Who is Responsible for Student Learning?

I think student learning largely depends on the age and maturity level of the student. At an early age, the teachers and parents have a larger responsibility because the students are not yet ready to be self sufficient in various areas of their lives. Teachers are responsible for providing meaningful instruction and activities as well as help the students with the learning process. As students get better at understanding what it takes to learn material, teachers are mostly just responsible for providing instruction and less responsible for helping students learn. This process is different for each individual student and that is where the parents come in.

The parent’s responsibility is to know the needs of their child. If that means that the child needs extra help in some areas, the parents should be there to help seek out those resources. Teachers can and should also help in this aspect, and that goes along in their responsibility but I think for parents, their number one priority is to know what their child needs. Teachers and parents also need to communicate with one another. This is a dual responsibility. The better the communication between parents and teachers, the more informed each party will be with regards to the student. This communication can help bridge the gap when there are problems going on at school or at home.

Finally, the students become more and more responsible for their own learning as they get older. At the early stages, say K-4, it is up to parents and teachers to get the student as many opportunities to learn as possible and help them along the learning process. Once these vital skills are more developed, the student has more of a responsibility for their own learning. This is facilitated by teachers and parents by holding them more accountable. That doesn’t mean that when they have the ability to learn for themselves, that parents and teachers lose all responsibility. Even in college, when the majority of self-learning takes place, the better the material is taught, the better the students will learn. As teachers, it should always be our main priority to do what we can to provide learning experiences for all our students. Is this always the outcome? No. It takes a combination of students assuming their own responsibility and being motivated to learn, teachers providing maximal learning opportunities and being resources, and parents being involved in the growth of their child as a learner.

I don’t think that breaking it down in percentages would do any justice as it all depends on the stage the student is at. If I had to, for the sake of this blog assignment I would tend to agree with Josh Scaletta’s breakdown:

Early stages:

Student – 20%

Teacher – 40%

Parents – 40%

Later stages:

Student – 60%

Teacher – 30%

Parents – 10%