How to Build a Solid Parent-Teacher Relationship

Many things can influence the child’s social and cognitive development, as well as academic achievements. Normally, peer relationships are a big factor during school years, but commonly overlooked, yet equally important is the parent-teacher relationship. 

Yes, the nature of the relationship between parents and teachers can prevent unavoidable negative experiences for the child, and can instead create a beautiful synergy that translates into learning support and success. 

But, how can you, as a teacher, build firm and stable parent-teacher relationships? We’re all aware that this is a difficult challenge – a lot more than we can do justice with a couple of sentences here. But, we can draw from experience and write some tips that will make teachers’ life a lot easier and students’ performance much better. 

Let’s begin.

How a Solid Parent-Teacher Relationship Benefits Students?

A positive parent-teacher relationship facilitates the learning process and improves the child’s academic success. You’ve probably heard this sentence many times before, and if you have teaching experience, then you surely have first-hand experience with the perks and problems arising along the way. But, do you have a complete picture of all the ways your relationship with parents affects the students?

A lot of studies have been done on this topic, and they have successfully identified several ways in which the parent-teacher relationship affects the student. 

First, the parent-teacher relationship is a good predictor of academic achievement in students of all backgrounds. Moreover, when parents are satisfied with their child’s school, this effect is even stronger. 

Second, a close parent-teacher relationship allows children to receive optimal educational support at home, which makes the difference between simply passing and excelling in a subject.

Third, students become more invested and engaged in classroom goals, which is another essential factor that determines how much of their potential they’ll realize. 

Fourth and last but not least, students build resilience! When there’s transparent communication and understanding between teachers and parents, the child receives all the emotional support they need in a consistent way. This way, they’ll be able to cope with negative experiences and challenges that come along the way. 

Benefits for Teachers and Parents

The students are always the primary motivation why teachers and parents should work closely together, but the outcomes of a close parent-teacher relationship go beyond that. 

Parental cooperation reduces teachers’ stress and pressure. It also improves the teachers’ morale and confidence that they’re taking the right steps for the education of their students. 

On the other hand, parents get an opportunity to be more involved in their children’s lives. With a solid parent-teacher relationship, they’ll stay on top of their children’s academic progress, as well as the emotional changes that happen during this period. With the teachers’ input, parents can build closer relationships with their kids. 

Techniques for Building a Stable Parent-Teacher Relationship

If a positive parent-teacher relationship benefits everyone, then how can teachers make sure they build and maintain such a relationship? Every parent is different, their characters and temperaments are different, which puts more weight on teachers’ shoulders when communicating with parents. 

Having great communication skills is crucial, which is why our first recommendation would be to invest in a high-quality, soft skills course. But, even with those skills, there’s one thing you’ll learn with time – there’s no recipe or bullet-proof manual that guarantees success every time, only pieces of advice that can help you avoid common mistakes and do everything right on your part. 

Lay a Good Foundation From the Very Beginning

The first thing you should know is that first impressions are incredibly valuable. They can make or break the foundation for all of your future communication efforts. But, hey, no pressure! With a good plan, there’s nothing to worry about. 

The first time you meet the parents (make sure that’s early on – best if it’s during registration) give them a warm welcome. This should not only be reflected in your attitude, but also in the environment (classroom). Greet them with a smile, be polite, and most importantly, show interest in their lives and their roles as parents. 

During registrations, parents receive all the necessary paperwork, but if you want to leave a positive impression, offer them something more. You can print out information flayers, give out guides with all the important contact information – yours and the school’s staff, and/or schedules, material info, goals, and other important dates and events for the upcoming school year. 

Finally, the first meeting is also a great opportunity for gathering contact information from parents and discussing expectations, which we’ll explain in our next piece of advice.  

Gather Information and Create a Detailed Planner

The second important aspect of building a strong foundation for a positive parent-teacher relationship is based on information gathering. The more information you have about the parents, the better your position is for taking control and creating an attractive personalized approach. 

But, not every piece of information is relevant. Here’s what you need to focus on and what’s absolutely necessary for you to know: 

1. The parents’ phone numbers, emails, and home address. We believe that there’s no need to explain why these pieces of information are essential. Every teacher needs to be able to contact parents at any time. 
2. Students’ medical history – especially allergies, food intolerances, learning difficulties, or other developmental problems (physical and psychological). 
3. Students’ extracurricular activities and hobbies.
4. Parents’ availability and preferred method of communication.

While it’s best to acquire this when you first meet the parents, you can also organize a separate meeting, where you’ll have more time to discuss and gather all the relevant information. 

It’s best if you also ask the parents about their expectations from you as a teacher, from their children as students, and share with them your expectations, rules, and boundaries.  

Focus on Personalized Communication Strategies

Thanks to the gathered information from above, you can make a detailed information sheet for every student. Together, the informational sheets for all the students in the class will be your most valuable possession. It’s like an organizational planner that can serve many functions, but most importantly, it will help you keep everything in one place. 

An informational sheet for one student should include information about the student’s name, achievements, interests, strengths, and weaknesses; the parents’ names, email, personal and work phone numbers, home and work address; the student’s medical history, medications (if applicable), allergies, and physical or psychological difficulties; preferred ways of communication with parents; and a blank table for taking note of the dates when you make a contact with parents and what was discussed. 

The process described above might seem a little too much, but it’s worth it. Not only will you be able to immediately see where and how to contact the parents, but you’ll have info when you spoke with them last and what was discussed. 

Find out How Parents Perceive Their Children

As a teacher, the time spent with your students is limited in more ways than one. Plus, the way you see them might be biased by the circumstances in which you interact. Some kids are too shy to express their feelings or opinions, while others might be insecure or afraid. 

Having a talk with parents about their child’s behavior at home, their interests, and their habits is a great way of getting to know your students better and making a more objective image of their true personality. 

Moreover, you’ll get valuable feedback from parents about their inner relationship which is a great insight that gives context and meaning to the child’s behavior and character. You can use this information to optimize your approach as a teacher – to be stricter, softer, more demanding, or easygoing, so you can help the student achieve their full potential. 

Set Scheduled Notifications for Progress Evaluation

While personal calls are always welcomed when there’s something to be reported or another specific reason, weekly progress reports, evaluations, or simply reviews of the passed material, is a great way to make parents feel more involved and satisfied. 

Scheduled emails are probably the best medium for this kind of communication. By the end of every week, you can send an email to all parents informing them about their child’s engagement, progress, achievements, or struggles. 

Teachers usually send reports only when there’s a problem, which is very destructive for the parent-teacher relationship. This is why regular weekly reports with praises as well as constructive criticism are a good alternative that leaves a positive impact. 

Provide Opportunities for Parents’ Involvement in the School or Classroom

Another way teachers can bond with parents is to get them more involved in the school or the classroom. Fortunately, this can be achieved in many ways and it benefits teachers just as much as students. 

Involving parents in the school or classroom can be achieved through voluntary work. Parents can help organize special events, field trips, plays, make costumes, or gather other resources for the school. 

Another way they can be more involved is by holding lectures on different topics. For instance, doctors can teach students about the importance of a healthy lifestyle, policemen can show kids some self-defense tactics, musicians can teach music, etc.

Finally, parents can also get involved if you organize extracurricular activities, like team-building activities that require students to work with parents in teams.  

Utilize Technological Advances

Technology has the potential to make our life so much easier if we only know how to use it! For instance, the planner with the informational sheets that we’ve mentioned in our previous paragraphs can be created online. This way you can set alarms, filters, make color-coding systems, add due dates to specific activities, and take temporary notes anywhere you want. 

Technology can also facilitate your communication with parents. Instead of asking them to come to meet you at the school, you can set frequent 5-10 minute briefing meetings online. 

You can use some complex educational platforms that integrate teachers, parents, and students in one system and give an amazing overview of everyone’s contributions and work during the whole school year. 

Yet another common practice is for classes to have social media groups, where you can send announcements, allowing for parents to interact, vote, or otherwise express their opinion about specific changes, rules, etc.

Communication Tips for Establishing a Positive Parent-Teacher Relationship

Aside from the concrete tools described above, there are also communication tips that can positively affect the parent-teacher relationship. In addition, we’ll share the most effective of them. 

Put Yourself in Their Shoes

The first unwritten rule when communicating with parents is to try and understand their point of view. This is important because it’s not uncommon for teachers and parents to have completely different ideas or perspectives about the child’s behavior, performance, or abilities. 

When parents tell you something that you didn’t expect or think it’s not quite right, try to understand where those beliefs are coming from before you give your own opinion. 

Learn Their Names and Create More Personal Relationships

A second, very valuable communication tip is to try and do your best in learning the parents’ names and some other personal details. If that seems like an overwhelming task, then simply use the informational sheet that we’ve discussed several times before and remind yourself of the important details before the meeting with parents. 

Thanks to these details, you’ll come off as warm, fully invested, considerate, and attentive. Parents would love to know that their child is not just a number in the class, but the teacher actually cares for them and is dedicated to their progress and achievements.  

Use “I” Statements

“I” statements are the pillars to effective communication in every aspect of our lives. They represent an assertion about the feelings, beliefs, and values that one person holds without judgment or assumption about the person they’re communicating with. 

Using I-statements means that you take responsibility for your beliefs and express them in a clear and non-threatening way. This leaves room for the other person to reflect on the insights provided by you and share their side of the story. 

By sticking to I-statements you’ll avoid being judgemental, overly critical, or dismissive. 

Discuss Boundaries and Expectations in the Beginning

We briefly mentioned setting boundaries and expectations when we’ve discussed how you should lay a strong foundation for a positive parent-teacher relationship, but in this context, setting boundaries, rules, and expectations can also be said for the way you communicate with parents. 

Before every conversation, set a goal – “What is the aim of the conversation? What are the most important pieces of information that I have to pass on to parents?”

Then, think about the structure and best way to execute that goal – “How should I communicate this with them? Should I be direct or ease into it? Should I start with this or that?”

Finally, briefly present the goal and the structure of the meeting with parents with clear boundaries about the scope of the conversation and which concerns should be set aside for another meeting. 

Before You Go

As we’ve seen in this article, when there’s a solid parent-teacher relationship, children’s work habits, attitudes about school, and grades improve. This puts a lot of pressure on both parents and teachers to find a way to build a positive and cooperative relationship. In this article, we’ve shared specific steps and communication tips for educators to utilize when dealing with parents. 

Hopefully, our pieces of advice were useful and will help teachers to improve their communication skills in the future. If you agree, then don’t hesitate to check out our blog and read other guides that we’ve prepared for both teachers and homeschooling parents. Plus, if you subscribe to our newsletter, we promise to continue to share our experience gathered through years of work. 
Finally, don’t forget that our support doesn’t end here. On our main website, you can browse through our massive library of worksheets and other teaching resources – downloadable and ready-to-use with just one click. Our aim is to provide high-quality and affordable, educational materials for teachers, parents, and homeschoolers in all parts of the world.