The Concerns of Parents
Every academic institution as well as different educating centers arranges special meetings for the teachers and the parents. This interacting session helps both the parties to improve the problems that children face during the implementation of education. The main topics discussed during such an interaction are;
- Academic improvement of the child
- Expectations from the child
- Area of concern
- Behavior of the child
The most important concern for the parents is the care of their children. There are some common issues that are raised by concerned parents. They mainly enquire about the process which is being implemented by the teachers. They also ask questions on how they can assess the progress of the child. There are parents who ask lots of question to the teachers while an open house is in progress while there are others as well who directly challenges the teaching methods practiced by the educators.
This can be solved by telling such parent that a special meeting can be arranged anytime after the interacting session gets over. Another main challenge that the educators face is the presence of parents who directly questions the technique of teaching. The teachers must make it a point to provide strong logic about the teaching methods and should not show any weakness. These methods will help the teachers to easily address the challenges.
Family and teacher relationships are a key factor in the development of a child. The relationship has different angels as it involves relation of a teacher and student, relation of the family with the child, relation of the teacher with the other educators in the education centre. The complex relationship serves as an ideal model in the building up of a family- teacher relationship.
The educators face different types of challenges while interacting with the parents. There are different such challenges like;
- Maintaining a proper and healthy relationship with the family of the children
- Making an effective communication
- Understanding the emotions of the child
- Asking Questions to the child to know their problems
Sharing Information is one of the primary tasks of the educators. Information regarding the child must be shared all the time with the parents and the families to let them have a proper knowledge about how their ward is performing or responding (Lapinski et al. 2014). Teachers should share the information regarding the developmental trends of the child, their improvements and also the results of their reaction to new situations. Information should also be conveyed to the educator by the family of the child. This would help the teacher to know about the exact problems faced by the student and would help him to implement the best teaching methods to help the child improve.
How Educators Can Address Challenges
Some changes that can be implemented are;
- Changing the teaching methods of the child
- Paying more attention to what the child says
- Being friendly to the child to make him feel comfortable
The education centers maintain a healthy partnership with the families of the children who are enrolled there. Partnerships are mainly built to create a transparent structure between the families and the educators.
- A proper orientation process is developed for the families of the children
- The families are well informed about the current information regarding the child
- The families are also well informed about the service that is presently being provided by the education centers
- The families are informed about the different methods of raising up a child
- The service that is provided by the educational institutions involves the participation of the local communities
A practical example can help the readers better understand about the complex partnership structure between the centre and the families.
Mr. Hans Graham an educator of a prominent teaching center of Australia gives a brief idea about such a partnership. He describes that in the recent past his education centre arranged a group outing for some children along with their parents (Battista et al. 2014). He said that some of the parents remarked to him that it was a nice experience for the children as they enjoyed each and every minute of the outing. The outing was risky but the parents were glad after they came to know that they could assist their children. Such research can help to establish a good partnership.
There are different benefits of working with the families of the parents. The parents feel a sense of respect about the experience of the children outside the house. The children also enjoy the learning as the education centers offer them an environment which is similar to the home. The process also helps the teachers to learn about the difficulties of the children and can help them to solve their problems (Huston et al. 2015).
Attending social events can help the educators in a number of ways;
- The educator will have an idea about the child’s participation in the event
- The educator can observe the behavior of the child in different situations of the party
- The educator can establish a proper relationship with the parents and other family members which will help him to develop a correct strategy for the improvement of the child
As mentioned earlier information is a two way process that comes from both the family of the child and the educator. Talking about the child will help to gather important information regarding the child (Henderson et al. 2015). Sharing information helps to build a trusted relationship between the educators and the parents. The information generated helps to make the parents aware that they are being respected and the staffs are well known about their understanding of the child (Tschann, 2015).
- Parents should be informed about the day to day activities of the child
- The center must arrange a special workshop for the parents to make them aware of the techniques followed in the center
- The workshop should also provide a detailed analysis of the different methods that should be followed by the parents in home
Quality Improvement Plans are the special plans that are aimed to provide a self assessment for the centers on the technique followed by them (Huston, Bobbitt & Bentley, 2015). The particular plan helps the education centers to improve their different plans for the future. The education centers must concentrate on quality improvement to make sure that the right steps are taken to implement the best teaching methods for the children (Lamb, 2014).
- A strong leadership support
- Establishing different rules and regulations
- Setting real time expectations and Goals
- Trust Building
The Key Factors in Building a Family-Teacher Relationship
There are different processes in place to maintain updated information. The organization can take the help of primary and secondary sources of information to access the recent information (Landry et al. 2014). They use the help of the net service; establish contacts with different people and also with other educational centers.
The organizations help the family to assess the information. The different ways of sharing information are;
- Informing in meetings and open sessions
- Informing the family through letters
- Informing the family through telephonic conversations
It is very much important to inform the families about the different incidents during child care. The education centers must make it a note to inform the incidents promptly to avoid any complications. The child must be given a proper care in case any such incident occurs. Informing the parents will help to avoid any confrontations (Vermeer et al. 2016).
Serious incidents occur during child care. There are numerous cases where children got admitted to hospitals because of broken ribs, broken arms. There were several cases reported where the education centers did not even informed the parents about the incidents. The incidents occur due to the presence of an ill maintained playroom or lack of maintenance of the education centers.
References
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Battista, R. A., Oakley, H., Weddell, M. S., Mudd, L. M., Greene, J. B., & West, S. T. (2014). Improving the physical activity and nutrition environment through self-assessment (NAP SACC) in rural area child care centers in North Carolina. Preventive medicine, 67, S10-S16.
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Huston, A. C., Bobbitt, K. C., & Bentley, A. (2015). Time spent in child care: How and why does it affect social development?. Developmental psychology, 51(5), 621.
Lamb, M. E. (2014). Child care in context: Cross-cultural perspectives. Psychology Press.
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O’Neill, J. R., Dowda, M., Benjamin Neelon, S. E., Neelon, B., & Pate, R. R. (2017). Effects of a New State Policy on Physical Activity Practices in Child Care Centers in South Carolina. American journal of public health, 107(1), 144-146.
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Vermeer, H. J., IJzendoorn, M. H., Cárcamo, R. A., & Harrison, L. J. (2016). Quality of child care using the environment rating scales: A meta-analysis of international studies. International Journal of Early Childhood, 48(1), 33-60