{"id":5214,"date":"2015-12-07T10:12:02","date_gmt":"2015-12-06T23:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/?p=5214"},"modified":"2015-12-07T10:12:02","modified_gmt":"2015-12-06T23:12:02","slug":"repeating-year-levels-at-school-what-does-the-research-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/repeating-year-levels-at-school-what-does-the-research-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Repeating year levels at school \u2013 what does the research say?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dr Romi Rimer<\/p>\n

Without a doubt, being a parent is the hardest job in the world. There are so many decisions to be made and each one seems more vital than the last. With \"Romi\"<\/a>no cheat sheet and no guaranteed formula, we, the parents, must make the best choices we can with the information available to us and then pray that they result in a happy, successful child.<\/p>\n

There is one decision that continues to be discussed in great depth and in great numbers, in schools and paediatrician offices, across Australia at this time of year. That is, whether or not little Ethan, or little Emma, should repeat their year level at school next year.<\/p>\n

Many parents have a clear idea of what they feel is best for their child and no-one should judge their decision either way. But many parents I see, both in my clinical practice as well as in the school yard, find it difficult to make sense of the vast array of opinions and anecdotes that they hear from well-meaning people, as well as online.<\/p>\n

For those of you in that boat, you should know that this question has been studied extensively over the last 85 years in countries all across the world. One study even compared children who did repeat, with similar children who did not repeat, for 21 years. In each study, the conclusion was the same \u2013 there is no long-term social or academic advantage if your child repeats.<\/p>\n

Some of the important points from the research are that overall, repeating:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Does not improve academic outcomes (although it may appear to do so for that repeated year);
\n\u2022 Often leads to negative attitudes about school and learning;
\n\u2022 May result in behavioural problems;
\n\u2022 Does not improve \u2018school readiness\u2019.<\/p>\n

So what else can you do?<\/p>\n

1. Firstly, you need to consider whether or not there is a significant problem. Children are individuals and all of them (like all of us) have their own strengths and weaknesses. Think about whether your child simply has a weakness, or whether there is a substantial issue that needs attention.<\/p>\n

2. If you decide that there is a problem that needs addressing, try to define exactly what the issue is and focus your efforts towards that goal. Some suggestions include:
\n\u2022 If there is concern about socialising, you might consider more play dates or involvement in group activities (like soccer or ballet).
\n\u2022 If you\u2019re concerned about your child\u2019s motor or language skills, then practice is essential. Getting assistance from a physiotherapist, occupational therapist or speech pathologist may be helpful.
\n\u2022 If there is concern about your child\u2019s academic performance, then they may benefit from an individual learning plan from the school or even tutoring.<\/p>\n

3. There is help and advice readily available. Your school, GP or paediatrician may be a good place to start.<\/p>\n

There are many factors at play when choosing whether or not your child should repeat. The scientific research on this topic is just one of those that should be considered. Ultimately, you know your child best.<\/p>\n

So consider all of the information available to you and rest assured that any decision that you make with your child\u2019s best interest at heart is likely to be the right one!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dr Romi Rimer Without a doubt, being a parent is the hardest job in the world. There are so many decisions to be made and each one seems more vital than the last. With no cheat sheet and no guaranteed formula, we, the parents, must make the best choices we can with the information … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","hentry","category-in-the-news","post_format-post-format-image"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5214"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5216,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5214\/revisions\/5216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}