Induction tutor materials
Training session - building effective relationships with parents, carers and families
Duration: 60 minutes
Session objectives
Learn that:
- 8.4 Building effective relationships with parents, carers and families can improve pupils’ motivation, behaviour and academic success.
Learn how to:
Communicate a belief in the academic potential of all pupils, by:
- 1d Seeking opportunities to engage parents and carers in the education of their children (for example, proactively highlighting successes).
Build trusting relationships, by:
- 7k Liaising with parents, carers and colleagues to better understand pupils’ individual circumstances and how they can be supported to meet high academic and behavioural expectations.
Build effective working relationships, by:
- 8h Communicating with parents and carers proactively and making effective use of parents’ evenings to engage parents and carers in their children’s schooling.
How to prepare for the session
Ask ECTs to bring their school’s communication policy to refer to in this session.
Read the ECT’s self-study materials for this module
Be aware that ECTs may have had some difficult experiences with parents, carers or families over the year. The conversations in this session may be challenging for some, and could degenerate into negativity. Be sensitive and focus discussions on positive experiences, seeking solutions and avoiding apportioning blame to parents and carers.
Session structure:
Building effective relationships with parents, carers and families (10 minutes)
Ask ECTs to share their experiences of liaising with the parents, carers and families of the children they teach.
You could facilitate this by providing a list of statements and asking ECTs the level to which they agree or disagree with each.
Example statements include:
- engagement of parents, carers and families in their children’s education can improve learning outcomes
- engagement of parents, carers and families in their children’s education can improve pupils’ motivation
- parents and carers know best how their children learn
- parents and carers have the right to know every time their child misbehaves
- parents and carers should be able to talk to each teacher of their childindividually, outside parents’ evenings
- parents and carers should help children with their homework
- parents and carers who were less successful at school are less likely to engage in their children’s learning
- teachers should be able to telephone parents and carers with success stories whenever appropriate
- teachers should let parents and carers know what their child is going to be learning
- teachers should tell parents and carers how they can help with their homework
It’s important to clarify where there are misunderstandings or misconceptions around any of the statements before moving on.
Reinforce that seeking opportunities to engage parents and carers in the education of their children can help teachers to:
- communicate a belief in the academic potential of all pupils
- understand pupils’ individual circumstances
- ensure high behavioural and academic expectations are met
They should consider how best to do this for the pupils they teach. Strategies will be explored in the rest of the session.
What can you learn from liaising with parents, carers and families? (15 minutes)
Share this example:
Mr Symons: Hello?
Teacher: Hello Mr Symons, I am just calling after our chat a couple of weeks ago to tell you about how well Raeshad has been doing in his numeracy work and how much improvement I have seen since our last conversation.
Mr Symons: Really?
Teacher: I have been so impressed with the effort he has been putting in. The class did a short quiz today and Raeshad showed that his understanding has really improved.
Mr Symons: Oh that’s good because he doesn’t enjoy numeracy. He has never enjoyed it.
Teacher: That is interesting. Can you tell me a bit more? Why do you think he doesn’t like it?
Discuss what:
- can be gained from being proactive and contacting home?
- can the teacher learn here?
- other questions could the teacher ask
- impact will building an ongoing relationship with parents and carers have?
Ask ECTs to work in groups and share:
- what’s gone well with building positive relationships with parents, carers and families
- how this has helped them to better understand pupils’ individual circumstances and barriers to learning
- how they’ve used the information to adapt their teaching for individual pupils’ needs
- the outcomes in supporting pupils’ learning
Highlight examples where ECTs were proactive in liaising with parents.
Seeking opportunities to engage parents, carers and families (15 minutes)
You can engage parents, carers and families in their children’s learning by sharing successes.
Ask ECTs to review their school’s communication policies to identify the ways in which they’re supported to share successes with parents, carers and families.
Ask ECTs to work in groups and identify one new approach they can try. This must align with their school’s communication policy.
Making effective use of parents’ evenings (15 minutes)
Ask ECTs to share effective methods for dealing with parents evenings.
Together, create a list of 10 tips for new teachers to help them make the best use of these opportunities.
Examples could include:
Do not save surprises for parents evening. Parents and carers should already know if pupils have been doing less well than expected.
Plan what you’re going to say. This could include:
- what you've been teaching
- what is each pupil’s key progress or attainment
- what are their strengths
- what can they improve
- what questions do parents or carers have
Have pupils’ books or samples of work ready to look at.
Keep photos of pupils to remind you of them, especially if they do not attend the parents’ evening.
Smile and shake hands with each parent and carer as they arrive.
Stay polite throughout.
Apologise that you only have 5 or 10 minutes to talk and stick to timing so that you do not build up a queue.
Start off with a positive, and use praise where you can.
Ask a colleague to sit in on particular conversations if you’re worried about how they’ll go.
If a parent or carer asks question that you cannot answer or raises a concern that you’re unsure how to deal with, make a note of this and follow up tomorrow.
Planning for action (5 minutes)
Ask ECTs to note 2 or 3 key actions they’re going to take from this session. They should share these with their mentor.