Teacher Role for Effective Parent-Teacher Communication
Feyza Bahar
Northern Arizona University
Teacher Role for Effective Parent-Teacher Communication
Nobody doubts about the importance of families at every point of life span. Our parents are our first and life –long teachers. In the education part of that life span many researchers and educators emphasize that parents and their direct and indirect involvement in the student’s education play an extremely big role in the child’s success. Bronfenbrenner’s (1975) ecological perspective highlights that families are the most influential environment in children’s learning and development.
Unfortunately, our education system faces many problems because of lack of parent involvement. Some educators claim that lack of parent involvement might be due to the parent-teacher communication. Researches show family involvement practices typically address “school readiness” with standards and expectations closely aligned with the needs and priorities of teachers rather than families (Giovacco-Johnson, 2009). This traditional perspective shapes parental activities to the needs of the school (Bloch & Tabachnick, 1994).
Building strong communication with student’s parents is one of the important things that should be initiated at the very beginning of the school year. The following reflections show why building a good parent relation is necessary for a new teacher:
“As a new teacher, I never understood the need to contact parents. My job was the students, not their parents (or so I thought). I took phone calls from parents, but I didn't make many attempts to initiate calls. To be frank, I was petrified of the parents. After the first report card, I had a lot of angry parents on my hands, and I spent the rest of the year defending my teaching strategies and myself. I learned the hard way. I learned that if I took time at the beginning of the school year to phone each family to introduce myself, offer a few positive statements about their child, and let them know what was happening in class, I had fewer problems during the year. In fact, communicating with parents turned them into advocates for me and for my students — a helpful resource rather than a dreaded hindrance. In short, we became partners.”
Defining Problem.
Without effective collaboration between parents and teachers, problems cannot be remedied. The teacher bears the responsibility of developing a positive relationship with parents to achieve the goal of successful education (Rosenthal, 1996).
Why developing the partnerships with parents become very challenging for teachers? Is it because of the lack of teacher commitment at the parent-teacher communication or having different types of parenting styles in our hands? Although there are too many reasons for this problem, my paper will focus on the role of teachers in parent –teacher communication deficits. The possible reasons of having some communication problems with parents may be listed as following:
(a) Insufficient Training of Teacher Candidates: Some teachers might be socially gifted and have excellent communication skills. For those who do not inherit these social skills, unluckily teacher preparation programs are insufficient at making them gain required communication skills.
(b) Teacher and Parent Overloading: Teacher’s daily workload is also another factor for not getting to touch with parents. ‘Parents are also busier than ever. The high divorce rate threatens to make intact families the exception. But while these facts are relevant in today's world, we cannot focus only on the obstacles. Teachers must find new ways to reach out to parents.’ (Hoerr, 1997).
(c) Inefficient Beginnings at the Fist Meetings: One of the most challenging moments new teachers may face is parent- teacher conference. Strong relationships are the result of professional attitudes at the beginnings. Canter & Canter (1976) lists the mistakes most made at parent teacher conferences are:
• Teachers apologize for bothering parents.
• They downgrade problem.
• They belittle themselves.
• They do not clearly state their needs.
• They downgrade the consequences of the child’s behavior
(d) Lack of Administration Support: Parents and teachers are not the only elements of a good communication. Administrators are the other part of this triangle. The attitude of administration is one of the most important factors to build a partnership with parents. Biased actions or speeches of administration might make little problems bigger between teacher and families.
(e) Unresponsiveness of Parents: In another survey of teachers, 63% indicated that parents are less involved in their child's school life than parents were ten years ago (Hunker, 1997). While researchers point to the strong influence of parent involvement on student success and achievement, there are still a large percentage of parents that do not attend parent-teacher conferences. There is also a direct correlation between poverty and failure to attend parent-teacher conferences. Unfortunately, those students at greatest risk (urban students living in poverty) do not have the parental support that would help them be successful at school (Carey 1996).
(f) Lack of technology use: We may like it or not, we have to adapt to technology. For the twenty first century skills each student has a right to have teachers who skilled at the effective use of information and communication technology (ICT) for teaching ad learning. Unfortunately; today’s teachers are not well trained on ICT skills.
Theoretical Background.
Flett & Conderman (2001) investigated the parent-teacher communication problem and focused on the benefits that collaboration between teachers and parents produce. They explained twenty ways that can assist a teacher develop collaboration particularly with parents from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
The article is lacking in that it does not speak directly to the problems faced when dealing with parents from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. The authors do not take the time to discuss specific issues and align their suggestions with the specific issue. They simply assume that you know and understand the issues involved in dealing with parents from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. However, the twenty suggestions including: ‘exploring parents' expectations, learning about the family's culture, providing communication in many forms, making use of casual contacts with parents, planning different times for conferences, involving interpreters, and linking classroom curriculum with home-learning activities’ can be extremely helpful for teachers who are aware of the difficulties presented by culturally and linguistically diverse parents. To develop a worthwhile relationship, educators should recognize the importance of collaboration between parents and teachers and presents clearly defined suggestions on how to develop a worthwhile relationship. (Suite)
Duncan (2007) describes how parent-teacher problems take shape according to different parenting skills like ‘…disorganized parents who lose papers, hovering moms and angry dads, and of course absentee parents who never show up for anything…’ It is good for teachers to know the variety of parenting styles required different approaches. To pretend the problems at the beginning and during whole year, it is important that teachers think about who and what they want to communicate ‘If you're a new teacher, learn your school culture. Familiarize yourself with school policies about potentially touchy issues like discipline, grades, and the dress code. If your school publishes a parent handbook, study it carefully. Also, if you're new to a school, ask if there are hot topics parents don't want discussed with students at all or only in prescribed ways, such as puberty, sexuality, abortion, or drug and alcohol prevention. If these are topics that appear in the recommended curriculum, you may need to discuss with parents the importance of their children being given the facts about sensitive subjects.
It is well known; children perform better when school and parent works together. In the article of Parent Involvement in Education, (Cotton & Wikelund) authors overwhelmingly demonstrate that parent partnership in children's learning is positively related to achievement. Further, the research shows that the more intensively parents are involved in their children's learning; the more beneficial are the achievement effects. This holds true for all types of parent relations in children's learning and for all types and ages of students.
Analysis & Solutions.
As mentioned at the beginning, families are child’s life long teachers and teachers are only a brief light in their life for a semester or a quarter or during a year. So "When working with parents, be honest," advises Pennsylvania teacher Laurie Borger. "And be sensitive! Remember that you are talking about their most valuable family resource — their family's future. So every parent very much wants to know that you, as a teacher 1) knows their child and 2) first and foremost, likes their child. This is where the parent/teacher relationship really begins.’
There is no one fit all solutions for all communication problems. Many studies and researchers investigate the benefits of collaboration between teachers and parents; however, there is not enough indication of how to build good communication skills such as good listening techniques, tact, kindness, consideration, empathy, enthusiasm, and an understanding of parent-child relationship. Positive and clear beginnings are always the key word and also another important point to remember is keeping parents informed. ‘When teacher contact with parents regularly, they will be more appropriate to listen and respond to a behavior problem. This communication can be made through a student communication log, student agenda, or separate notes’. (Rosenthal, 1996)
First of all, when getting touch to parents, teacher must be sure about what needs to be solved or what expectations they have from parents. For example, many teachers do not want parents to interfere with their classrooms. So firstly expectations should be all clear.
Teacher should ask a specific time and location to parent for conference so that parent will be aware of that the problem is taken care seriously by teacher. Duncan (2007) says ‘when a parent has a history of difficult behavior, hold the conference in the principal's or vice principal's office. Make sure the administrator is versed on the problem as expressed by the parent.’
Secondly, to find a workable solutions teacher should be prepared with communication log to ask some specific questions and to note parents’ responses. It will show to parent that how teacher truly interested about his student.
Third point is listening parents, being positive, choosing words carefully. If the parent gets even a hint that you don't like the child, all is lost ‘First and foremost, let parents know that you know and appreciate their child. Finally, discuss any concerns. And no matter how strong your concerns may be, don’t flag them as “problems.” Use the word “concern” or say, “I’ve noticed such and such.” This way, parents won’t panic. At the same time, make sure that by the end of the conference all the cards are on the table so you can begin to sort out what’s next for the child.’ (Rosenthal, 1996)
The fourth and most important one is, knowing all the students deeply. Wong & Wong, in The First Days of School, encourage preschool and kindergarten teachers to schedule home visits, if appropriate, bringing letters inviting parents to a back-to-school open house and including a list of materials to have ready. Easing the transition means a lot to families (Duncan, 2007).
In order for successful teacher and parent communication, it is important that teachers think about what they want to communicate, ask specific questions so that parents can provide applicable information to helping their child, listen to the parents whenever they share that information, and know each student as an individual learner in the classroom. Whenever teachers and parents communicate consistently throughout the school year, the students will reap the benefits and will be successful learners.
Swick (2006) identifies three key practices to nurturing the partnership effort that provide the energy for building healthy relations among families and schools; programs that welcome families, honor families, and connect with families are best equipped to build trusting relationships.
Teachers need to continue to emphasize that parents are partners of the school and that their involvement is needed and valued. Giovacco-Johnson (2009) claims that the idea of building a bigger, stronger sense of community in the school building develops a sense of belonging and valuable connections to others in the community.
Professional teaching requires not only good communication with students but it also requires building and developing good communication with parents. Any step toward a better parent-teacher communication can make big changes in students’ academic and social lives. For sure; students win when teachers partner with parents in a positive way.
References
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1975). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Canter, L., & Canter, M. (1976) Assertive Discipline - a take-charge approach for today's
Educator. Los Angeles, CA: Lee Canter and Associates.
Carey, N. (1998) Parent Involvement In Children’s Education: Efforts by Public Elementary Schools, National Center for Education Statistics, January 1998
Cotton, K. & Wikelund, K.R. (2000). Parent Involvement in Education, The Schooling Practices That Matter Most. New York: Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory.
Duncan Patricia A. (2007) Pet Peeves About Parents: Turning Problems into Partnership. The Journal of Adventist Education.
Flett, A. and Conderman, G. (2001). 20 Ways to Enhance the Involvement of Parents from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds. Intervention in School and Clinic, 37(1), 53-55.
Giovacco-Johnson T. (2009) Portraits of Partnership Early childhood education journal 1082-3301 2009
Hunker, P. G. (1997). Schooling parents: adults can learn to take part in education of their offspring. The Washington Times, pp. 1.
Loughran, S. B. (2008). The Importance Of Teacher/Parent Partnerships: Preparing Pre-Service
And In-Service Teachers. Journal of College Teaching & Learning 5(8)
Rosenthal, D. M. (1996). Building successful home/school partnerships: strategies for parent
support and involvement. Childhood Education, 72(4), 194+.
Swick, K. (2006). Families and educators together: Raising caring and peaceable children. Early Childhood Education Journal, 33(4), 279–287.