Organisation is central to the success of any student at any level. Organisation underpins everything. Organisation is the central pillar of the Three Pillars of Success.
However critical its importance, the skill of organisation is not explicitly taught in all schools. If your son or daughter is lucky enough to attend a school where it is taught as one part of a wider tutorial or mentoring programme, then they are fortunate. But in truth, any attempt to teach organisation in a classroom setting will be well intended, but inevitably lacking in focus on the implementation required to make it meaningful.
Truly, schools should teach organisation. It would help each individual come to terms with the workload they are to face when completing multiple qualifications simultaneously. It would equip today’s learners to become tomorrow’s workers. What job requires no organisation?
Teaching organisation as a skill would equip today’s learners to become tomorrow’s workers.
So what can parents do to address this? Well for a longer answer, sign up for my free Academic Parenting Foundation course where I will take you through 3 proven strategies to help you boost your son or daughter’s academic performance. But in short, a quick and effective way to establish organisation is to have a conversation with your teenager, get a pen and paper and find out:
- When any exams are due to be taken
- When any mocks are due to be taken
- When any coursework is due
- When any deadlines for applications to colleges/universities/jobs are
You may well already know some of this information, but having it all written down in one place will help your teenager and yourself gain some clarity on the timeline, scale and volume involved in completing this stage of their education.
Furthermore, by highlighting these key dates, it will help to identify any upcoming pinch points in their schedule and will be an opportunity to discuss how they could best manage their time to mitigate the impact this could have.
In my 14 years of experience working with teenagers, it is these pinchpoints that can unduly derail young people and create feelings of overwhelm. So, by getting ahead of these and using time effectively, you can significantly boost your son or daughter’s chances of success.