The expert warned against mistakes when choosing a kindergarten or school and gave advice

When choosing a school or kindergarten, it is first worth discussing the basic selection criteria related to objective limitations, such as distance from home and the family's daily routine. Lola Shurygina, an expert on opening schools and kindergartens, founder of the private general education school Makarun and the school for children with special health needs Max, told Izvestia on February 13. She gave some advice on choosing a suitable institution.

"Children of preschool age should not choose institutions more than 15-20 minutes away from their place of residence (on foot or by car), children up to 4th grade - within 30-40 minutes. Due to their age, kids get tired and going to kindergarten or school is "torture"," the expert explained.

According to her, the mode of the family's day and opportunities associated with the working schedules of parents, often to a much greater extent determine the choice of garden or school, rather than other factors. But there are other equally important criteria.

First, according to Shurygina, you should determine your attitude toward your child's educational outcome at three levels: 4th grade at the end of elementary school, 9th grade and 11th grade.

"If you are an "academic" parent, that is, you care about the level of education of your child and, as a result, good marks and a high level of subject knowledge, then carefully study the ratings of schools, ask questions about where and with what results the graduates of this school or this teacher enter. Take interest in the results of Olympiads, participation in projects, competitions and other activities at the regional and federal level," she advised.

At the same time, it should be taken into account that most likely in this approach the study is accompanied by a rather serious attitude to discipline, rules, children have a high study load and demanding teachers. Such institutions, as a rule, include strong public schools from the first 20-50 lines of the rating, established private schools with proven results of students, that is, they have produced at least two or three parallels of their graduates.

Secondly, there are parents who do not have a determining attitude towards knowledge and want for their child an atmosphere of free choice and self-determination within the academic process. Such institutions include small private family schools, authoring private schools, or schools with alternative approaches to education, such as the Walford or Montessori type.

"Such schools give the compulsory program of the state standard at the level at which the child is able to master it, but no more. This is enough to obtain a state certificate. However, the key in the programs of such schools is the focus on the development of individuality, supporting in the child the process of cognition through the creation of an environment of free choice, rather than the volume and quantity of knowledge and their academic result," Shurygina explained.

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In her opinion, the balance between these two extremes can be found in two options.

"The first [option]. You look not for a school or a kindergarten, but for a teacher and educator and carefully make a 'portrait' of such a teacher. How do you see a professional who will spend up to 6-8 hours a day with your child?" - said the expert.

She suggested thinking about the answer to a number of questions. For example, you should understand what kind of teacher your child needs: a teacher-nanny, a teacher-mommy, a despot, an achiever or a partner. Find out how the teacher treats punishments and what kind of punishments he practices in his work, as well as how he treats tardiness, uncompleted homework, use of gadgets.

It is worth paying attention to how his office is decorated, whether there is order and cleanliness, coziness. In addition, you can find out how the specialist solved conflict situations, problems related to aggression and bullying, and how often he gives feedback about the child. At the same time, it is necessary to understand how the teacher will treat the child's lagging behind in subjects and what the parent expects from him in this regard.

"In this way you will be able to make a mini-diagnosis on the three most important aspects of the teacher or educator's work: attitude in education, communication ethics (i.e., his personal and emotional maturity), and the level of demandingness (i.e., attitude toward work discipline and the formation of will and character). It is not an easy search, any source of information is used: walks in the schoolyard and conversations with moms of schoolchildren, reviews, surveys on social networks, personal meetings with teachers and principals and so on," Shurygina said.

Speaking about the second option, she explained that the balance can be found in schools and kindergartens, in which in addition to the academic component in the child's development program, pay close attention to the development of their skills and personal characteristics. As a rule, this information can be found in the supplementary education program of a particular institution on the website, during a personal tour or in the class schedule.

"Often these are private educational institutions or special classes at public schools. You can also take advantage of various useful guides to choosing a school, which in large numbers provide profile specialists. In the preschool segment of the development program for children up to 7 years old is already filled with a sufficient number of developmental classes of complex type, so private gardens makes sense to select only in two cases: if you want a smaller number of children in the group and, as a consequence, more attention to your child, or you as parents have a request for a different composition and list of developmental classes for your child," - concluded the expert.

On January 29, Victoria Podsukhina, a teacher and head of regional teaching of MAXIMUM Education company, shared with Izvestia tips on how to develop diligence and increase concentration of children. She noted that a typical problem is putting things off for later. Such behavior negatively affects productivity. Therefore, the child should solve tasks in the time allotted for them and with a set frequency. In this way, the habit of doing them regularly develops.