You could be the nicest, most caring and trustworthy teacher on the planet, but if parents don’t know you, how can you expect them to trust you with their kids? Building a relationship with parents is especially important for Kindergarten, Elementary and Secondary schools, where most of the students are fully dependent on their parents to even be able to show up at different school programs activities and other events. Sometimes meeting parents is effortless because they actively seek out the leaders who work with their kids. Other times, meeting parents takes work.
Even if they don’t care who you are, or who their kids hang out with, it will always be worth it to know the people who have raised the kids. When kids leave, walk them out to whoever picks them up. Better yet, offer to give them a ride, and use it as an opportunity to introduce yourself to their parents. Another way is to set up a family day every grading period wherein the report cards which serve as the show window of a student’s performance are being released to be analyzed and signed by their parents. Home visitation, whether you bring either good or not so good news to parents is another way of building up a relationship with their parents. Other collaborative programs and projects in the school will surely bring harmonious relationship.
All schools want their students to succeed. But schools can only make a lasting difference when they focus on specific goals and strategies for change. One of the positive aspects that must be given attention and focus by the school manager is the school-community partnership. This partnership provides opportunities for community members to support the improvement of student learning. Their role is crucial in transforming our schools into a safe and conducive learning environment. The ultimate objective of the process is to improve student’s levels by enhancing the way curriculum is delivered, by creating a positive environment for learning and increasing the degree to which parents are involved in their children’s learning at school and in the home. Community partnership requires the weaving of school and community resources together in ways that can only be achieved through formalized and institutionalized linkages. Groups of stakeholders may be formally represented in a governance structure in the school system..
One way to strengthen Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) that always exists in school and its progress depends on the favorable attitudes of teachers as well as the active participation of the parents. It is devoted to the educational welfare, interest and protection of children and youth through the cooperative efforts of the parents, teachers and community members.
The association is considered the most influential organization because it operates in accordance with the constitution and by- laws of the school and the Department of Education. It is an organization that would protect the rights and interest of the parents, teachers as well as the pupils. Moreover, it focuses in the improvement of the school as well as in promoting quality education.
If properly organized and directed, the Parent -Teacher Association can be a very potent organization in the improvement, development and welfare of children, not only in the school but in the community as well. The Parent-Teacher Association is a vital force in linking the school to the public and in communicating the concerns to the schools. This Association does not only provide financial support but also brings the school and the home closer so that parents and the teachers may cooperate intelligently in the development of the child. It will secure for every child the highest advantage in physical, mental, social, emotional and spiritual aspects.
It has been observed that parents today have become rather detached from school affairs because they are deeply involved in other pursuits brought about by society, beset by such problems as urbanizations and automation. However, this should not in any sense mean that parents are no longer interested in school affairs. There are still many cases in which parents show their cooperation lively and intelligently in school. Undoubtedly, though the quality of relationship between parents and the school has changed because the teacher is a part-time parent, there is a need for cooperative planning of school- home relationship. The attitude of parents towards their children is not extreme importance in this connection. Parents should know about their children’s conditions in school, their performance and activities. So it is of outmost importance that parents should be involved in child education in school through the Parent-Teacher Association.
The increasing emphasis on the need of improving the quality of education especially in the elementary level makes it an imperative demand to determine the effectiveness of the Parent-Teachers Association of public elementary and secondary schools in terms of aforementioned dimensions, the active participation of parents and community members greatly affect the effectiveness of the relationship between parent-teachers as well as relationship between teacher-students.
References:
107th Congress. (2002).Public Law 107-110, The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Retrieved April 16, 2008, from http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/107
Eccles, J. S., & Harold, R. D. (1996).Family involvement in children’s and adolescents’ school days.
By: Marita M. Marcelino |T-I| Bagac National High School Parang, Bagac
