Will migrant children be able to cope with the new country’s academic system? 

We parents need to come to terms with the fact that transitioning into a new system is saddled with so many responsibilities. It can be challenging, and more often than not, we cease to understand that our children are equally going through twice the mental stress it brings along with it.

Here is the crux of the matter: the parents, before sojourning into the new territory, have conditioned their minds about what to expect, the hard work involved, and the adjustments they need to make.

On the other hand, the children didn’t get the minutest chance to process the information of “I’m going to leave everything I know behind and venture into an entirely new milieu, where I’m going to be the only black person in the school.”

This is a choice we all have to make: if we as parents bring our children out of our country for a better life for them, we equally need to be committed to the journey we initiated. Else there’s no point bringing them to a better life if we lose them along the way.

If we can’t carry them along till the finish line, it becomes then a juvenile behaviour by the non-juvenile people.

Moving abroad isn’t just a change of country; it can also mean a change in how a child can learn.

It is worthy to note that the school system may not actually work the way you’re used to.

If you’re relocating with your child, one of the first shocks is discovering that “school” doesn’t mean the same thing everywhere.

In Nigeria, the academic system hinges largely on rote learning; rote learning is a memorization technique based on repetition, and it is also seen as a learning process whereby the study material is learnt by memorising it exactly the way it was read or heard, much like a garbage-in garbage-out experience.

Another is the strict discipline, and a fixed national curriculum with clear-cut subjects and exams like WAEC and JAMB with precise cut-off marks that shape the whole journey. Teachers are authority figures first, and questioning them isn’t common.

If you look at the UK system, you will find out that it introduces early streaming and a more structured national curriculum too, but with more attention on coursework, presentations, and independent research starting from their age of reasoning.

When we zoom our attention to the Canadian school system, you will discover that it takes this even further, with provinces controlling education rather than a single federal body, and classrooms built around group work and student voice.

It’s very common for children to be asked what they think, not just what they remember. 

That’s the IBL method of learning. The USA pushes this even further, while Australia sits somewhere similar to the UK and Canada, going high-level on inquiry-based learning, and less pressure on children to memorize every iota of the learning materials; instead, they channel them more to the exploration and explanation of their reasoning.

And working in an inquiry-based learning system will most likely help students develop an appetite for learning via independence or self-reliance.

From experience, we’ve observed that your child may be capable, but still needs time and patience to adjust.

Academic ability is what your child knows. But getting familiar with a system is knowing how to show what they know in the way that system expects from them.

A bright child in some key subjects in Nigeria might suddenly struggle in a Canadian classroom that asks them to write a reflective essay on how they solved a problem, not just the answer.

This isn’t pointing out that the child got weaker. It’s a sign that the format changed and they haven’t learned the new rules of the game yet.

The environment just demands a different kind of attention for a while. Embellished with the right support, most children catch up to the new expectations far faster than parents expect, because the ability was never the problem in the first place.

Even so, how about the shock of different examination formats? A child used to objective tests and essay questions with predictable structures may suddenly face open-book assessments and oral presentations that count for a big chunk of their grade.

The knowledge has always been there, but the format feels unfamiliar at the beginning. How about the unfamiliar terms and vocabularies used? Words like “trimester” mean nothing to a child who grew up in a place with “break time,” “form teacher,” “assembly ground,” and “first terms.”

How about taking part in thoughtful decisions in the classroom? Classroom participation trips up a lot of Nigerian children too. Many were raised to see keeping quiet as respect and speaking up as almost rude.

So when others are participating in impactful classroom discussions, the well-behaved child who often keeps quiet can be mistaken for a disengaged guy and consequently affects the morale or confidence to associate with other students.

It is also important to note that the instinct to push harder when a child is struggling is understandable, but don’t overdo it. As a Nigerian parent, you can support your child without creating unnecessary pressure.

You can as well apply a subtle push by telling your child directly that the school system is different, that feeling behind at first is normal, and that it says nothing about their mental capacity or intelligence. That single conversation removes a lot of silent shame you might not know is there.

Going further, you can now agree that tutoring becomes worth considering when the struggle sits specifically in unfamiliarity with format or expectations, and not in the fundamental subject knowledge.

When you notice your child understands the math but keeps losing marks because they don’t know how the teacher wants the working shown, a couple of sessions focused on “how this school system sets their tests” can close that gap fast.

But here is the good news: you don’t have to figure this out all alone, and neither does your child.

NaijaTutors Konnect connects migrant families with tutors who understand both the Nigerian foundation your child is coming from and the academic system they’re stepping into, so the gap closes faster and with far less frustration on both sides.

Book your free assessment with NaijaTutors Konnect today and give your child the head start they deserve in their new school system.