Parent-teacher Relationships Research Articles

Sharing pedagogical documentation with others: exploring issues of addressivity and voice

ABSTRACT Pedagogical documentation is a text of multiple voices and audiences. Building on this idea, the study presented here aimed to explore to what degree and in what ways teachers’ writing is shaped or constrained by their anticipation of parents as readers of documentation. Bakhtin’s concept of addressivity was used to frame teacher–parent relationships as part of an always present, ongoing dialogue that influences teacher voice and choices in pedagogical documentation. Interviews with teachers and analysis of child portfolios indicate that teachers were aware of parents as an audience, and this awareness was reflected in the discursive practices they use. The discussion of the choices teachers made regarding what to include or not in portfolios puts forward the argument that the development of teacher’s voice in pedagogical documentation involves, among other things, an awareness of how self is related to parents. Finding the balance between the self and the other in pedagogical documentation is an issue that needs to be critically addressed in professional learning opportunities.

Predictors of Parent-Teacher Relationship Quality in Head Start Classrooms

The ability for parents and teachers to work together serves as a foundation for a collaborative and effective parent-teacher relationship (Clarke et al., 2009). The quality of this relationship contributes to children’s school readiness and social competence (Halgunseth et al., 2009). Identifying factors that are related to positive parent-teacher relationships in early childhood settings is necessary to support positive child outcomes. The current study aims to identify teacher characteristics that may be related to effective parent-teacher relationships by exploring predictors of parents’ comfort in disclosing family information and parents’ perceptions of their classroom teachers’ practices and responsiveness. Professional characteristics (i.e. education, training, and professional development) and demographic background has the potential to increase awareness and understanding of family backgrounds (King et al., 2003) and may predict variability in classroom practices. Such results would support future interventions and provide insight on continued professional development efforts on supporting the parent-teacher partnership.

Head Start Parents’ Views on Family-Centered Care: A Research to Practice Summary

This study looked at components of Head Start parent-teacher relationships: teachers’ knowledge and use of family-centered practices. Specifically, the purpose of the research was to examine the perspective of Head Start parents and to better understand their classroom experiences as they relate to family-centered care. Family-centered classroom practices and family-specific knowledge are two important components of developing effective parent-teacher relationships. The study used a national sample of Head Start teachers and parents. Results suggest that parents and teachers tend to agree consistently on their perceptions of family-centered practices and responsiveness, across a variety of classroom settings. These results point to the importance of continuing to support teachers’ professional and family-specific substantive knowledge in order to promote positive relationships with families.

Evaluating the Effects of Family–School Engagement Interventions on Parent–Teacher Relationships: A Meta-analysis

Evaluating the Effects of Family–School Engagement Interventions on Parent–Teacher Relationships: A Meta-analysis

Moments of Connection Building Equitable Relationships between Families and Educators through Participatory Design Research

Recent years have borne evidence of a resurgence of calls for schools to include families in school decision-making as part of a broader movement for equitable family-school partnerships; these partnerships require strong parent-teacher relationships characterized by mutual trust. However, such relationships are inevitably shaped by systems and histories related to racialization and power. This article explores how culturally and linguistically diverse families alongside teachers from the dominant school culture can begin building trusting relationships in spite of inequity. Its basis is an in-depth analysis of family-educator interactions in a participatory design-based research project in Salt Lake City, UT. We extract what we call moments of connection — moments when participants connected with one another despite the personal, historical, social, and institutional forces that so often divide them. We utilize these moments to suggest avenues for building trust, solidarity, and increasingly humanizing forms of engagement in our schools and communities.

A Qualitative Examination of the Parent–Teacher Relationship and Early Childhood Expulsion

Children in the United States are being expelled from their early care and education settings at alarming rates. A growing body of research indicates that teachers' perceptions of parents may impact their decision to request a child's removal from their classroom. Nevertheless, few studies have simultaneously captured the voices of both parents and teachers when describing the process of expulsion and how the parent–teacher relationship can protect a child from being expelled. To identify and describe protective qualities of the parent–teacher relationship, we conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with 8 parents and 8 early childhood teachers currently working with a child who was previously expelled. The parents and teachers interviewed consistently attributed the successful retention of the child in their current program following the expulsion to the transparent and open communication between home and school. Our findings indicate that one particularly important area for intervention is promoting high-quality parent–teacher relationships for all children, with special attention to how these relationships may differ for children who have previously been expelled.

Dimensions of family-school partnerships for autistic children: Context and congruence.

Family-school partnerships are crucial for promoting positive outcomes and serving as a protective factor for children at-risk for poor school outcomes (Christenson & Sheridan, 2001). This may be particularly important for autistic children, who are at increased developmental risk (Garbacz et al., 2016). However, little research has examined variables related to dimensions of these partnerships for parents and teachers of autistic children. The present study examined family socioeconomic resources in relation to two dimensions of family-school partnerships (relationship quality and family involvement) among parents of autistic children, as well as dyadic perceptions of relationship quality among parents and teachers of autistic children. Data were collected across two time points (Time 1 N = 68 parents, child ages = 5-11; Time 2 parent-teacher dyad N = 22, child ages = 7-13). Results suggest that (a) higher appraisal of financial resources was associated with higher parent-reported family involvement after controlling for child autism spectrum disorder (ASD) characteristics and (b) higher parent-reported relationship quality and family involvement at one time were significantly associated with positive independent (parent and teacher) and congruent ratings of parent-teacher relationship quality 2 years later. Study limitations, future directions, and practical implications are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Теоретичен модел за ангажиране на родители в образователния процес

Parental involvement in their children's learning process is a major source of support for improving the quality of learning and student achievement. Whether there are children from vulnerable groups or not, the involvement of parents in direct practical activities related to the lesson content, to school events and projects increases teachers’ confidence in parents and vice versa. A trusting parentteacher relationship is developed., Indicators such as academic performance, motivation to learn, etc. are increased by the impact of such relationship in the educational process at school. This paper proposes a theoretical model for building such a practical relationship with parents. Theoretical review and analysis are presented, an exemplary model is described, conclusions and implications are drawn.

Improving Preschool Students’ Engagement in Parent-Assisted Offline Play-based Activities

Student engagement is an important contributor to academic success. In the learning arrangement in a pre-school in Quezon city, students attended the online class and answered workbooks and worksheets as offline learning activities. These paper-and-pen activities did not motivate the students as they delayed doing the task. The present study aimed at incorporating play-based activities to increase the pre-school students' engagement in their offline learning activities. The study was conducted among 20 preschool students with the help of the parents in implementing the play-based offline activities. Responses regarding students’ engagement were documented using the student engagement tool that parents accomplished every after offline activity, reflections notes, and survey questionnaires. A focus group discussion was also organized at the end of the study. The findings in this study show that the use of offline play-based activities improved student engagement in three dimensions - cognitive, emotion, and behavior. Students who previously expressed disinterest towards offline activities demonstrated self-motivation, conceptual understanding, engagement in physical activities, and have nurtured positive relationships among the students, their parents, and their siblings throughout the study. Considering the parents’ feedback, the researchers further modified the design of the instructional activities to address prior poor student engagement by incorporating music and movement, balancing play and work in the activities, and by sending the guides earlier for the convenience of the parents. It is recommended that future research delve into the difference in engagement among different class hours, given that more students in the late morning and early afternoon sessions showed poorer engagement in offline paper-and-pencil activities prior to the intervention being made. Future research can also focus on the influence of fathers on their child’s engagement, implementation of play-based activities in public schools adopting the modular approach, and parent-teacher relationship in managing and handling students' mental wellness.

Influence of Principal and Parental Relationships on Teachers’ Job Performance in Senior Secondary Schools in Adamawa State, Nigeria.

This study investigated the influence of principal and parental relationships on teacher’s job performance in senior secondary schools in Adamawa State, Nigeria. Three research questions and two hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted an ex post facto research design. The population of the study was 5,458 school personnel in the senior secondary schools in Adamawa state, which were made up of 337 principals and 5,121 teaching staff as distributed over the five education zones of Adamawa state, Nigeria. The sample of the study was 374 school personnel (340 teachers and 34 principals). This was arrived at using the Taro Yamane formula. The sample was determined through multistage sampling technique that comprised of stratified random sampling and simple random sampling techniques. Influence of Principal and Parental Relationship on Teachers’ Job Performance Questionnaire (IPPRTJPQ) was used for the collection of data. The data collected were analysed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions, Z-test for testing the hypotheses. The research question findings indicated that teachers were found to relate to a high extent with principals in senior secondary schools in Adamawa state. Also, that the relationship between teachers and parents is to a moderate extent in senior secondary schools in Adamawa state. The hypotheses findings also revealed that there is a significant influence of teacher – principal relationship on teacher’s job performance with (p = 0.000 < 0.05); and also that there is a significant influence of teacher – parent relationship on teacher’s job performance in senior secondary schools in Adamawa State with (p = 0.000 < 0.05). Based on the findings; it was concluded that teachers’ relationship with principals and parents significantly influence their job performance in senior secondary schools in Adamawa state, Nigeria. The study recommended that principals and teachers in senior secondary schools need to relate positively amongst themselves irrespective of their demographic differences which can help to improve their teaching performance either on a personal or professional level. Keywords: Teacher-Principal Relationship; Teacher-Parent Relationship; Teachers’ Job Performance; Senior Secondary School; Adamawa State

Kindergarten teachers and ‘sharing dialogue’ with parents: The importance of practice in the process of building trust in the training process

ABSTRACT Effective school-parent partnerships are in the child’s best interests. Nevertheless, the complexity of the parent-teacher relationship requires the teachers to be trained in parent communication skills. Here, we explore factors that affect the parent-teacher relationship from the perspective of education trainees, who were required to communicate with parents to help children with difficulties with their social skills. In this qualitative research, we used thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with four trainee kindergarten teachers, three kindergarten teacher trainers, and three parents, all involved in such communication processes. Our findings reveal that many teachers minimized parent-teacher communication to avoid potential conflict with parents, and this was mimicked by trainees. However, more experienced kindergarten teachers, confident in their skills and in the respect of parents, were open-minded about communications between trainee teachers and parents, mediated these communications, and found them useful. The findings support the idea mentioned in other literature that training of teachers in future should focus on supervised practice of parent-teacher communication skills to promote a ‘sharing dialogue’.

Reframing Parent-Teacher Relationships in Rural African Schools

Positive interactions and relationships between parents and teachers have the potential to deepen parents’ involvement in children’s learning. However, not much is known about the scope of the interactions between parents and teachers in rural public primary schools in Africa. Specifically, little is known about the spaces in which parents and teachers relate and inter-act; who participates in these interactions; and the types of relationships which underpin or emerge from such interactions. This article explores the natural (i.e., not interventionist or programme-driven) interactions and relationships between parents and teachers in North Central Nigeria. The findings draw from a two-phased ethnographic study of parental involvement in two rural schools and communities with parents of upper level primary children and the teachers and head teachers of the children. The main methods were partly structured interviews and participant observations while thematic analysis was used to identify themes around which narratives were represented. The findings revealed affective, economic, and official relationships between parents, teachers, and head teachers within and outside schools, though to a limited extent in one of the school-communities where there was significant instability of school leadership. Importantly, these relationships were embedded within the religious, social, and cultural ways of life in both communities. The study underscores the criticality of school heads for parent-teacher relationships, and for realising the promises of parental involvement in schooling.

Communication strategies for strengthening the parent-teacher relationships in the primary schools

Communication strategies for strengthening the parent-teacher relationships in the primary schools

Involvement of parents of children with ADHD in schools: Implications for social work practice

Summary School social workers and school counselors play an important role in providing support to the parents of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Issues regarding the barriers to parental involvement have not been well-explored empirically in social work. By means of semistructured interviews, this study explored the perspectives of 20 Mainland Chinese parents about parental involvement in their children’s education and in schools, parent–teacher relationships, the social factors that affect individual families, and the cultural and contextual factors that hinder parental involvement in children’s education. Findings Using thematic analysis, the researchers identified major themes: (a) emotional overinvolvement of parents in children’s education; (b) withdrawal of fathers; (c) positive and negative teacher–parent relationships; (d) contextual factors: school culture, system, and policies; and (e) parents’ preferred sources of support. Applications This research provides insight for school social workers and school counselors to develop supportive measures for parents of children with ADHD. Furthermore, it is recommended that social workers mediate tensions that arise from conflicts between teachers and parents. Social workers need to be sensitive to the power and cultural issues embedded in a parent–teacher relationship to facilitate parental involvement in school mental health services for children with ADHD. In particular, the cultural beliefs that affect parents and teachers relationships should not be ignored.

IDENTIFICATION OF FAMILY ENGAGEMENT IMPLEMENTATION PROGRAM IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION UNIT

This research is motivated by the lack of family engagement participation in programs held by the institute of early childhood education. This research is aimed at discovering various family engagement programs in the Early Childhood Education (ECE) unit, supporting factors and barriers to the implementation of the family engagement program, and the benefits of the family engagement program in the ECE unit. The method employed in this research is literature review. Data were collected by studying various journals, books, and other relevant documents from various national and international web. The data analysis technique employed in this research is the MilesHuberman’s model by utilizing stages of analysis process consisting of data reduction, data organization, data display, and data interpretation. The research found that there are some family engagement programs, such as parents meeting to examine the science of parenting, communication development, volunteering in school programs, being involved in decision making, supporting learning at home activities, and collaborating with community. Factors supporting the implementation of the family engagement program in ECE are parents' commitment, solid parent-teacher relationships, parents' awareness, and parents' educational background. On the other hand, factors that become barriers in implementing the program are limited time, limited parents’ financial capability, parents’ low levels of education background, parents’ insecurity, and parents’ lack of understanding of the importance of the program. The benefit of family engagement program perceived by parents is gaining knowledge, information, and confidence in parenting. Furthermore, the program increases children’s performance, learning motivation, discipline, and creates alignment between learning at home and in school

Longitudinal relations among school context, school-based parent involvement, and academic achievement of Chinese American children in immigrant families

Immigrant families face multiple barriers to engaging with children's schools. Yet, school-based parent involvement has been associated with academic and behavioral benefits for children of immigrant families. Although past research has examined links between family contextual factors and parent involvement, less is known about the links between school contextual factors and parent involvement in immigrant families. Identifying socio-cultural barriers to parent involvement across home and school contexts can inform culturally competent family engagement interventions serving immigrant families. In a two-wave (1.5 years apart) longitudinal study of a community-based sample of Chinese American children (N = 210, beginning age = 5.8–9.1 years) attending over 80 schools in a metropolitan area, we assessed school-based parent involvement behaviors and parent involvement-related psychological processes (i.e., parent-teacher relationship quality, parents' endorsement of schools, teachers' perceptions of parents) using parent and teacher report. First, results indicated that significant positive associations were found between school-based parent involvement behaviors and parent involvement-related psychological processes (rs = 0.36–0.53). Next, multi-level modeling was conducted to test concurrent relations of Wave 1 school contextual factors to all four parent involvement constructs (controlling for family-level factors), as well as testing the prospective relations of parent involvement at Wave 1 to children's academic achievement at Wave 2. Student body diversity of schools was negatively associated with school-based parent involvement (rs = −0.18, −0.17), parent-rated parent-teacher relationship quality (r = −0.18), and parents' endorsement of schools (r = −0.36). The concentration of Asian students at schools and schoolwide achievement were negatively associated with teachers' perceptions of parents (rs = −0.18, −0.20). However, neither school contextual factors nor school-based parent involvement at Wave 1 uniquely predicted children's academic achievement at Wave 2. Implications of findings for understanding and addressing barriers to engaging Chinese American immigrant families in their children's schools are discussed.

Linking academic worries and youth academic adjustment: The role of parental involvement

Using a multi-informant, longitudinal design, we investigated the independent and interactive associations between youth academic worries and parental involvement (parent-teacher relationship quality, academic socialization, schoolwork assistance) before the middle school transition as predictors of youth engagement and academic performance after the middle school transition among 100 youth (53% boys; Mage = 11.05 years; 57% White). We found that maternal academic socialization moderated the prospective association between youth academic worries and academic adjustment, such that youth who experienced more academic worries coupled with higher maternal academic socialization had higher academic performance and engagement; no association emerged for lower maternal academic socialization. Further, maternal schoolwork assistance before middle school directly predicted better academic performance during middle school. Findings highlight the importance of maternal schoolwork assistance in promoting youths' academic performance, as well as maternal academic socialization in promoting higher academic performance and engagement for youth experiencing more academic worries.

Relationships as Malleable Factors for Children’s Social-Behavioral Skills from Preschool to Grade 1: A Longitudinal Analysis

ABSTRACT Social-behavioral functioning during early childhood is associated with children’s academic and social success concurrently and over time. This study explored how concurrent, year-to-year, and sustained parent–teacher and student–teacher relationships predicted children’s social skills and problem behaviors across the preschool to Grade 1 transitions. Participants were 233 children (M = 5.32 years [SD = 0.27] in preschool), their parents, and their preschool (n = 65), kindergarten (n = 116), and first grade (n = 117) teachers enrolled in low-income public schools in rural and urban communities. Research Findings: Children’s relationships with teachers were associated with social-behavioral functioning immediately and over time. Positive, sustained relationships from preschool through first grade predicted social-behavioral benefits. Conflictual relationships related to higher problem behaviors. Parent–teacher relationships as reported by teachers predicted children’s positive social-behavioral functioning in the same year. Parents’ reports of close relationships with teachers predicted more problem behaviors in the following year. Sustained relationships between parents and teachers during the transition from preschool through first grade predicted improved social skills and fewer problem behaviors over time. Practice or Policy: Providing targeted training and support for educators to develop and maintain relationships with students and parents can improve social-behavioral outcomes for children across the preschool to 1st grade transition.

Teachers’ professionalism and relations with parents: teachers’ and parents’ views

ABSTRACT Following the intensification and ambivalence of parent-teacher relations, this study examined the collaborative or conflictual relations, and teachers’ professionalism as perceived by both teachers and parents: 325 teachers and 655 parents from 21 Israeli Jewish primary schools answered a questionnaire. Using a structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis, similarities were found in teachers and parents’ perceptions of teachers’ work efficiency in increasing collaborative relations and decreasing conflicts. Teachers’ responsibilities and influence in schools reduce conflicts to varying extents for parents and teachers. The findings highlight the importance of developing professional competencies for building parent-teacher relations in schools. Emphasising the preparation of teachers for establishing their relations with parents is mainly important during in-service and pre-service teachers’ training, as it can contribute to increasing teachers’ professional confidence in their efforts to build collaborative rather than conflictual relations with teachers and schools.

Understanding the Education of Children with Autism in Bangladesh

This paper aims to understand the educational settings of children with autism (CWA) in the specialized schools of Bangladesh from their parents' perspective. Sparse research in the same context to understand teachers' perceptions has been found. Though parents and teachers are an integral part of these children's educational experience, limited research has been conducted to deeply understand and facilitate parent-teacher relationships to offer CWA an improved learning experience in Bangladesh. Our in-depth qualitative study on urban parents (N=10) showed current challenges and opportunities relating to the schools designed for CWA. The work takes a closer look at the existing concerns and confirms that parent-teacher communication in autism schools here is a complex one because of other interferences (e.g., social, and familial stigma, lack of transparency from administrators, insufficient qualified teachers) as felt by the parents. Nevertheless, the remarkable coverage of cellular networks and increasing usage of mobile phones in Bangladesh places us in a unique position to expect positive changes by employing ICT, which we believe will open avenues for future researchers and guide them in implementing robust technology to support an improved learning environment for the CWA and their families.