FOR LIBRARIANS, EDUCATORS & HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS

Parents As Partners In The School Community

Most parents and teachers want the best educational outcomes for all children, but schools cannot achieve this aim alone. Schools, parents and communities must work together.

What are the needs of your parents or primary caregivers? Childcare services, transportation, translation, information dissemination in appropriate languages, a chance to stimulate interaction between parents and educators, convenient time for meetings, training programmes or refreshments? Parents, like pupils, often have complex needs, wants and desires.

In an ideal world, parents and caregivers should be seen as partners in the children's education. For the partnership to work, both parties need to understand the importance everyone plays in a pupil's development. Regular and consistent communication is vital and "Parents Evenings" are a popular communication tool.

Objectives

At the conclusion of the seminar, participants should be able to:

Demonstrate ways in which educators can encourage more active participation in the life of the school, especially with parents from ethnic communities and those traditionally ‘hard to reach’ parents
Explain the role of boundaries between home and school
Describe methods of improving parents nights
Understand the importance of parental involvement as an essential component of the organisation of the school
Identify classic profiles of difficult parents and identify some positive strategies for dealing with challenging personalities

Outline of Syllabus

Participants are introduced to a variety of issues which may include

Moving beyond lip service: partnerships with parents in the home, school and in the neighbouring community
Same train carriage; different windows - parents and teacher expectations
The role of pupils
Family practices and beliefs
Teachers in the lives of parents
Parents as volunteers - just how much involvement?
Rights and responsibilities
How teachers can support parents
Class, power, gender, diversity
Pupils and parents with limited English
Some parents bring joy when they come into the classroom; others bring joy when they leave: how to with difficult parents and their challenging behaviours
Parents evenings: how teachers and parents can learn from each other
Decision making, advocacy and parent-teacher collaborations