National Association of School Psychologists
Psychological Services Cumberland County Schools by Marian C. Fish
Overview
It has now been well established that children have an added advantage in school when parents have ongoing communication with teachers and support schooling. A collaborative relationship between parents and teachers can enhance both home and school performance in such areas as attendance, grade point average, preventing dropouts, and improving social behavior and academic work of all students. Sometimes, of course, excessive or inappropriate parent-school involvement might be detrimental, but more often it is the lack of a relationship between teachers and parents that is cause for concern. In general the involvement of parents does lessen with grades as children become more independent.
Barriers to Family-School Relationships
There are a number of factors that may undermine family-school relationships. These include the following:
a) Attitudes of Parents
- Parents have feelings of competitiveness with teachers.
- Parents blame the school for the child’s problems.
- Parents are hesitant to become involved because they lack understanding of the school system and how it works.
- Parents feet inferior, helpless, and powerless when dealing with the school.
- Parents feel that schools lack understanding of their traditions and values.
b) Attitudes of Teachers
- Teachers have feelings of competitiveness with parents.
- Teachers blame the parents for the child’s problems.
- Teachers feel threatened by parents because of doubts about their own competence.
c) Logistical Concerns
- There is limited time for communication between teachers and parents.
- The typical parent-school contacts are not conducive to meaningful relationships or effective problem-solving.
- It is often difficult to arrange transportation, baby-sitting, time off from work, particularly for single or working parents.
d) Skills In communication
1. Anxiety experienced by teachers when interacting with parents may be due to a lack of knowledge and/or skills in effective communication techniques.
e) Philosophical concerns Some believe that educational decision-making is the exclusive responsibility of educators. Some cultural groups support this position, and home-school interaction may not be valued in these cases.
What can I do as a teacher?
There is no one type of parent-teacher relationship. Some parents prefer being involved in passive activities as opposed to active decision-making. Feel free to keep your relationship with parents as flexible as possible, and change when the need arises. In order to a) improve the quality of your relationships with parents, and b) involve more parents with the school, here are some things you can do as a teacher:
- Write personal notes and/or progress reports.
- Make good news phone calls and follow-up phone calls to report progress.
- Prepare parents for meetings by sending them questions to be addressed and information prior to the meeting.
- Always use language they can understand, not school jargon.
- Encourage and help parents to keep records of contacts with other professionals.
- Consider special needs of nontraditional families such as dual working parents, foster parents, or single parents. Be flexible with appointments and ask if assistance is needed with transportation or baby-sitting.
- Invite parents into the classroom so they can share their expertise with children and/or other parents and teachers.
- Make presentations to parent groups on relevant topics.
- Initiate the joint planning at a social activity with parents.
- Initiate the joint planning of a program to welcome new parents to the school.
- Invite parents to class events such as plays and musical performances or to a luncheon or fair.
- Ask parents to help in the classroom, on trips, or to raise money for an event.
- Invite parents to participate on committees for school activities.
- Encourage teacher training in effective communication where necessary.
- Help develop a school conference policy that is conducive to meaningful communication.
- Always recognize and comment on the strengths of the child.
Resources
Lombana. J.H. (1983). Home-School Partnerships: Guidelines and strategies for educators. New York., Grune & Stratton.
Swap, S.M. (1987). Enhancing parent involvement in schools: A manual for parents and teachers. New York: Teachers College Press.