DEVELOPING POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS

WITH

‘PARENTS’

‘DEVELOPING POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS WITH PARENTS’

A good educator sees that it's imperative that he/she develops positive relationships with all the stakeholders involved in education . These stakeholders encompass:the teacher/tutorstudentsparents /guardians and other teachers.

As an educator, why is it important to develop positive relationships ?

Are there benefits to be

derived?

BENEFITS• Parents get ideas from school on how to help and support their children,

and by learning more about the school's academic program and how it works.

• Substantial evidence exists showing that parent involvement benefits students, including raising their academic achievement.

• Other benefits are increased motivation for learning, improved behaviour, more regular attendance, and a more positive attitude about homework and school in general.

• With parental involvement it can allot more time for teachers to focus more on the task of teaching children.

• By having more contact with parents, teachers learn more about their students' needs and home environment, which is information they can apply toward better meeting those needs.

• The moral and willingness of teachers to perform increase.

There are many strategies teachers can employ to encourage positive relationships with their students and parents.

What strategies can I implement

to achieve positive

relationships?

Strategies for developing positive relationships with students:

1. Communicate positive expectations to your students.

Research has shown that expectations impact on student academic performance (Kerman, Kimball, & Martin, 1980).Tell students directly that you believe that they have the ability to do well. Your belief in them will inspire their success.

2. Tell students that they have the ability to do well. When you tell your students you have confidence

that they can handle a difficult assignment or improve their behaviour, you impart a very powerful message. Students often will work hard and behave appropriately to prove that your confidence in them is justified. Students need to know that their teachers respect them and have confidence in them.

Strategies for developing positive relationships with students cont’d :

3. Correcting Students in a Constructive WayCorrecting and disciplining students for inappropriate behaviours is a necessary and important part of every teacher's job. According to Coloroso (2002) the goal in correcting students should be to have them reflect on what they did,develop their own self-discipline by owning up to mistakes, correct, while leaving dignity intact and make a better choice in the future thereby building positive relationships.

4. Demonstrating CaringDemonstrating caring is one of the most powerful ways to build positive relationships with your students (Kerman et al., 1980). When your actions and words communicate that you sincerely care for your students, they are more likely to want to perform well for you and enjoy coming to school.

As part of the equation, teachers also need to employ strategies to develop positive relationships with the parents of their charges.

Strategies for developing positive relationships with parents.

1. Listen actively Teachers should put themselves in parents’ and students’ shoes and parents should put themselves in the teacher’s shoes. Show compassion, sensitivity, empathy and mutual respect for each other. All parties should try to understand the other’s perspective..

2. Be Very SpecificProvide ways parents can support their child at home: "You can help your child with her math homework by asking her to explain how she got an answer," or "As you're reading stories at night, ask your child to make predictions. This strengthens reading comprehension."

3. Declare Your Intention Tell parents that you want to partner with them, that you

appreciate their support, and look forward to working together for the benefit of the students.

4. Communicate Often and in Various FormsProvide information about what's going on in class what students are learning, what they've accomplished, what you're excited about, what they're excited about, and the learning and growth you're seeing. Make phone calls and have teacher parent conferences to discuss the child’s challenges if any and progress.

Strategies for developing positive relationships with parents cont’d

Teachers also need to employ strategies to develop positive relationships with other teachers/colleagues in education.

Strategies for developing positive relationships with other teachers/colleagues

1. Being a team member. Teaching involves working in teams or being part of

a team. As such the roles of all members and specifically your own should be defined in that you will need to learn about the other team members, their roles, previously established methods of working and any review practices. Contribute to the team in a positive manner.

2. Working with others. Do not operate in isolation and behave as you

know it all. “No man is an island”. Do not be afraid to turn to other colleagues for assistance . Help others when / if you can because people will respect someone they can rely on and will be more likely to return the favour.

Strategies for developing positive relationships with other teachers/colleagues cont’d

3. Sharing information/knowledge: Teachers learn or acquire new successful strategies to teach their students

and to this extent they can share these strategies with their colleagues so that they too can achieve success with their students in the classroom.

4. Respecting the views/opinions of each other: An important aspect of building positive relationships with your colleagues

is learning to respect and value their view points/opinions which may at times differ from that of your own. Every one is different and this will also apply to differences in teaching styles and delivery of content of the curriculum.

CONCLUSION Teachers and parents need to find ways to complement

each other’s skills and knowledge. By focusing on the student and developing effective communication techniques, they can work together to build an education plan that meets and or surpasses the student’s needs and has the support of school and family thereby building positive and strong relationships. Webster-Stratton (1999) states that positive adult-child relationship built on trust, understanding, and caring will foster children’s co-operation and motivation and increase their positive outcomes at school.

References

• Coloroso, B. (2002). Kids are worth it! Giving your child the gift of inner discipline. New York: HarperCollins

• Kerman, S., Kimball, T., & Martin, M. (1980). Teacher expectations and student achievement. Bloomingdale, IN: Phi Delta Kappa.

• Webster-Stratton, C (1999). How to promote children’s social and emotional competence. London: Sage.

Online ReferencesBuilding Parent-Teacher Relationshipshttp://www.readingrockets.org/article/building-parent-teacher-relationships

Developing Positive Teacher-Student Relationshttp://www.ascd.org/publications/books/105124/chapters/Developing_Positive_Teacher-Student_Relations.aspx

Relationships with colleagueshttp://www.new2teaching.org.uk/tzone/education/workingrelationships/

20 Tips for Developing Positive Relationships With Parents

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/20-tips-developing-positive-relationships-parents-elena-aguilar