Families will always seek out the best possible school for their children. However, it is common that doubts arrive and prevent them from seeing clearly what the best option is. To solve them, schools start their open days, as well as showing their best features in their web portals. But, is gold all that glitters?
Today we are going to turn the tables and, instead of showing you the recommendations to follow when choosing a school, we are going to do the opposite: we are going to tell you what criteria we consider to be wrong when it comes to finding the best institution for your children:
1. Taking into account only people's opinions
Each person has different criteria and, even more important, interests that can be contrasted with ours. We should take into account the recommendations of others but not get carried away 100%. Although in your opinion your school is the best, we may not have the same luck in our future experience.
2. Not attending the informative talks
It could be a direct consequence of making the mistake in the previous point. Believing only the opinion of the parents can lead us to become confident and not even attend the school's talks. What better way to see how a school works than by getting to know it first hand?
3. Not paying attention to the educational project of the centre
Today, and especially with the arrival of new alternative methodologies, a new educational spectrum is opening up before us. Recovering the previous point, the informative talks are the ideal moment to inform ourselves and ask all the questions we think are necessary in this respect. If you have not yet decided on a specific educational formula, we recommend that you read the following entry with the keys to finding the perfect school.
4. Don't be fooled either!
The first thing that comes through the eyes of a school is its facilities, but don't just let yourself be carried away by a nice wrapper. Be pragmatic and think about whether a huge sports centre is essential for your intellectual and maturity development. It all depends on what you are looking for, so here is the best place to find a school in Catalonia. If you are looking for a private or state school, this simulation will give you the push you need to finish your search!
5. Blindly trusting the rankings
Teaching is not reduced solely to the knowledge demonstrated by students in an entrance exam. A school is likely to have good academic statistics but other factors such as the proximity of teachers, their philosophy or their location will make their students more motivated to learn.
6. Looking to the future
When we first look for a school for our children, we focus on their childhood stage and may overlook important aspects at higher stages. Before we know it, our child will be in secondary school, a stage where his or her studies will be hardened. It is not a question of having every single aspect of his next 16 years under control, but we should have some overview of the centre.
7. Disregarding how to work with students with special needs
Throughout childhood and adolescence certain circumstances can occur that make learning difficult: from a diagnosis of ADHD to the identification of high abilities. How does the school proceed in these cases and what resources does it allocate to them? You have to find out.
We hope that you do not commit these wrong lines of action and that, in this way, your search will be fruitful until you find the school you are looking for!