How Do Teachers Communicate With Parents? Best Tips & Guide

Except at home, children spend most of their time at school with their teachers. Therefore, parent-teacher communication is essential to maintain a good understanding between the teacher and the parents.

Since the teachers play an important role in parent-teacher communication, teachers must have a clear understanding of the topic of “how do teachers communicate with parents.”

Therefore, I decided to give an overview of this topic through the article. It will help teachers understand their roles and the parents understand the teachers’ point of view.  

So, how do teachers communicate with parents? There are many ways such as face-to-face meetings, newsletters, progress reviews that teachers can use to build and maintain a better communication policy with parents. Parent-teacher communication is essential to maintain a good relationship with parents without misunderstandings and to help the improvement of the child. Teachers should be positive, open-minded, and helpful when they communicate with parents. Further, teachers can use easy and fast ways such as phone calls, text messages, and emails to make communication convenient. 

Accordingly, I will discuss all the related information you should know from this article such as, what parent-teacher communication is, why teachers should communicate with parents, and the ways to communicate with parents.

Finally, I have listed out tips for teachers to have successful communication with parents. Hopefully, at the end of the article, you will have a good idea of how do teachers communicate with parents.

This will be a comprehensive post that covers all the relevant information. Therefore, I have listed the topics I discuss below. Please, feel free to jump straight to the section you want by clicking on the topic.

Let’s get started!

What is parent-teacher communication?

The parent-teacher communication starts with the child’s first attendance to the school, and it lasts until he ends his school life. It begins with introducing each other and gradually develops with time by sharing issues and situations related to children. 

It can be seen that the children are doing their school work well when the parents often talk with the teacher and get involved in school issues.

There are many ways that the teachers and parents can communicate with each other, except depending on the scheduled parent-teacher meetings. When there is close communication between the parents and the teacher of a student, it will directly affect the improvement of the student.

When we are discussing the topic of how do teachers communicate with parents, it is important to know more about the possible occasions that parent-teacher communication is possible. 

Parent-Teacher Meetings at the beginning of the year

Usually, teachers are welcoming meetings for the parents of their students early in the school year. This will be a better chance for teachers to understand the students, their parents, and the support and involvement of the parents in the education.

When parents are concerned and interested in their children’s education, it will be appreciated by the teachers. And there, it will open the lines of positive communication between them.

Representing the Parents 

When parents are participating as parent’s representatives or council members, they get additional chances to meet their children’s teachers.

By involving in the parents’ council, they get the possibility to interact outside of the classroom. Also, the parents have the opportunity to make decisions that affect the education of their children.

Volunteering 

Volunteering is another investment in the education of your child. There will be endless opportunities depending on the parents’ interests, availability, and needs for children.

Some suggestions can be presented as; tutoring, library aid, lunchroom monitor, classroom speaker in various topics of interest, and concession worker at the school events.

The parents should have stocks of various interests and skills to volunteer. The teachers may not know what the parents want to do as a volunteer. 

Casual Communication 

The parents and teachers also can maintain good communication through phone calls and visits to the classroom. There you may discuss appropriate means of contact and times to contact with the teacher.

Further, this type of occasion would come up when something unexpected happens at the school.  

Progress Review Meetings 

The progress review parent-teacher meetings are scheduled at least 2 times per school year. This is the chance for both parents and the teacher to talk all related to the student.

So, it is the best opportunity to develop a relationship between the teacher and the parent by discussing the growth and planning the further steps for the development of the kid.  

Why should teachers communicate with parents? 

Effective communication between teachers and parents helps to build understanding and trust. Then, you will be able to support the well-being and development of the children by working together. And this is the key to establish and maintain a positive relationship with parents.

A positive relationship means sharing experience and knowledge to understand a child’s situation, and it also will help develop plans together to support the child. 

Regarding how teachers communicate with parents, parent-teacher communication is not just participating in parent’s meetings or having a dialog with the parents.

There are many ways to keep in touch as positive two-way relationships, including adding comments to the homework, keeping the parents posted, sending weekly news emails, etc. 

There are many examples to show that positive communication between parents and teachers leads to a positive impact on students. Accordingly, teachers-parents communication is essential for many reasons; 

To improve the student

Parents-Teacher communication allows you to share educational improvement and the development of students with their parents.

It will help to improve the academic performance of children. By taking the parents on board, they can also help kids improve, and as a teacher, it will make your job easier.  

To understand the student

By informing the parents about the educational styles, needs, strengths, and behaviors of children, parents can help teachers in the teaching process.

While the teacher is the expert in teaching, the parent is the expert on the child who knows the characteristics, likes and dislikes behaviors, addictions, and any other things that affect the studies of the child.

So, communication between these two parties is essential to ensure that the teacher can tailor the approaches for the child in the classroom. 

To keep the parents posted

Parents are like to be informed about any type of information about their children. If they feel like they are under-informed about their kid’s school life, then they get stressed.

This makes them complain to the teacher more often and after some time they will try to question you.

In order to avoid this unpleasant situation, it is crucial to keep the parents posted. Especially when it comes to the nursery or primary classes, this is something crucial.  

To share thoughts

It is obvious that you are an expert in choosing what is suitable for your students. But sometimes it is worthwhile to get ideas from the parents as well.

Discussing the enrichment or interference strategies to help students learn and how children are tracking socially and academically relative to their classmates is something significant in this regard. 

To avoid misunderstandings

As we all agree, communication is the key to any successful relationship. The same applies here, and it is essential to communicate with parents to avoid miss understandings.

Especially if you are working with children under 10, you must inform the parents on any type of thing that directly connects or affects their child. Otherwise, kids will tell their parents before you, or pass wrong or miss leading information to the parents.

It will cause many unwanted problems. Further, you can save energy and time by communicating with parents at the correct time. On the other hand, this will make parents calm and positive about your service. 

It is important to remember that this is a triangular relationship, and only by working together both parents and teachers can help children to achieve their full potential.

Therefore, it is apparent that there are many positive purposes behind parent-teacher communication.

What are the ways to communicate with parents?

It is difficult for teachers to find time to make phone calls to the parents within their tight schedules. So, how do teachers communicate with parents? There are creative ways for teachers to communicate with parents as;

In-person communication

This method is effective for the parents who typically pick up and drop off their children at the school. You may spend 2 to 5 minutes talking to each parent while welcoming or saying goodbye to the kids.

This limited-time can be effectively used to summarize the day or to mention something special. 

Parent-teacher conferences

This is a less consistent type of communication. But the teachers and parents can schedule conferences to discuss the works and the future goals of children.

When planning the meeting, don’t forget to allocate enough time and inform the date and time of the parents at least before one week.

It would be perfect to agree on a date after discussing it with the parents. 

Emails and phone calls

Very busy parents might not attend parent-teacher conferences or do not get the opportunity to come to school. This type of parent can easily reach through email.

This is an easy way to keep them updated. Sending an email is the best way to inform them about special functions, incidents that happened during the day, and so on.

It is not good to use this method if you want to inform parents immediately. 

Text messaging

Some teachers are using special messaging apps or mass text messages to communicate with parents.

This method is an easy and quick method to gather and get information. This method may be the best way for working parents.

Open-houses

Most of the schools hold open houses annually where the parents get the chance to visit their children’s classrooms.

It allows teachers to meet the parents of students for the first time or meet a second parent that is not in regular communication.

Parent-teacher associations

The PTA meetings of board meetings that are helping to make decisions for the school can be used as the best opportunity to establish ongoing relationships between parents and teachers.

Newsletters and homework handouts

The teachers can make handouts containing information about various tasks and homework for children to take home.

Also, the teachers can write newsletters monthly or weekly to let parents know about the things going on in the classroom and how they can participate. 

Class websites

When social media is properly consented, it can be used as an efficient and effective way to communicate with families.

Here, the teachers can create websites to post announcements, reminders, and homework. It will help to ensure that the assignment does not lose in the communication between the home and the classroom.

Tips for teachers to successful communication with parents 

Hopefully, now you have a better understanding of how do teachers communicate with parents? Below, I have given some tips for effective communication with parents.

Accordingly, teachers can use the following tips to gain better outcomes they need by communicating with the students’ parents.

• Initiation

As soon as the teachers get to know the students who will be in their classrooms for the specific year, they have to initiate contact.

It can be done by sending an introductory letter or phone calls for the parents and establishing expectations.

• Timeliness

As soon as you identify a problem or something, it would be best to let the parents know; it is better to contact them ASAP.

In this way, a timely solution can be found. Waiting for a long time can increase the problem or create new issues through the frustration of the involved ones. 

• Frequency and consistency

Usually, parents want ongoing and frequent feedback from the teachers about their kid’s improvement.

Therefore, it will be effective to give regular feedback about the children’s performance at school for their parents.

• Follow-through

Both teachers and parents must see whether the other would do what they promised. Further, if you have planned something together for the kid, keep the other party informed by providing process, results, and impact updates. 

• Usefulness and clarity of the communication

Parents want information about their kids in a form that makes sense to them. So always keep your conversation to the point, simple, and try to be precise.

If it is possible, provide them with evidence that supports your information, such as photos and paperwork. Further, it is essential to keep the communication positive. 

• Be positive

According to researchers, it has been shown that parent-teacher communication highly increases through positive information-sharing between the parents and the teacher.

Even though you are struggling with the kid, don’t disappoint the parents and make them feel that you have a better plan for the kid and you are helping your best.

Use appropriate but positive and smooth words when you explain critical or controversial situations to the parents. 

• Be open-minded

You may know very well what you discuss. But do not forget to be open-minded and allow the parents to add their suggestions. This will help you to build a better understanding and trust.    

• Phone guidelines

If you are a new teacher, you may hesitate to make the first call to your student’s parents or guardians.

So, you may prepare for the call first before making the call. You can note down the things to tell as;

1. Self-introduction
2. Tell the child about what the child studies at school to his parents.
3. Invite the guardian or the parent to attend an open house or any other function at school.
4. Comment on the progress of their child.
5. Tell them about the achievements of their child.
6. Share an anecdote or tell them about the strengths of their child.

Likewise, you can understand; how do teachers communicate with parents effectively.

Conclusion

We have discussed parent-teacher communication in detail. Accordingly, I have provided you everything you should know about it. Hopefully, this article will effectively work out for both teachers and the parents who are maintaining close relations and hoping to build up effective communications. 

Except for the parent-teacher knows many things about the students, sometimes, parents also get to know about some issues related to their children through their teachers.

Therefore, effective communication between parents and teachers is very important. But how do teachers communicate with parents? First of all, you should understand that it is the best way to share their views about the children. Then you may use effective communication methods like weekly behavior updates or newsletters, text messaging, etc. Ultimately, together they can create skillful, well-disciplined children.

I hope now you are hands full of information regarding this topic.  Stay tuned with Edu Nursery for more valuable content.