Effective Parent-Teacher Communication Tips for Better Student Outcomes

The reasons for this perspective are based on the necessity of using cooperation between parents and teachers for a student’s successful educational process. In this essay, perspectives of both parents are described and based on the case when parents from two different families support each child’s academic and emotional development, students derive multiple advantages, including enhanced performance, motivation, and interpersonal skills. 

Tips for fostering strong, effective parent-teacher communication

1. Create Simple Channels of Communication

• Set Expectations Early: To begin with, the choice of communication methods (emailed messages, phone calls, written notes, learning management systems, newsletters, et cetera) should be introduced at the beginning of the academic year. Parents should also let the teachers know how they would like to be used to communicate with them.

• Two-Way Communication: It is not only for the teachers to pass information to the parents; the parents too should be free to contact to share any issue or development concerning the child in their homes.

• Regular Updates: Teachers can send bulletins or ‘letters home,’ use email, website, text, or application to provide information to the parents regarding classroom work, an upcoming exam, or any other event. Some parents do not have to contact every now and then to be informed what is happening with their kids; when they have the updates every once in a while, they are informed.

2. Organize frequent conferences between parents and teachers

• Face-to-Face Meetings: Apart from meetings, conferences provide an excellent opportunity for parents and teachers to talk about a learner’s performance. Every such meeting should be fixed, and it is necessary to ensure that the time allotted for the meeting is sufficient for considering the main points.

• Be Solution-Oriented: It is proposed that challenge events should not only be illustrated but also be solved during conferences. Teachers, therefore, should be ready with particular interventions for the student to avoid challenges and recommend home support.

• Listen Actively: Teachers and parents should also listen effectively during the conferences. Teachers may receive information from parents about their child’s behavior or difficulties they encountered at home that the teacher should consider while teaching the child.

3. Utilize Technology to Improve Interaction

• Online Portals: In the present-day society, most schools have online platforms through which the details of the child’s performance, his/her assignments, and even his/her record of behavior are posted. Parents are aware of the child’s progress and can intervene at early stages when the child requires assistance. Some of the best international schools in Kerala utilize online portals effectively for conducting parent-teacher communication. Giving ease to parents and saving the time of the school. 

• Mobile Apps: There are several applications that can help parents as well as tutors to share messages regarding children, set appointments and monitor their achievements frequently. Technology incorporation facilitates communication that is direct and all the procedure’s transparency.

• Virtual Meetings: Besides, virtual meetings are especially beneficial for parents with children or those individuals who cannot attend meetings in person. They can be arranged to occur at a preferable time for each of the parties involved.

4. Pay Attention to encouraging factors

• Share Good News: The so-called communication should not only be centered on issues. Teachers should also give parents good news in regards to their child’s progress, accomplishment, or even behavior. This helps to ensure the prevention of a negative relation or a minimisation of a positive relation between the pairs of variables.

• Celebrating Milestones: Telling students often as to whether or not they have improved academically, attended all classes or enrolled in a new course or a personnel development program ensures that students feel special and encourages them to work harder.

• Encourage Parent Participation: Encourage parents to come to school, participate in our programs, class or even if they can be part of our volunteers. That explains why when parents understand the positive side of school life, they will be more involved in helping their child go to school.

5. Establish a Friendly and Open Environment

• Be Approachable: Therefore, the teachers should be friendly and receptive to the parent’s complaints. The parents need to feel that their opinion is valued and that their fears are noted without prejudice, which means that they will communicate more frequently.

• Listen and Empathize: In their interactions with the child, teachers should always come to the discussion with sympathy, even when talking about issues as becoming problematic for the child’s development. It helps to trust because parents may be experiencing external forces pressuring them to take action and endanger the lives of their children.

• Respect Cultural Differences: Each family is different in its values, the ways of communication, and its members. There are also modules on multiculturalism, where teachers need to pay particular attention to the ethnic origin of the parents and avoid offending any of them.

6. Give Practical Feedback

• Be Specific: Considering the subject of discussing a student’s performance, it is better not to make general remarks on his or her work but to give examples. If one would like to be more pleasing, use this form: instead of stating, “Your child is doing well,” one may say, “Based on the observations made, your child is improving in math, having completed homework and actively engaging in class activities.”

• Set Clear Goals: Parents, as well as the child’s teachers, should begin by reaching a mutual understanding on the child’s daily academic or behavioral target. These have to be specific and contain a roadmap of how the parents and the teacher are going to assist the student in achieving them.

• Follow-Up Regularly: Brief follow-ups are especially important to know that some progress is being made, and they should be conducted on a regular basis. Teachers should check in once in a while to see if some strategies are useful and change if not.

7. Promote Teamwork in Solving Problems

• Work as a Team: Teacher-Parent communication should be consultative; the two share responsibilities for solving issues. If, for instance, a student is in academic or behavioral trouble, mapping as a group is certainly going to be a better idea than one-sided expectation.

• Share Resources: Parents can also exchange some learning tools with teachers, especially websites or other after-school activities. This way, parents would be able to help their child at home in the areas which he or she might be weak in.

• Support Each Other’s Efforts: Teachers and parents should appreciate and endorse each other in nurturing the child for success. Respect and recognition enhance the working relationship and its positive outcomes for a student.

8. Adapt Communications to the Needs of Each Student

• Personalize Communication: In covering the communication with the parents of each student, the student’s individuality should be taken into perspective. A bright student might need less intervention, whereas a slow learner or a child that has problems with interaction may need more constant communication.

• Address Specific Concerns: In situations where the student requires individual attention, it is important to consider the communication strategy that is to be used with the parents of the particular child. Keeping parents informed on their child’s difficulties helps everybody to be better informed.

9. Encourage Student Involvement

• Involve the Student: Students should be used in the communication process. It means that they have to ensure that they are learning and are on the right path. This makes not only their communicative abilities improve but also makes them more interested in their schooling.

• Teach self-advocacy: They should involve the students or their parents to enable the children to learn how to ask questions, seek help from teachers, or discuss their progress with teachers.

Conclusion

Parent-teacher contacts markedly contribute to teaching and learning outcomes because parents are an important part of the teaching process. Hence parents and teachers should be able to set proper communication means, time and frequency for meetings, with an emphasis on positive communication with regard to student performance and the necessity to appreciate each other’s contribution, so as to guarantee a supportive environment for student progress.

DiYES International, as one of the top international schools in Trivandrum, utilizes all the modern means to stay connected with the parents. The school knows that the root of a child’s growth is connected with parents. Effective parent-teacher communication is maintained by utilising all the tips mentioned above.