How teachers and parents need to work together for the best learning experience (2024)

FAQs

Why is it important for parents and teachers to work together? ›

By working in partnership with parents, teachers can contribute to the learning and well-being of students. This collaboration will have a positive impact on students' academic performance, social-emotional learning (SEL), on-task behavior and overall holistic development.

Effective outreach practices include meeting face to face, sending learning materials home, and keeping in touch about progress. Workshops for parents on helping their children at home are linked to higher reading and math scores.

A little friendliness goes a long way, especially when it comes to elementary school parent-teacher communication. Whether you're communicating via email, text, or in person, be warm, be welcoming, and offer encouragement. When you see parents in person, smile, shake hands, and make eye contact. Be positive.

It Positively Influences Children's Behavior

Decades of research have made one thing clear: parental involvement in education improves student attendance, social skills and behavior. It also helps children adapt better to school.

Parent-teacher interaction allows educators to gain valuable insights into a child's learning style, interests, and areas where they may need extra support. With this knowledge, teachers can tailor their teaching methods to suit individual needs, ensuring a more effective and engaging learning experience.

Students thrive when their parents become part of the classroom. Children learn best when the significant adults in their lives -- parents, teachers, and other family and community members -- work together to encourage and support them.

Students whose parents were involved in school during their elementary years experienced lower rates of high school dropout, were more likely to complete high school on time, and had higher grades.

Use a Collaborative Approach

Create regular opportunities to mutually share information about a child's learning and development. Ensure constant two-way communication and collaboration between families and school staff. Work with families in constructing goals, monitoring progress, and supporting learning.

Research shows that parental involvement can free teachers to focus more on the task of teaching children. Also, by having more contact with parents, teachers learn more about students' needs and home environment, which is information they can apply toward better meeting those needs.

Why parents are the most effective teachers? ›

Parents as Teachers in the Crucial Early Years

It means your children are learning important lessons in your home well before they go to school. They're learning literacy skills, social skills, emotional skills, and moral values and attitudes. How do they learn these things? From their first teachers: their parents.

Good communication skills are essential for teachers. They need to be able to communicate effectively with their students and other teachers, and school staff. Good communication skills can help teachers to better understand their students and to build positive relationships with them.

Make a point never to criticize your child's teacher in front of your child. Set up a system where routine items are easily located – such as backpacks, shoes, and signed notices. Create a central calendar for upcoming events to avoid the unexpected.

Consulting them about children's early experiences helps practitioners plan for effective learning at the setting, and helps them support parents in continuing their children's learning development at home. All contributions from parents should be encouraged and welcomed.

Ongoing communication with your child's teacher allows them to tailor their approach and apply appropriate strategies to suit your child's needs and learning in class. Parents who are involved also tend to have a more positive view of teachers, which results in improved teacher morale.

Collaboration between parents is also good for a child's intellectual development. According to research, children with two involved parents are more skilled at problem solving and perform better at school. Plus, when their parents are consistent in terms of rules and boundaries, they feel more secure.

Educators learn from each other, share best practices, and gain new perspectives. This collaborative environment provides opportunities for reflection, feedback, and growth as educators strive to improve their instructional strategies.

Some of the benefits of teacher collaboration include solidifying educator goals, expanding resources and strengthening the potential for the success of educator goals. It opens up different perspectives for students and teachers, increases student engagement and allows teachers to share the responsibility of teaching.