Education experts have warned parents repeating a year of a child’s education could cause more harm than good to their mental health.
But many Hawkesbury parents and ‘repeaters’ like South Windsor’s Jamie Kingston don’t agree, saying it was beneficial. Holding students back has shown to contribute to poor mental health, low self-esteem and feelings of shame, claims Dr Helen McGrath, an Australian education and psychology researcher.
While the number of NSW public school students repeating is on the decline since 2012, there are still thousands of parents who insist it is the best option for their children, according to figures released by the Education Department.
More than 15,000 NSW primary public school students repeated a year over the past four years, with almost 7000 repeating kindergarten.
The second highest year level for students to be held back is Year 10, with more than 1130 students in NSW repeating in 2013
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