Parent – Teacher Interview Preparation

Being fully prepared for parent/teacher interviews is a professional practice that cannot be underestimated and must be a priority for us.

- it is imperative to have a comprehensive array of assessment for each and every child that includes formative, anecdotal, self and summative perspectives.

An unfortunate reality for us as teachers to confront, is that because all of our students’ parents have been to school, they often believe that they know and understand all about school.

- a word of advice; it is wasted effort having disagreements with “know all” parents on trivial issues.

- a far more effective strategy is to win their confidence by showing them a total thoroughness in our approach to each and every aspect of their children’s development; they will soon come to the realisation that they don’t actually know everything about what occurs in school.

Stressful situations may arise should the parents being interviewed feel we don’t know their child well enough and thus lose confidence in our ability to accurately assess and report on their children’s personal, social and academic progress, attitude and effort.

- every child in our classes is loved by someone and that someone wants the very best for their child; don’t we for our children?

- to quote Hilary Clinton, “every child is our priority”

Parents expect us to:

• understand their child’s best ways to learn by explaining to them their child’s individual learning style and dominant multiple intelligences
• have a teaching and learning plan in place to cater for his/her needs, weaknesses and strengths
• possess an awareness of and advice areas for improvement for their child
• beware; never give parents the impression that we know their child better than them. We don’t, and the response we may well receive will jeopardise our relationship with both them and their child permanently

Following is a suggested checklist of items, that when completed thoroughly, will ensure the successful negotiation of parent/teacher interviews and provide parents with accurate and meaningful insights on their children’s progress and ways they can assist them.

Term by term keep accurate formal records for each child on:

• their home learning (homework)
• skills/outcomes achieved
• assessment of tests, group work, assignments, oral presentations, etc
• attendance, attitude, behaviour and effort

Also, create a section where anecdotal comments and observations can be recorded on every student; specific examples on their child are appreciated by parents:

• on individual student’s attitude, effort, ownership and behaviour
• special things he/she has done
• these comments must be recorded during or immediately after each class or they’ll be lost in our busyness
• this strategy wins parent’s confidence in us

Over a Term, a bank of observations will build up on each child that will paint a comprehensive picture of his/her all round performance and progress for us to communicate to parents and use to tailor personalised learning for them.

- throughout the term regularly write notes home to parents in the students’ planners regarding learning issues, both positive and negative, that crop up; parents will appreciate our personal approach

- encourage and invite parents to do likewise to communicate their needs and concerns

Adopting such a thorough approach with our data collection will see us well prepared.

“We must rediscover the distinction between hope and expectation.” Ivan Illich