Every teacher wants the best for their students. From carefully planning lessons to finding ways to make learning a more enjoyable experience, teachers play an integral role in students’ success. Much more than any other facet of schooling. However, teachers can easily get caught up in lesson planning, meetings, and marking schoolwork. As a result, they sometimes forget about the parent’s role in all of this and how they can profoundly affect their children’s academic journey.
Research suggests that a strong partnership between parents and teachers can significantly improve a child’s work ethic, affect their attitudes towards school, and boost their grades. So, it is important for any teacher or tutor to actively build a strong professional relationship with their students’ parents. In this post, we discuss exactly how teachers can build a strong relationship with parents.
3 Tip on How to Build a Strong Relationship with Parents
Create Parent Surveys
Asking your students’ parents to fill out a survey shows them that you’re truly concerned about their child’s wellbeing and performance in school. Questions such as “How was your child when they were younger?” and “What upsets your child and how can I better comfort them?” can give you insights on how to handle your students. Plus, it proves to parents that you are eager to take care of their kids at school. What is more, seeking parents’ advice lets them know that you respect how they have nurtured their child and can help you gain their support.
Help Them Plan for Their Child’s Academic Journey
It’s no secret that parents need to secure their child’s academic journey financially if they want their kids to reach their full potential and have freedom in choosing their own path. As a teacher, you can take some burden off your students’ parents by helping them plan. Let them know about their options, as they may not be aware. Doing so ensures that they won’t feel so hopeless when trying to fund their child’s education in the future and that your students get the education they deserve.
If you teach young children, you can encourage their parents to consider creating an RESP (Registered Education Savings Plan) account, a tax-advantaged account specifically designed to save money for a child’s secondary education. RESPs are a great choice for parents of primary school students, as their investments can grow if they start saving up earlier. But if you handle high school students who are about to join college, you can help parents by assisting them in searching for scholarships and grants their child is eligible for. This way, families have other options besides taking out heavy student loans that can become an additional barrier to achieving financial success.
Offer Volunteer Opportunities
Many schools depend on proactive parents to successfully carry out school programs, events, and various classroom tasks. Indeed, one of the best assets that you can lean on to improve your student’s academic experience is the parents. So, don’t be shy to ask your student’s parents to volunteer for different programs in your school. Aside from being happy to provide extra help, many parents want to take advantage of volunteering opportunities to be closer to their children.
So during the next parent-teacher conference or school event, be more vocal in asking parents to assist in school events. Explain to them how it can benefit their relationship with their child and boost their academic performance. As a teacher, teaming up with your students’ parents can positively impact your students’ educational experience and help them develop key learning habits and skills.
