When you become a teacher, you might be surprised by the amount of time you spend communicating with people who are not your students. The parents of your students are a vital part of the education team, and your ability to raise concerns and receive feedback can make a significant difference in student outcomes. Coming at it with a plan can help you minimize struggles and build stronger relationships with your students and their families. With these 10 ways to communicate with parents, you can create a path to effective parent-teacher communication at your school.
Introduction to Parental Communication Strategies
Finding meaningful ways to communicate with parents yields plenty of benefits for teachers and schools. Your students rely on their parents or another family member for support and assistance outside of the school day, from getting to school to handling homework and social interactions with peers. If you want their help to ensure that your students are getting the most from their school days, they need to know the facts.
Parents also need to feel like they can talk to you about their concerns in a way that can lead to effective solutions to problems. People are more likely to communicate clearly about needs and expectations when they know they will receive the same in return. They’ll be more comfortable opening up about challenges that they or their children face if they think you will be empathetic and considerate in your handling of that information.
If you really want to reach your students and their parents, it’s time to dig into your emotional intelligence and theory of mind. Although you may expect to handle things in a certain way, given your professional conventions, parents may not react in the same manner. Spend some time discovering the unique experiences of your school families and how those experiences shape their communication preferences. With that information, you can create communications that work for families, while getting your message across.
Active Listening: The Foundation of Understanding
In order to be able to talk to your parents, you also need to know how to listen — and listen well. Parents may not be willing to discuss problems if they feel like they’ll be rushed out the door with their concerns barely mentioned. To foster a culture of effective communication in your school, consider implementing the following active listening tips:
- Listen to learn, not merely to respond.
- Let speakers finish a complete thought before asking questions or replying.
- Look at the speaker and make regular eye contact.
- Use nonverbals to let the speaker know you’re listening, like nodding your head.
- Paraphrase their statements to confirm that you understand.
Teachers have busy careers, which means that you might struggle to find the time to truly engage with parents on a regular basis. It’s worth it. Making the effort to listen actively demonstrates to parents that you care, building their trust in your ability to help. Getting in the habit of active listening allows you to draw effective conclusions about the information you receive, which can guide your judgment in implementing plans to address issues. It also helps you avoid miscommunications that can complicate the parent-teacher relationship.
Strategies to Improve Parent-Teacher Communication
Building a school that thrives on good communication doesn’t happen by accident. Whether you need to improve your parent engagement or you simply want to add to your culture of healthy communication, these strategies can help.
1. Establish an open-door policy
Before you can start talking with parents, you need them to understand that you are also there to listen. Parents are often worried about interrupting busy teachers or taking up valuable time, so they may avoid reaching out to you until they have no other choice. To start off on a positive note, implement an open-door policy and let parents know when they can drop by. Set aside time to respond to phone calls and emails, too.
2. Provide consistent updates
Parent involvement works better when families have all the information they need about classroom needs, school projects, and their child’s progress. Choose a communication method based on your parents’ preferences and keep it going consistently. Short messages at least once a week are helpful. Parent communication apps can be a great way to facilitate communication without requiring parents to move between emails and text messages.
3. Schedule parent-teacher meetings
Outside of the standard parent-teacher conference, you should offer the ability to meet one-on-one with your students’ parents. Set aside enough time to discuss a child’s accomplishments and challenges, while leaving some space for parents to discuss their own concerns and ask questions. As part of staying connected with families in a post-COVID world, be sure to offer a phone call or online meeting as an option.
4. Leverage technology for communication
You probably use technology to communicate amongst your colleagues, family, and friends, so you can likely see the benefit of using it in the school setting. No one enjoys searching through emails and text messages for contact information, only to have to make a phone call to find out about a school event. Using TUIO for school-parent communication keeps your school’s communication needs in one platform. You can send individual or schoolwide messages and even accept payment for school activities.
5. Host informational workshops
Most parents aren’t teachers, which means that they can benefit from your school’s expertise outside of the classroom. Offer informational workshops that parents can attend to increase their knowledge and resilience to the challenges of raising children. You can include a range of topics, from positive behavior interventions for a young child to the importance of managing technology and social media for teens.
6. Invite and act on feedback
If you don’t ask your students’ parents to give feedback, you won’t know how your efforts at parent-teacher communication are working. Periodically throughout the school year, ask parents to complete a short survey or write personal feedback about their experiences. Once you get that feedback, look for ways that you can address their concerns or incorporate their requests into future planning. Follow-through may be the best way to ensure long-term parental involvement.
7. Celebrate achievements together
Above all, parents, teachers, and kids all want to feel like we are in this together. When someone wins, everyone wins. If your classroom perfectly executed a fire drill or if they just completed a tough unit in science, you should celebrate it. Take pictures with permission and post them to the secure classroom app for everyone to appreciate. These little moments create magic for your students and strengthen the bond between the school and their parents.
8. Be transparent and honest
Building confidence with your school parents requires a high level of transparency and honesty. When a student has a problem, their parents will look to teachers and administrators for the full facts. Aim to provide an honest accounting of any issue, avoiding bias. These actions show parents that you care about their child’s well-being.
9. Respect cultural and language diversity
There’s a lot of pressure for immigrants to assimilate, but they cannot always overcome cultural and language barriers. Hire interpreters to bridge the divide for parents who don’t speak the school’s primary language. Learn more about their cultures, so that you can ensure that you treat them with respect in every communication.
10. Maintain professionalism with compassion
Although every teacher should engage in parent communication with a professional attitude, it doesn’t have to sound clinical or disengaged. Parents have a lot invested in their students’ success, which means that interacting with the school can be stressful and emotional. Using warmth and empathy in your communications can show that you care, as long as you respect their boundaries.
Empower Your School to Communicate Effectively
As teachers, you and the parents of your students are modeling what healthy relationships look like. When your students see you handle communications with confidence and grace, they learn how to enact those communication skills in their own lives. Increasing effective communication doesn’t have to be complicated, but it should take some investment. Spending time to talk to parents in their preferred communication methods, using active listening, and following up on their feedback can strengthen the relationships between all parties. Ultimately, making a regular commitment to boost communication can improve the lives of everyone involved.
