Education matters, it really does and to that end GulfWeekly is introducing a new weekly column that incorporates ideas for parents, children and teachers in the kingdom.

Each week, ‘Teaching Ideas’ showcases a lesson or idea that has created quality learning for children and, to help parents to make sense of school again and how the young actually learn in the 21st Century, ‘Parent Pointers’ offers advice on everything from handling homework to talking with teachers.

Everything in this column is written with children and learning in mind since, as parents and teachers know, the best education is born of a strong partnership between school and home.

PARENT POINTERS: The summer is over and the new school year is upon us. Throughout the world, parents and children have begun the annual ritual of making the transition between holiday hours and school hours – not always an easy task!

During this potentially troubled time, it can be very beneficial to encourage children to be an active participant in the process of returning to school.

By giving children choices such as what they want for their packed lunch or which particular pencil case they need enables them to take a level ownership over the process that can enable the transition back to school more enjoyable.

An excellent way of managing children generally is to give them choices and consequences, for example; given the choice of one type of behaviour and a punishment over another type of behaviour and praise, the obvious winner is going to be the latter.

This strategy, however, goes beyond getting children to do the right thing, it empowers them to make the right choice for themselves and when the right choice is praised, children are more likely to repeat that behaviour in the future, growing as individuals in the process.

This strategy works beautifully at the beginning of the school year when the more reluctant child is returning to school. Giving some responsibility for the experience to the child encourages mature decision-making and ultimately empowers the child to want to go to school as they are responsible, in some way as to how they go about it.

Teaching Ideas

In the spirit of choices, consequences and effective decision-making, September 13 sees the 100th birthday of Roald Dahl, pictured right, arguably the most famous children’s author in the world and many exciting celebrations have been planned.

Roald Dahl Day has generally been celebrated for more than 20 years through the standard dressing-up days and story reading, but one of the most innovative ways of celebrating it, since it comes at the very beginning of the school year is to incorporate some of the decisions made by his most famous characters into a class behaviour agreement that sets out expectations for the year.

For example, the selfish nature of Veruca Salt in the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory can be used to explain the importance of sharing.

The cruel, bullying nature of George’s Grandma in George’s Marvellous Medicine can be used to explain the importance of treating each other with respect.

The caring nature of the Big Friendly Giant in the BFG, pictured above in a scene from the new Spielberg film, can be used to demonstrate the importance of looking after each other.

Children relate to characters in books and their film adaptations extremely easily and by focussing on some of the deeper intentions of Roald Dahl’s work, celebrating his 100th birthday can have an impact on children for the year ahead and beyond.