Best Ways For Parents To Support Their Matric Student – Join SACAP’s Free Parents’ Guide To Matric Support Webinar

Matric exam time is a milestone experience, not just for the learners, but their parents too.  It’s normal for parents to feel a lot of pressure – we want to get the support right; we have to keep the whole family on track and we’re really hoping for evidence of optimal performance after the nail-biting wait for the results.  We may want to have the comfort of drawing on our own experience of Matric exams, but the world has changed so radically that what we went through and how we handled things may well be completely irrelevant to our child who is about to write their final school exams in 2022.  

However, that shouldn’t make you feel that you can’t make a good difference.  On the contrary, according to Jogini Packery, the Head of the Johannesburg Campus of SACAP (South African College of Applied Psychology) says that when it comes to Matric, parents most certainly can be the secret sauce.  It all comes down to how you handle yourself. 

Jogini says, “It is paramount that parents are able to contain their own emotional state and be able to ground themselves when overwhelming emotions take over.  It’s also important to be able to express those emotions in a healthy manner.  In doing so, much like you did when your child was much younger, you will be mirroring the basics of emotional coping during challenging times.”

Jogini will be connecting with parents of Matrics, alongside other panellists on Saturday, 27 August 2022 for the annual SACAP Parents’ Guide to Matric support webinar from 10:00 to 11:30.  South African parents are invited to join the conversation by registering for the free one and a half hour webinar here.  The panel also includes Praneetha Jugdeo, SACAP’s Head of the Durban campus and Cat Clarke, a former matric educator who is now a SACAP learning designer.

Offering insights that parents can rarely access, the SACAP team is focusing not only on how to thrive through Matric exams but how to navigate the vital phase of life afterwards.  So much of the stress of getting through Matric exams is also resting on the big question of: What’s Next?

Praneetha will chat with parents about the opportunities offered by a gap year for Matric students who are not yet ready for making big tertiary education decisions. 

She says, “This presents a great opportunity for enhanced self-insight and exposure to new experiences.  Students can use a gap year to figure out their interests as well as get to know their strengths and areas of development.  It should not be thought of as ‘a wasted year’ because they can gain extraordinary life experience and attain significant personal growth whether they travel, volunteer, intern or complete short-term courses.”

Cat Clarke also urges parents to keep an eye on the future.  It’s not just Matric that’s stressful, it’s also about standing on the threshold of entering a whole new world.  She says, “Methods of education are changing in response to global trends and innovative technologies. While the move towards flexibility and creative use of technology began some time ago, the Covid-19 pandemic necessitated a fast tracking of blended learning and location-flexible education.

While the last couple of years has been a challenging time, it has resulted in great advancements and strategies that will continue to be extremely useful.  Parents can be an immeasurable support in helping their teens navigate the challenges of flexible and blended learning.  There’s a mental shift that parents need to understand and real guidance they can offer when it comes to skills such as time-management, organisation, focus and critical thinking.”

The SACAP Parents’ Guide to Matric Support webinar will also include a Q&A session so that you can engage with the presenters and get insights into other parents’ experiences.  Find out how you can be a pillar of support during the upcoming exam time and beyond by joining the conversation at SACAP’s Parents’ Guide to Matric Support webinar on Saturday, 27 August 2022 from 10h00 to 11h30.  Registration is free and you can sign up here.