There are many families that at this time are immersed in the search for a school for their children , facing the next academic year. These are weeks of uncertainty, doubts and evaluating various options to make a decision, which although it is not irreversible, all parents want it to be as accurate as possible .
If a few days ago we gave you a series of tips to take into account when looking for a school , today we want to share just the opposite: what criteria, in our opinion erroneous, could negatively interfere in our search.
Focus exclusively on the rankings
There are many parents who give excessive importance to the position that the school occupies in the ranking of external tests carried out by the autonomous communities, or the marks that their students obtain in the selectivity.
Without a doubt, this is a point that we can take into account and consider, but it should not be an exclusive criterion , since education and teaching are not reduced solely to the knowledge that students demonstrate in an exam.
Trust people’s opinions?
If we were to ask a group of parents their opinion of the center where their children study, we would probably find as many opinions as there were people asked. And it is that each one of us will have different criteria when evaluating a school and, therefore, and we will count things from a subjective point of view.
It is good to have people’s opinions and collect as much information as possible before deciding on a school, but we must ensure that the information obtained comes from various sources : from parents of students, to members of the AMPA (to learn more about the relationship between the management of the center and the parents) and, if possible, of teachers and school workers.
Not attending informational talks
And perhaps precisely moved by the criteria of the ranking or the opinions of our relatives, we make the mistake of choosing or discarding a school without having previously attended the informative talks that are being offered these days.
In addition, it is essential not to be left alone with the pedagogical information that the school can publish on its website: attending open days, or arranging individual meetings with the center’s management, will help us clarify many doubts and consider other aspects that perhaps we had not taken into account.
Not being clear about the educational project of the center
If it is the first time that we are looking for a school for our son, we may find ourselves lost, disoriented and with a large amount of information that is difficult to assimilate. We may not even be very clear about the educational project we are looking for , or even that what they tell us in the schools we are visiting always sounds the same to us.
That is why it is important to stop and think carefully about what kind of education we want for our child: Are we looking for traditional or innovative education ? What weight do we want new technologies to have in teaching? How do students work in the classroom? What learning alternatives do they have?
Analyzing each issue separately, and delving into the educational model of each center (and the way they put it into practice!), we will realize the differences that exist from one school to another, and this will help us in decision making.
Focus on the “here and now”
When we are looking for a school for our three-year-old son for the first time , we will not lose detail of everything related to the Infant stage, but we may make the mistake of overlooking important aspects of higher stages.
And it is that, before we want to realize it, our son will be studying in Primary, and with the change of cycle new situations, challenges or rules will arrive that at the time we may not have taken into account and that now are totally contrary to our way of understanding teaching and education.
It is not about wanting to know what our son’s next 15 years at school will be like, but at least being clear about the most important and notable aspects of the coming stages.
Let ourselves be captivated by what we see
When we go to visit the schools these days, the first thing that will enter our eyes will be the facilities . However, although it is a criterion that we must certainly assess, it should not have a significant weight when making the final decision.
Because a school with large and bright classrooms, an imposing soccer field or a large swimming pool is useless if the values it transmits to its students are not what we seek for our children, or if the educational project does not match our interests.
Therefore, let us not be influenced by appearances (and even less so during open days, since many schools show an excessively commercial side on these dates) and, once again, let us analyze the product as a whole.
Not taking into account how to work with students with special needs
When our three-year-old child starts school for the first time, it probably does not occur to us to think that there may be future circumstances that make him need reinforcement at some point in his academic stage . From personal or social circumstances that hinder or delay their learning, to a diagnosis of ADHD , or an identification of giftedness , to give just a few examples. In these cases, how does the school treat these students and what resources do they allocate to them?
Thus, when assessing the different characteristics of a school, and although a priori we may think that this point does not concern us, we should also consider it, since the concern that the center shows for all its students , as well as the way of attending Diversity are important aspects that also define the type of school we are facing.