More and more schools are realizing the importance of this relationship and are dedicating more time and energy on nurturing successful partnerships for the good of their students.
Teachers want to know how their students are doing at home and parents want to know how their kids are doing at school; a healthy communication channel is the best way for both to provide an effective educational environment for their children.
Here are just some of the things to keep in mind when you are establishing a good parent and teacher communication strategy and relationship foundation:
Communicate early and often
You should be in contact with your parents well before the term even starts – just to provide a touch point for them. This early communication should give them the confidence to reach out to you should they have a question or if they are having problems with their child.
On the flip side, this early communication makes it more likely that parents will be more supportive and less hostile should you have a problem with their child that you need to talk about. Make sure communication is always consistent too, in order to grow and nurture a productive relationship with parents.
Set classroom expectations
Before getting down to the parents on an individual basis, you should speak to them together as a group. You need to establish with the parents exactly what you expect of the children in your classroom and help parents to understand how you need their children to behave.
This is a great opportunity to set boundaries and get parents to query things before they are in place. It also allows you to do a broad-based rules and expectation session that all parents understand and can’t back out of. You should also tell parents just what you expect from children’s homework and open the floor for any feedback. Communication is a two-way street, after all.
Set individual expectations
Sitting with parents individually is a good way to establish good communication and provides a platform to form a healthy relationship. Let them know exactly what is expected of not just their child, but also themselves as parents. Ask them about their child and they can make you aware of any problems before you even get started.
This is also the place to speak to them about what you would like them to do with their children with regards to homework. How long should they do homework for? What kind of work should they be doing? How much should they help their child? This meeting is about establishing what you expect and inviting queries back from the parents.
Choose the most effective channels
As with any demographic, parents are individuals. Their needs and expectations will vary from person to person. Some things will work well for some parents, while others may need a completely different approach.
Get to know the parents you are interacting with and figure out what works best for them, whether it’s phone calls, skype, personal chats or emails. Find out what works best and you’ll get better results.
Get feedback and adjust
Relationships need constant work and they change all the time – remember to invite feedback from parents to see what they think of your processes. See what is working, what isn’t working and what needs to be improved upon. You can then adjust your processes to get the best possible results.
When it comes to teacher and parent communication, we at Miniland strive to give advice and ideas to both parties to ensure a healthy relationship that will benefit the children at the end of the day. Our Miniland school educational toys are the perfect addition to any classroom and can be used to create a fun and educational classroom environment.
