For Parents

Learn how to help your child get the most out of their education.

Useful Articles

Motivation in Exam Season

As a parent, it can be frustrating to watch as exams draw closer while your child continues to neglect their study. Most of the time, this procrastination stems from a lack of motivation. Studying is exhausting. It’s draining, it takes a lot of brainpower, and just...

The Top 5 Challenges for Students Going into Exams

Exams are approaching fast, and we understand that things may be looking a bit different this year.  The disruptions caused by lockdown have interfered with student’s day-to-day learning as well as their NCEA exam preparation. Whether you are a past or present client...

How Do Grades Affect Our Emotions?

The conversation around mental health and wellbeing has never been more active than it is today. There’s no denying that emotional health has an impact on your teenager’s academic performance. When they’re in such a crucial stage of development, it’s important to...

How to Help Your Child With Multiple Assessments

Picture this: your child has just gone back to school in person, and their teachers yarn on about “making up for lost time”. All of a sudden, they’re expected to complete 3 internals for different subjects! It can be hard trying to juggle all that work while students...

How to Manage a School Week

How to Manage a School Week

One of the most common questions Inspiration Education is asked by students and parents is how to better manage a balanced school life, and improve their time management and organisation. This is particularly relevant for students who have a lot on their plate, such...

Understanding NCEA

Understanding NCEA

So if you’re reading this, you’ve got a child studying NCEA but you can’t seem to wrap your head around what NCEA is and how it works. As a tutoring company who specialises in NCEA subjects, we like to think we’ve got the NCEA system downpat and thought we’d share our...

What’s the point of tutoring?

What’s the point of tutoring?

At Inspiration Education, we believe that tutoring can empower anyone and everyone, no matter how “smart” they are. In this article, we’ll explain why.

NCEA results – everything you need to know as a parent

NCEA results – everything you need to know as a parent

How many credits does my child need to pass? What does an endorsement mean? Are there ways to get University Entrance before the tertiary period begins? What marks are worth celebrating? As a parent, it can be daunting navigating NCEA results – especially when you’ve never been through the system yourself. In this article, we unpack everything for you – from credits and certificates, to university entrance, to practical steps on how to help your child if they’re disappointed with their marks. Read this piece to learn everything a parent should know about NCEA, to get informed on everything your child is going through.

Why most students underperform in NCEA exams

Why most students underperform in NCEA exams

The reasons students don’t do as well as they can in NCEA exams usually have very little to do with “intelligence,” or even hardwork. In fact, usually the reasons are deceptively simple, but classroom learning often fails to address them. Here are our top 3 reasons students fail their exams, and what you can do to help your teen beat them.

The Problem With How We Talk About Tutoring

The Problem With How We Talk About Tutoring

Tutoring has been around for centuries, but it’s still something that’s riddled with misconceptions and myths. In this article, we explain why how we think about tutoring is all wrong – and how tutoring can benefit everyone.

Why textbooks don’t work anymore – and what does

Why textbooks don’t work anymore – and what does

Textbooks are a controversial topic in the education community. Whether you’re considering buying your teenager some expensive textbook to revise for their exams, or your teenager is begging you to buy the latest and greatest on the shelves: make sure you’re not wasting your money or time. Read on to find out the truth about textbooks: what doesn’t work about them, and – more importantly – what does.

Five practical steps to help your child get better NCEA grades

Five practical steps to help your child get better NCEA grades

It’s hard to know how to help your children through NCEA when you don’t entirely understand the system yourself. In this piece, we’ll give you five practical steps that you can take to boost your child’s NCEA performance, and support them through this often stressful time.

3 main reasons teens don’t reach their potential at school

3 main reasons teens don’t reach their potential at school

It’s the question on every high school parents mind – is my teen meeting their potential at school? Everyone wants their child to grow into the best version of themselves, but how can we be sure school is really setting them up for success? Read our latest article to find out!

How to tell if your teenager is struggling at school

How to tell if your teenager is struggling at school

Assessing the real status of your teenager’s learning is hard, especially when they don’t let you in on what’s really going on, or if you don’t entirely understand the system yourself. In this piece, we’ll break down how to work out where your teenager might be struggling at school, and what you can do about it.

How to help your child through their exam results

How to help your child through their exam results

Early Tuesday morning, NZQA released the eagerly-awaited results of last year’s NCEA exams, and students across the country could finally see how much of their hard-work last term paid off. Whether your child has already checked their results or they’re still feeling too nervous to share them: there are two things that both of you should keep in mind when reflecting on these results – good or bad…

Beat Procrastination with these 3 Steps

Beat Procrastination with these 3 Steps

We all procrastinate from time to time. In fact, many of us do it a lot! To beat procrastination we have to answer the question: ‘what is procrastination and why do we do it?’ Put simply, procrastination is applied anxiety. We procrastinate when we know...

How to Start Studying – A Guide For Unmotivated Students

How to Start Studying – A Guide For Unmotivated Students

Often the hardest part of study is starting. Studying for exams is a big task. Just the thought of study can be daunting for students. When faced with the overwhelming task of studying a year’s worth of content in time for exams, it may seem easier for students to avoid the task, rather than knuckling down and studying…

Why Students Underperform in Exams and How to Help Your Child Avoid Doing the Same

Why Students Underperform in Exams and How to Help Your Child Avoid Doing the Same

How many times has your child studied hard for exams only to be sorely disappointed by their results? Or walked into an exam with all the confidence in the world, and been completely thrown off guard upon opening the first page? This is something we see time and time again in students – even the most dedicated studiers. It’s a result of the “illusion of learning”, and it’s a common reason students underperform in exams, despite having studied for months in advance…

A Step-By-Step Guide to Acing Your NCEA Exams

A Step-By-Step Guide to Acing Your NCEA Exams

We get it. Exams can be tricky. We know what it feels like to feel prepared for an exam, then have that illusion shattered the minute we open the first page of the exam paper. We’ve all been there. Maybe your goal is to just make it through an exam without panicking…

Our Top 5 Tips to Ace Exams

Our Top 5 Tips to Ace Exams

Exams are just around the corner, and this time of the year is notoriously stressful for students. While nerves can be helpful, too much stress can be detrimental to your child’s success. Over the years, we’ve had lots of first-hand experience guiding students through this stressful time of the year. So, we know the best strategies on how to tackle exam period…

Why Get Tutoring in Term Four?

Why Get Tutoring in Term Four?

Studying for exams can be really tough on young people. The pressure is high, the content is tricky and the exam leave period means that students don’t have any support from teachers on hand. Studying the “right stuff” can often become a guessing-game, plagued by uncertainty and procrastination…

How to Make the Most of Mock Exams

How to Make the Most of Mock Exams

Mock exams cause a great deal of stress in our students – with many not knowing how much effort they’re worth, or even where to start. In this post, we break down key struggles students face when it comes to mock exams, ways of overcoming them, and give a list of practical strategies to ensure success in mocks and beyond.

How to Help Your Child Overcome Their Fear of Maths

How to Help Your Child Overcome Their Fear of Maths

"I don't have a maths brain" is a phrase we hear often. Below, Inspiration Education tutor Alwyn talks about the misconceptions behind this statement and how this belief can be harmful to a student's learning. I often get told that I “have a maths brain”. Usually it...

7 Steps to Build a Positive Relationship with your Teacher

7 Steps to Build a Positive Relationship with your Teacher

It’s almost impossible to get along with everyone you meet. Everyone is unique, and has different ways of viewing the world. Inevitably in life, you will bump into people that you simply don’t seem to gel with. For various reasons during your high school experience,...

Why Mistakes Actually Enhance Learning

Why Mistakes Actually Enhance Learning

“Why might mistakes be important to learning?” Have a quick think about why this might be, then read more below. Mistakes are Important. Really. Wrong is the type of word most wouldn’t associate with any form of success while learning, but science suggests it may be...