How do you prepare for parents' evenings? As a teacher, or as a parent?
There is no doubt that many teachers find their role stressful. We all have different trigger points. This can range from the working mark load, dealing with disruptive pupils or classes to the bullying boss. I often found that my biggest form of anxiety was dealing with the parents of children. My whole week could be derailed by the ranting parent making a complaint, especially when I felt we were doing everything that we possibly could for their child.
I’m not sure if I
Here’s tip #11: try not to be as condescending to parents as the author of this article. They don’t need to be “managed”. They need to be respected as partners in education.
Fair point… but if you have to see over 100 parents in 3 hours, frankly it does need to be managed. Secondly, for teachers new to parent conversations, it is vital that they learn how to support and challenge student progress with the view that parents are part of the partnership. Not every parental conversation is smooth, but the vast majority are.
Parent-teacher conferences are not designed for meaningful dialogue, I agree. (see “The Essential Conversation” by Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot). However, implying that the exercise will consist of trying to navigate a tricky series of complaints, criticisms and forced smiles doesn’t help build bridges. After all, as Dr. Lawrence-Lightfoot says, we are all there for the same reason – the “teacher’s student and the parent’s child”. Sharing information (including parent knowledge) begins the process of understanding what the parent can do and not just who they are (Dr. Janet Goodall, Bath U.).
Noted. Teaching very challenging students and teaching 20 hours weeks, sometimes for 6 hours and then having a 3 hour meeting with parents is exhausting for many teachers. The structure of how parents evenings are set up is half the problem. Strategies suggested here are for surviving rather than thriving – which is many ways, is a sad indication of the challenges many teachers face.