Creating Effective Communication Between Parents and Teachers
In educational institutes, a parents-teachers meeting (PTM) is essential to inform the parents about their child’s growth in school. Often, the arrangement does not take place with effective measures leaving miscommunication, partial communication, or no communication.
As well, in the current scenario, both parents are mostly working; hence, they do not make it up for the PTM sometimes.
If you are looking for tips and tricks for improving the parent-teacher school meeting, you have landed at the right spot. Here, we are listing the top tips that will enhance the overall PTM experience.
#1. Use school management system
While you want to strengthen parent-teacher communication in the meetings, you should use a school management system. The system offers a quick and easy communication facility where teachers can send direct notifications or updates to the parents. Apart from this, they can make students’ results and progress reports available online, so parents can view the details without visiting the school.
In fact, the use of such software is being increased day by day. The educational system insists on delivering a high-quality experience to the students and parents, which can be fulfilled by online learning effectively and efficiently.
#2. Offer personalized meeting experience
Each student is unique, so the teacher needs to inform all parents of different details. In this instance, it would be a great idea to deliver a personalized experience for all guardians. This will enable in maintaining the privacy of students’ improvement and allow parents to converse openly. Besides, personalized meeting conversations will enhance the school’s reputation and image among all the parents.
#3. Design shorter, frequent communication
Do not opt for one long communication or wait until the end of the term to reach out with an extended recap to communicate with parents. This will not only create complications in the communication but also create flaws in informing the details.
Just as schools have shifted to more frequent evaluations of students, school communications should also be short and frequent to keep parents in the loop on a continuous basis. A school management app is the best way for this type of communication, where parents and teachers can stay connected frequently.
#4. Allow flexible meeting schedule
This is one of the highly demanded options by the parents. As both parents are working (in most instances), they might not be able to make up at the designated time for the PTM. If your institute’s goal is to strengthen parent-teacher communication, flexibility in the meeting schedule should be there.
Furthermore, in today’s digital world, parent teacher communication can also take place online via school management software. The accessibility of communication with teachers from anywhere, working parents admire this type of facility from a school.
#5. Keep students’ report ready beforehand
If a teacher has prepared the students’ reports beforehand, it will be a lot easier to communicate the details effectively. With the complete record and progress report on hand, teachers only need to focus on emphasizing having an effective conversation. Moreover, they can present students’ work quickly so that parents can get an overview of their child’s progress at the school.
#6. Provide actionable information
Providing information to keep parents up-to-date is recommended, but schools also need to make sure they share information that parents can act on. This can include opportunities for parents to encourage or prepare their child for classroom assignments or learn about forthcoming extracurricular activities and special events.
Apart from the above mentioned tips, here are some other consideration that helps in improving parent teacher communication;
- Encourage teachers to be proactive about communication with parents. If parents are not participating actively, send them reminders and ask them to join a meeting.
- Build a report with the parents and inform them about their child’s overall behavior or progress at school. If required, teachers should connect with specialists for the betterment of students.
- Arrange for the translator if there is a requirement for making the communication a flawless process.
- Assess family dynamics for students who have parents no longer living together and ensure proper communication for both households.
- Make sure a teacher is using appropriate verbal and nonverbal communication.
- Do not forget to mention the positives about each student to their parents.
- Take advantage of technology where possible and needed.
Effective communication between parents and teachers is crucial for the betterment of students. As teacher and parent relationships play a vital role in the development of a student, both of them need to communicate frequently and on a continuous basis. Once parents are aware of their child’s progress at school, they can take certain measures to notice visible improvements in the student’s progress.
In a nutshell, when you are trying to make parent-teacher communication an effective process, there are certain elements that play their role. For instance, if you opt for a tech-savvy approach, it will be a lot easier to share information with parents. Also, it will advance the manual tasks and create a positive impression. If a teacher keeps the above mentioned points in mind while conversing with parents, the PTM can be as effective as expected.
About the author:
Shobhit Srivastava is an avid writer. He holds spectacular skills in school automation, loyalty programs, marketing, and customer retention. Connect with him on Twitter!
