study or be able to approach a teacher if struggling. Is it that he wants to do bare minimum and doesn't apply himself or is he having real difficulty understanding certain subjects. Does the school have a mentor/ study buddy scheme. Ask his HOY or housemaster. It may normally be employed for younger pupils and at this stage would probably be deemed far from cool but pairing up, even with a peer, could be useful .

Thanks lizs. Yes he's definitely a minimalist which is why. I thought once it's noticed, something definitive would be done about it. Maybe he struggles with some topics but it's more of poor time and self management which we would deal with if he were at home but I thought would be dealt with in school.

My DS's boarding school just made boys re-do every bit of shoddy prep. They got the message pretty quickly.

6thmum I dont think your son is unusual at all in terms of his study habits. Generally boys struggle more than girls with organisation which at this age is a key to learning, especially given that most Year 11s are juggling 9 or 10 subjects. How many adults would find juggling 9 or 10 different projects easy. Schools go on about independent learning at a time when most adolescents do not have the brain development for independent study. Academic organistional skills begin to develop naturally in girls around the ages of 15 plus at the earliest and in boys much later, until then I would say that parents and schools must teach children not only what to study but how to organize, how to manage time and even how to study. They should place great importance on supervising learning as well as allowing SOME time for independent study. Independent learning is not a race, in fact, the earlier you push it the more at risk a child is of feeling unsafe in the learning environment because they believe they should be able to do what they are actually not yet really to do. You cannot hardwire something that is not yet in place and the adolescent rational brain is far from ready at this point. There will always be an exception to the rule of course. I always wonder why we insist on pushing independent learning when most careers rely of colaborative teamwork?????

My DS isn't supervised, they like most boarding schools have a set time for prep but no one makes sure it's done or to the required standard. The boys know what's expected of them and it's their decision whether on not to meet these expectations. They do know that help is readily available if there stuck; the teacher setting the prep, other subject dons, house staff and even other boys but again they're expected to come forward for help.
In a few years time they will be at Uni they will have to sort all these things out themselves then so they need to start getting used to helping themselves now.