Reflecting on the teacher-parent relationship. Ways to enhance communication and promote cooperation
I. Pre-Plan activities to help set the stage
Goal for conducting this research study. Values, beliefs, understandings and thoughts about this area of focus.
I want to take the best out of my students. As to achieve that, it is necessary that the students trust me, the school and the whole educational system on which my work is based. But very often parents severely criticize the quality of the teachers? work. They see teachers as representatives of an educational system that fails to provide their children with the skills they need and so they become extremely critical towards us and sometimes even offensive and defiant. The parents? opinion of the school obviously affects the children?s behavior and undermines the teacher-student relationship and moreover the students? performance.
The incident that helped me realize the existence of this particular problem.
Once I reprimanded one of my students for using inappropriate language. The social worker called the mother and reported the incident. This is the school?s policy: we always inform parents because we consider their co-operation necessary in order to face the behavioral problems of the students.
This phone call caused a ?domino? of reactions from the side of the mother, which revealed the problematic relationship between her and the school. She complained about the quality of work done in school and showed distrust towards teachers. In fact, she did not believe anything said from the part of the school.
Putting the pieces together, I realized that this reaction was also associated with the student?s behavior in the school. The student is often unwilling to participate in many of the school?s activities and often expresses discontent and criticism without any reason. Her behavior obviously reflects the parents? opinion, and many of the things she said are repetition of what she hears at home.
Situation I wish to change or improve.
I want to establish a better relationship with parents and earn their respect and trust.
Hunches/evidence from observations and teaching experiences that led me to focus on this problem.
I observed that when students misbehave for no particular reason, it often reflects the family?s severe criticism towards the school.
Critical factors that affect my chosen area of focus.
Type of school, level of students, educational level of parents, difficulties and disabilities of students, quality of the school (number of teachers, quality of the teachers? work, schedule, facilities), profile of the school?s administrator, Ministry?s current guiding lines.
- School: Secondary special education school. 50 students, 20 (max) teachers.
- Class: computer lab, 4-8 students
- Participants: Data collected from as many students, parents, and colleagues possible
- Critical friends: The psychologist and the social worker of the school. Hopefully, I will be in contact also with my critical friend group at GMU and we will be able to reflect together on my research.
Area of focus. How and why the critical factors I?ve identified affect that situation or setting.
I work in special education. Parents feel disappointed by the state, the educational system, the school. They are extremely stressed by the fact that they are raising children with special needs. Perhaps, they find it convenient to believe that the slow and scarce progress is fault of the teachers, because it allows them to live in denial of the child?s disability.
Moreover, the Ministry of Education seems to give priority to general education. This means that each year, teachers are first appointed in general schools and then (often many weeks later)in special schools. This causes many changes in the school?s schedule for the first 2 or even 3 months which is problematic for children?s start of year or what are the consequences?
I believe that the teacher-parent communication issue is a challenge for teachers in all kinds of education and the same principles and strategies can be applied both to general and special education. So, I plan to collect data that are not limited to special education students.
II. Start the Plan in Motion
Review and frame my question within the literature.
NEED MORE: examples of questionnaires for school evaluation from parents.
Relevant articles:
- An Investigation of Greek Teachers’ Views on Parental Involvement
- Communicating with Parents Strategies for Teachers.
- Does Your Parent Handbook
- Parent and Professional Agreement on Cognitive Level of Children with Aut.
- Parents and teachers? perceptions of adolescent storm and stress relations with parenting and teaching styles.
- Parents-Partners or Clients A Reconceptualization of Home School Interaction
- Teacher-Parent Communication Reforms
- The expectations of parents of disabled children
- The Supporting Alliance in Child and Adolescent Treatment Enhancing Collaboration Among Therapists, Parents, and Teachers
- Transfer of Information Between Parents and Teachers of Children with Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities at Special Educational Centres
- Using Active Listening to Improve
- Using the principles of intentional teaching
- What do school principals think about school-family relationships
- 8 great teacher habits parents love
- School-Family-Community Partnerships Applying Epstein’s Theory of the Six Types of Involvement to School Counselor Practice
III. Action Plan
Purpose of this study.
The purpose of this study is to investigate my role as a teacher and to improve the teacher-parent communication and cooperation in my class. I hope that the results of this study will be useful also for my colleagues and will help us to improve the communication between the parents and the school in general.
Purposeful pedagogical strategies or the proposed intervention.
- A meeting with parents. Discuss the issue and ask for their cooperation.
- Arrange scheduled meetings on monthly basis.
- Ask parents to fill in a questionnaire every 2-3 months and evaluate the teacher-parent cooperation.
- Record possible changes in students? behavior.
- Gather data from the parents? sessions with the psychologist and the social worker.
Critical friend team. Membership responsibilities of the Action Research Group/Team or Critical Friend Group.
- The teacher (me): Record everything that is said by the parents (directly or reproduced by their children). Record every interaction (phone calls, meetings, etc.) Cross-check comments delivered by the students with parents? true opinions.
- The school?s psychologist: Record all useful information that comes out during the sessions with the parents. Observe and record children?s behavior.
- The school?s social worker: Record all useful information that comes out during the sessions with the parents. Observe and record children?s behavior.
- The GMU critical friend group: Create a space online where we can discuss all the issues that come up.
Negotiations that will need to take place prior to beginning the research project. (ethical issues, school regulations, outside permissions, approvals, etc.)
An introductory conversation with parents and colleagues.
Written permission for using data from parents? interviews.
