Parent and Teacher Communication

It is essential for the academic success of students that schools approach their parent communication in an effective manner. A school is a community; an environment where all stakeholders play a contributing role to the progress of the school. Teachers and parents are both important stakeholders in a student’s education, and regular teacher parent communication can ensure that the student receives the support and guidance they need to thrive across all aspects of their school life, including their personal, social, and emotional development.

According to the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), fewer than 10% of teachers have undertaken training on parental engagement. With this in mind, it can be very challenging for teachers to grasp an awareness early on in their career of how best to communicate with parents. In this blog, we’ll explore some of the best practices for effective communication that schools can adopt.

Establish clear parent communication channels

The first step to effective communication is to establish clear communication channels between teachers and parents. The most common avenues for teacher parent communication are:

Emails
Phone calls
In-person meetings

It is important for schools to provide clarity around their approach to ensure parents are aware of the preferred channels and also the expectations around timing of a teacher’s response. Avoiding this confusion can create a healthy dialogue between both teacher and parent.

Where social media or websites are involved, it is crucial that parents understand how to navigate these. Schools can do this easily by sharing demos and quick tutorial videos, or by holding support events. Consistency is key. From Twitter posts to headteacher notices, every strand of communication must maintain standards around tone of voice. Many schools are now immersing themselves in the world of social media. This comes with its own issues around privacy and content. Senior leadership will need to reflect and review the school’s social media output to ensure safety of all students is the priority but also the tone is professional and learning focused.

Finally on this point, schools must consider their parent cohort by providing communication that is accessible in other languages spoken by the school community.

Be proactive and relevant

Teachers should share relevant information with parents about their child’s academic progress and behaviour in the classroom. This can include test scores, grades, and any issues or concerns that the teacher may have noticed.

Parents, on the other hand, can provide information about any changes or challenges that their child may be facing at home, such as illness, family issues, or changes in routines. Many parents will have work and caring responsibilities to manage, so taking a proactive approach will be received warmly. For example, providing termly schedules, deadlines for trip payments or notifications about changes to PE sessions for the week will help support parents and maintain healthy relationships. If you are sending out notifications, make sure that parents understand how to turn these on and off.

That is what parents’ evening is for?

Don’t fall into the trap of regarding parents’ evenings as the only avenue for teachers to communicate with parents. Regular check-ins can help to ensure that everyone is on the same page regarding the student’s progress. These check-ins can be scheduled weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, depending on the needs of the student and the preferences of the parents and teachers. It is therefore essential that clarity is provided to parents and expectations are clear regarding the regularity of these meetings. Bear in mind that a meeting can be a two-minute check-in at the end of the day or a brief phone call on a Friday. In some cases, the school’s approach will need to be adapted for a particular family or context.

Use positive language

It’s important for both teachers and parents to use positive language when communicating with each other. This means focusing on what the student is doing well, as well as areas where they may need improvement. Using positive language can help to build trust and foster a collaborative relationship between teachers and parents. Positivity is contagious. Stronger together. These are two mantras school can adopt when shaping their policy around effective parent communication. It is important that, even when discussing sensitive areas of a child’s learning and development, that all parties remain positive and forward thinking.

Be open to feedback

Teachers and parents should be open to giving and receiving feedback. This can help to:

identify areas where improvements can be made
ensure that everyone is working towards the same goal.

Teachers should be receptive to feedback from parents, and parents should be open to suggestions from teachers on how they can support their child’s education. Acknowledging parents’ thoughts and feelings helps them to feel valued so listen carefully and always avoid misunderstanding by clarifying and summarising conversations.

The 24/7 trap

Develop a method of communication that works for your school. If teachers are replying to emails at 9pm but others are not, this creates confusion and inconsistency that we highlighted about avoiding earlier. Parents may also expect immediate responses regardless of the time. Set boundaries for when it is best to contact teachers and ensure parents know when they are likely to receive a response.

Too many cooks

Streamlining your administrative communication with parents will ensure your staff are not bombarded from different angles. Make sure your school’s policy will allow communication between staff and parents to be smooth and reliable. If parents are using past platforms or emailing the wrong staff member, then messaging can be lost. By reducing the number of channels your school uses to share information with parents, you will keep teachers and parents happy.

Next steps

If your school is currently reviewing your approach to parent communication, here is a checklist that might support your considerations:

Survey your parents to gather information about preferred channels
Hold a parent forum to discover parents’ reflections on existing and alternative approaches
Guidelines in place regarding direct messaging on apps like Teams and emails
Draft a policy outlining the school’s methods, including expectations of parents

In conclusion, effective communication between teachers and parents is essential for the academic success of students. By establishing clear communication channels, sharing relevant information, scheduling regular check-ins, using positive language, being open to feedback, and keeping the student at the centre of communication, teachers and parents can work together to support the education and development of their child.

Educater’s Parent Passport

Using a teacher parent communication tool such as our Parent Passport, allows regular updates on child observations to be sent across to parents from the school. Share daily care diaries, announcements, newsletters and regular updates on learning.