I know you must be thinking I am just beating this topic to death but I cannot help sharing these comments from Ms Vicco from Collins Hill High School.
She talks about a study done by P. Halsey, P.A. (Fall 2005). Parent involvement in junior high schools: A failure to communicate. American Secondary Education, 34(1), 57 – 69.
Here is the article about Hasley’s work. The study talks about the different perceptions that parents and teachers have about communicating with each other. Teachers tend to use more formal methods of communication and parents like more one on one personal contact. With that in mind. Ms. Vicco’s suggestions make a lot of sense.
“Personal individual contacts helped build relationships between teachers and parents, as well as among parents” (Halsey, p. 62). These types of contacts are not conducted as frequently in traditional schools as they are hoped for. Of the four teachers I work closely with in my hallway at school, I know of only a handful of times in a semester when a parent is called on the telephone. Teachers are thinking parents would call if they had concerns or questions: parents are thinking the same about teachers. What needs to occur is a plan for communication between teachers and parents. If teachers were required to make phone contacts at certain intervals throughout the year, a rapport may develop between home and school to better assist the students in their studies.
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And I will add my thoughts. If the requirement for phone calls is supported by administration and time allocated to the task, not just an add-on to the already impressive work load. phoning parents will become one of those excellent best practices.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree that a better relationship will be built if we begin with “personal” contact, either face to face or via a phone call.
I think that parents should be notified at the beginning of the year to expect this contact. (I remember the first time my son’s teacher called me at home, my heart sank to the floor, why would a teacher call me at home??? It must be ‘bad’ news???) That way parents can be conditioned to expect a call for good news or bad and it will help to ensure the calls are made.
Some other things to consider:
- it may be hard to allocate the time to staff, won’t most calls need to happen in the evening?
- the best practice of ‘personal communication’ has to be school wide to be effective,
- as the relationship grows e-mail with an option of phone follow-up might make it easier for everyone,
- existing relationships (from experience with older siblings) might make a personal contact unnecessary, but some contact early in the school year should still be made.
Of course this personal communication grows very difficult in the high school years – do we expect contact from the ‘home room’ teacher or from every teacher? Teachers may have 150-200 students per term…that’s a lot of phone calls.
Thanks for your thoughts Jeannine. You present some good issues. Even excessive emails can be a problem. There will never be one size fits all solution. There must be a way to make phone calls about good things not just ” what has my child done wrong today”
Lorna~
I am glad that you added on that administration would allocate time for teachers to be able to make these phone calls. On top of my teaching duties, being a mom takes full priority once the bell rings at the end of the day. With only a couple of phones handy for more than a couple dozen teachers, making phone calls can be quite challenging.