A student’s success is majorly influenced by good parent-teacher relationship. No parent or teacher would like a student to fail; therefore, they will do their best to enhance a healthy relationship between them. It will be in the interest of the students if their parents promote effective relationships with the school and precisely the teachers. However, there are some teachers who may not like your child but as a parent, you should keep in mind that a teacher is the second most important person in the life of a student.  Therefore, it is the responsibility of a parent to help enhance that relationship and reward the teacher for the job well done if possible.

Parents and teachers play significant roles in developing an effective parent-teacher relation that will result in the success of the student. First, they enhance communication between them. Communication is extremely important since parent need to get information about their children and also teacher would like to know how students behave outside school. The following are ways in which both teachers and parents successfully enhance communication. Teachers mostly issue students with newsletters to take to their parents. Weekly, monthly or termly newsletters are an important way to share information with the parents (Parent/teacher relationship, 2009). The newsletters provide insight into what the teachers require from parents.

Similarly, the teacher may give students daily or weekly home notes that will engage and update parents about their children’s progress. Also, communication is enhanced through report cards (Parent/teacher relationship, 2009). Report cards convey the overall progress of the students throughout the school period. Parents will be able to know the student’s behavior, class performance, and other extra-curriculum activities.

Moreover, it would be important if both parents and teachers engage in a two-way communication that involves dialogue. Parents develop their relationship with teachers by making phone calls. The initial phone call made by the parent is the best way to start communication with teachers. The other way is through a parent-teacher conference. Conferences organized by the school provide a platform where both teacher and parents can create a partnership and be on the same page (Parent/teacher relationship, 2009). They can discuss issues that affect their children and come up with concrete solutions on how to curb the problems in question. Similarly, the solution-focused approach is vital since both parties will avoid blaming one another. Lastly, parents can make follow-ups after holding a parent-teacher conference. They can plan more strategies if required or discuss further with other teachers and parents.

Second, parents will develop effective parent-teacher relationship by considering their interpersonal skills. A good relationship with the teacher will be achieved when parents overcome their past negative school experiences. Some parents may have negative attitude or belief about the school; therefore, if they can forget the past and focus on the future, then they will positively impact their relationship with the teachers.

Besides, parents are good at being proactive. They develop a good relationship with the teachers by addressing their concerns about the school or students before it is late. They do this by identifying the problems affecting the students or school earlier so that teacher might find it easier to address. The other most important way parents use to enhance effective relationship is by using appropriate language. When parents communicate with teachers, they use polite language with non-threatening tones that even teachers will appreciate and accept. Such language will always be a stepping stone to their future relationship.

Both parents and teacher will know whether or not their relationship is effective if the outcome is positive or negative. First, a teacher will know his/her relationship with the parent is effective when they meet or interact in a conference. When a parent smiles or shows some positive signs of satisfaction, then it is an indication that they have a healthy relationship. Similarly, a parent will know the status of his/her relationship with the teacher if the teacher does not negatively react to issues concerning the student or roles of parents when they are in a discussion forum. Second, frequent communication from either parents or teacher will indicate that parent-teacher relationship is effective. Precisely, teachers often show their satisfaction about parents by providing a weekly or termly report to students so that they could give their parents (Zeiger, 2007). The report always contains the student’s performance and what they learned throughout the week or term. Similarly, if the parent is satisfied, he/she will provide feedback to the report in question. In case the relationship between the two parties is bad, their communication will also be affected.

It is important for the school to determine the effectiveness of parents-teachers relationship using certain criteria. The school or parents will determine their relationship with the teachers by looking at the outcome. When students show improved test score and overall grades, then it is a clear indication of effective well-planned and healthy relationship between parents and teachers. Similarly, if the students do not improve their grades or class performance, then the teachers and parents should know that they should effectively enhance their relationship. Moreover, effective parents-teachers relationships are also determined by lower student drop-out rates, more positive attitudes from students and less high-risk behaviors. From such positive outcomes, both parents and teachers would be jovial to see the fruits of their hard work. These are the criteria that the school, in general, will use to assess and determine the effectiveness of the parents-teachers relationship.

Parents-teachers relationship benefits students in the following ways. First, the relationship enhances the academic performance of the student (Parent/teacher relationship, 2009). The stronger the relationship between parents and teacher, the greater the chance the student will succeed. Precisely, the outcome of effective parent-teacher relationship is improved grades and test scores since the teacher’s morale towards teaching has also improved. Second, the student will benefit by improving his/her attitude, motivation, and self-esteem (Zeiger, 2007). The student’s attitude towards attending school and classes will improve highly if the parent-teacher relationship is enhanced. Similarly, students will develop a positive attitude towards homework. The student will be able to complete the assigned homework on time because of the motivation he/she has received. The third benefit is improved behavior. The student will develop and engage in less high-risk behavior, and this will lead to fewer dropout rates. The student’s behavior is significant in determining his/her success. Therefore, if the behavior of the student is improved, then the student will perform extremely well.

References

Parent/teacher relationship. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.teachervision.fen.com/education-and-parents/resource/4549.html

Zeiger, M.E. (2007). Teacher guide: How to effectively communicate with parent/guardians. Retrieved from http://www.worksheetlibrary.com/teachingtips/communicatewithparents.html

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