The educational path is, for many students, a difficult stage. Your child may therefore experience demotivation at school at a certain point. Here are some tips to help students perform:
1. Identify the cause of demotivation with your child
In order to overcome demotivation at school, the help of parents is essential. However, teens and pre-teens sometimes have a barrier with their parents. This initial conversation will therefore have to be brief. It should not be an interrogation. Keep in mind the objective: putting your finger on the cause affecting student motivation.
Has your child experienced a change recently that could be the reason for his demotivation at school? If yes, is it social (weakened friendships, unsuccessful change of circle of friends, lost love, feeling of rejection), psychological (difficulty feeling joy, being overwhelmed by anything) or is the workload the problem?
Depending on his answer, you should contact a professional (psychologist, educational specialist, tutor or speech-language pathologist). Even if you want to help your child by yourself, you have to accept that outside support can sometimes be more helpful to motivate students. Try to find someone that will be on you and your child’s team.
2. Foster positive change
In order to overcome your child’s demotivation at school, it is important to make him feel that you have his academic success at heart and to implement concrete means to make him feel it.
The goal is to create a positive change in your child’s life and to show your presence without imposing yourself. He must feel supported on his journey. It’s a challenge, to find your place as a parent, I agree. Be aware that demotivation at school is often linked to the child’s fear of failing after having invested a lot of effort.
Some prefer to sabotage: to miss exams and projects because they have decided to do so, and not because they are unable to perform. It’s less hard for self-esteem. However, it must be made clear to your child that nothing is final and that he can still take control of things.
He shouldn’t be afraid of failure. He must understand that persistence is the winning formula in life. You can give him famous examples (like Einstein who was not very good at school) to prove your claims.
Find together an image that will motivate him (or even a collage!), print it and hang it on the wall. It can be anything: the photo of a firefighter if it is the child’s dream profession, next to a photo of a smiling graduate with his diploma in hand, with a nice car… You get the idea! Children should understand that the very first step to achieving their dreams is to successfully complete high school.
3. Benefit from the help of a tutor
Getting help from an expert who is passionate about his subject and young people can illuminate the life of an unmotivated student. With the current education system, it is almost impossible for a student to have private time with his teacher. The only way for him to clarify his misunderstandings is therefore to raise his hand and share them with everyone. Hiring a private tutor will help your child overcome his learning difficulties and gain confidence.
Ideally, the tutor in question would take into account the difficulties specific to your child:
- Does he have difficulties understanding the instructions? If this is the case, the tutor can adjust his teaching method and take the time to dissect the questions, word for word if necessary, so that the student does not miss the task (which can be very discouraging for him).
- Does he have organizational difficulties? If so, the tutor could help the child keep their calendar up to date and do the heavy work ahead of time so that it is completed on time. Meeting deadlines helps an unmotivated child regain confidence.
- Does he have reading difficulties? It is not uncommon for this problem to be the cause of many others. A child who struggles to discern important information from a text will have difficulty in French, but also in history, science, mathematics… It is crucial to ask a pedagogue to read texts with your child and continually stop to question him about his reading. What type of text is this (narrative, explanatory, argumentative …)? What have we just learned from this paragraph? Etc.
All of this can be done in a personal and individualized way to reduce student stress. A text on video games, or on hockey, why not? A system of highlighters for the child’s choice, dictations with phrases from his favorite film, a trip to the book fair, the possibilities are endless.