Best Tips for Teachers Dealing With Parents Complaints

Dealing with parent complaints is not an extraordinary thing for the teachers. Parents are also human beings who are getting subjected to numerous mood swings. So, the unexpected occurrence of such scenarios is common. 

Parent complaints emerge out of the parental affection they possess towards the children. But, having the best tips at hand to deal with such complaint situations is quite advantageous for teachers and would be a relief for the parents as well.

Therefore, I have decided to share my experience and insights for teachers dealing with parents complaints to maintain a healthy relationship with parents. And I will discuss the best tips that will let both parties land on successful resolutions.

Our beloved teachers, who are providing an amazing service by enlightening the students, just grab these best and wonderful tips when dealing with parent complaints.

I have listed the topics below that I discuss in this post. Feel free to jump straight to the one you are interested in. Let’s get started! 

Why do parents always complain?

There are many reasons behind parents’ complaints. I have listed out some reasons below. Hopefully, it will help teachers dealing with parents complaints. 

Betterment of the child

It is no wonder that parents always wish for the betterment of their children and would not tolerate any disruptions in the process.  Furthermore, at the initial stage, these complaints can come forward as softly spoken concerns.

Since they are done least aggressively, some teachers tend to turn a deaf ear to them. But, with time, when the issue is unheard of, the parents get panicked and make a complaint in very harsh manners. 

One of my friends, whose daughter went to a reputed primary school, put forward a kind request to the teacher to remove a broken rack from the classroom. This parent complaint was made out of concern for children’s safety.

The teacher’s complaint dealing ability was quite poor, and didn’t take any actions to drive away that danger. Due to this neglecting behavior of the teacher, my friend had to complain about this in a more harsh manner which turned out to be an argument with abusive words.

From this simple scenario, we can trace out the idea that teachers dealing with parent complaints should be knowledgeable on the real situation behind those complaints. 

Unsatisfied Situations

As we all agree, children are the most important and valuable in parents’ lives, and they go above and beyond for their kids. Sometimes teachers find it very difficult to serve all the needs of the parents as it may get very hard to make them satisfied.

As a person who has a lot of experience working with different parents, I have come across many situations where parents complain because they are not satisfied with the appropriate solution provided by the teacher. 

Misunderstandings 

Sometimes parents do complain based on a misunderstanding. Kids might go home and tell a different version than the truth. In that case, parents would complain because of the misinterpretation or less knowledge about the problem.

In this kind of situation, as a teacher, you have a huge responsibility to explain the situation with a positive and caring attitude.

What are the types of complaints you can expect?

Parent complaints can be of numerous types. Mainly we can categorize parents’ complaints into 2 basic types, namely formal and informal.

When we first hear the word complaint, we just create an image in our minds entitled to tons of aggressive behaviors and actions. In the real sense, it deviates from the imagination.

As mentioned in the opening paragraph, both formal and informal modes of the complaint can be expected about the parent complaint. 

Informal Complaints 

Informal modes mostly go hand in hand with the verbally done complaining. On the one hand, this kind of complaint can be easily discussed, and finding solutions can be done cooperatively.

Further, if you handle the situation accurately and carefully, finding the solutions would be easy without wasting both parties’ time. 

On the other hand, this type of complaint can be pretty aggressive and could contain a lot of emotions.

Since the conversation is going to be live, as a teacher, you would need a high patience level and soft-spoken skills to handle the complaint without causing further trouble.

Formal Complaints

The formal mode of complaints would mostly go out with the written complaints. Mostly, parents use this type when they have a huge concern regarding the matter, or they need further action.

In this type, teachers have enough time to think or take some advice from the management of the school before replying to the complaint. It could be identified as an advantage of this type of complaint. 

Despite their modes of delivery, the recipients and, in this regard, the teachers must be equipped with necessary tactics to avoid any unwanted outbursts from those situations.

Furthermore, parent complaints can pop up about teaching methodologies, homework policies, child’s behavior, and so on. 

Foremost, teachers dealing with parent complaints should identify the parent complaint concerning its level of gravity and harshness.

How do teachers handle parent complaints?

Teachers dealing with parents complaints have become a major issue concerning the school educational system. It is expected that, as the caretakers of the children, both the teachers and the parents should share a positive relationship.

Let’s have a glance at how teachers handle parent complaints which come up mostly in an unexpected manner. 

Getting frustrated over the issue

A notable fact is that most of the teachers are not ready with dealing parent complaints. A frustrated parent would be identified as a bunch of problems, and some teachers tend to lose their control in front of them.

But, some teachers are quite practical and smart to mitigate those scenarios through methods such as active listening and lending a helping hand to issue the problematic scenario.

Being more humanitarian

More humanitarian complaints such as issues with children’s behavior are on the verge of being handled with more care and empathy. They are sensitive and should handle with care being kind and gentle to both the parents and the child.

How do you respond to a parent complaint as a teacher?

Food for thought. How would you put forward your response by being in the position of a teacher about a parent complaint? Would you rather put up an act of being panicked or put up yourself with successful complaint dealing methodologies?

I suppose that most of us would be interested in dealing with that argumentative situation. 

• Check your school policy.

If you are a novice teacher, you need to check whether the school policy has the necessary measures to deal with a complaint and proceed with it accordingly. If there is no such policy, try to discuss the necessity of it with the relevant authorities.

• Listen with an open mind.

Teachers need to be broad-minded when dealing with such situations. Jumping to conclusions beforehand would worsen the situation for both the parties, and the teachers must be vigilant enough to trace the status of the problem which caused the complaint.

• Understand the nature of the complaint

If the problem can be solved within the class, the teacher must take the necessary measures to do so while more serious ones such as complaints about the school policies and curriculum should be forwarded to the relevant authorities.

More humanitarian complaints such as issues with children’s behavior are on the verge of handling with more care and empathy. 

• Apologize followed by shouldering up with the responsibility

This would ease to resolve complaining situations since some kind of an assurance causes the parents to keep a ray of hope to meet up with a solution. Furthermore, the teacher’s image in front of the parents may brighten up as a humble personality.

• Assuring and letting the parents know once the issue is solved.

The teacher must assure the parent about the resolution, and the assurance is quite important to minimize further calamities in the future.

Best tips for teachers dealing with parent complaints

This is the essence of our writing as it is weaving around the central purpose of this piece of writing, which is the best tip that can utilize when teachers dealing with parent complaints.

These tips come in handy even though the teachers have to deal with such complaints during their off mood days. Let me pour my heart out with the finest and the best tips for teachers dealing with parent complaints.

These tips can be utilized for teachers dealing with parents complaints which vary from minor complaints to major complaints. 

Meet face to face

It is important to have a face-to-face conversation with the parents. By being virtual, misunderstandings tend to arise between both parties. Such meetups can lead the way for the teachers to show the child’s progress and other study-related reports to the parents. 

Keep your principal or school management updated 

This method is mostly used by the teachers when the presence and the involvement of the principal or the school management are needed. Their availability can be assured during resolving the problem if they are already updated the issue beforehand. 

Keep parents updated

As a teacher, you should never hesitate to reveal a prevalence of a problem concerning a child’s problem to his or her parents. Do not wait until the parents come and complain that to you.

Even though you make them updated, some parents might forget that they have been informed about that. So, as teachers dealing with parents complaints, with much patience try to make the parents aware that they have been updated about that already.

Don’t be stressed

Never get panic over the situation and try to maintain a calm voice and actions when dealing with the problem. Never take it up as a depressive issue. Instead, take it as a simple challenge that possesses ample solutions. 

Know where the conversation ends 

As a teacher, never attempt to drag a problem unnecessarily. Suppose the parents are not willing to listen to you. Let them be. Do not worry about going to the high chair of the school. 

Seek advice

Informing the relevant parties and getting assistance from a colleague or an expert can be identified as some smart moves that you can follow as a teacher.

Conclusion – Tips for teachers dealing with parents complaints

Apart from the above-mentioned tips, I would like to spice up the topic with some additional tips for the teacher to deal with parents more effectively and efficiently in confronting situations. 

• Use your mind instead of emotions to deal with the problems –  do not overreact and be argumentative when dealing with the parents in such scenarios
• Always try to calm down the situation through positivity
• Do not involve the child unless a resolution to the issue is met.
• Always attempt to look at the problem through the parent’s eye as well without being subjective.
• Address the situation as soon as possible without procrastinating things.

Dealing with parent complaints is an ordinary day-to-day situation for a teacher, and every teacher accepting it as part and parcel of their career is quite important.

Furthermore, the fact can be brought out that each individual who is engaged in teaching must improve their skill set when dealing with angry parents in a more kind and empathetic manner.

Both the teachers and the parents need to manage a positive relationship to yield successful results out of the platform of education.

Thank you for reading! If you find this article useful, stay tuned with Edu Nursery for more valuable content.