Learning in ancient India was a form of full time commitment where the student would live with the teacher until they came of age. This made them learn everything, from basic survival tactics, combat, and foraging to mathematics, linguistics and religion, through practice and rigor. Many wish that such an education was possible in today’s time, but that would be a major overhaul of what the world is used to. Then what can exactly be done to ensure that students are in the aura of a learning atmosphere all throughout their educational phase?
That’s where the relationship of a parent and teacher step in. When the first teacher of a child’s life comes in and makes efforts to build a conducive environment for learning at home, the student hence becomes accustomed to learn, practice and be a school success. Akin to making a propitious aura for learning it becomes inevitably important that parents and teachers have a good bond that will ensure a better understanding of the student’s psychology.
This makes it important for us to understand how teachers and parents should help make education better than what it is today.
What are the Benefits?
The benefits of how a healthy interaction among teachers and parents can help a student are as profound, as they are obvious.
A positive parent-teacher relationship helps your child feel good about school and be successful in school. It demonstrates to your child that he can trust his teacher, because you do. This positive relationship makes a child feel like the important people in his life are working together.
Communicating well is a key factor for making this relationship work. The parents need information about what and how their child is learning, and the teacher needs important feedback from the parent about the child’s academic and social development.
However, considering these in mind, it becomes challenging to understand how to uphold such relations, both, from the perspective of a teacher or a parent. For a parent, after all, there are teachers their child will love and teachers their child may not. There are teachers a parent may like and dislike as well. There are teachers who may adore the child, and those who just don’t understand him. But whatever the case, the child’s teacher is the second most important person in the child’s life (after parents, of course). And the parent can help make their relationship a strong and rewarding one.
Also, making sure to communicate effectively with a busy teacher, who may have up to 30 kids in a class, can be challenging. When’s the right time to talk — and when isn’t? How can you get attention? What should you bring up with the teacher and what should be left alone? How do you create a relationship with someone you may only see a few times a year?
Building Better Relations
In order to ensure the right kind of relations among parents, we have the following ways in which both can help sustain a strong bond.
For a parent, they can contribute by being involved in their child’s education. Creating a positive triangle relationship between the parent, the child, and his or her teachers is one way to ensure that they care about the child. The next step comes in when they actually educate themselves to keep up to date with the current trends in learning. Be it STEM education, be it any other form or novelty in the education of a child, the parents must be up to date. This will make sure they do not miss out on any trends and hence help their child accordingly. Another very obvious manner to help is to send the children to their school happily. As trivial as it may sound, this makes up for a very important part of the child’s day at the school. Happiness makes a child’s experience completely worth it, when it comes to the teaching and learning loop.
Now, for a teacher, the best way to begin and form better ties with the parents is through certain very fundamental methods. One, they must communicate. It is the key to success and keeping parents involved in their child’s education is critical. Don’t wait until parent conferences to let them know that their child is falling behind. Email them, call them or talk to them at the gate — keep them involved! One cannot expect parents to remain up to date with the teaching methodology all the time. Hence it becomes important to educate them. Bringing them in for Professional Development — teaching them how Math or English are taught– supporting their learning as it is just as important as their child’s. They have to support learning at home. Last but not the least, it becomes equally necessary to have a positive outlook towards students and their parents. Sending a note home or an email to let them know the amazing things their child is doing, gives parents a certain confidence towards their children and the education they are receiving. Make no exceptions, do this for EVERY child. The smallest thing, can make the biggest difference!
In a Nutshell
The bonding between a student, his or her parents and teachers becomes as important as the techniques of learning and teaching. This basically means, irrespective of any methodology, one must comply with better relations among the three. When it comes to STEM learning and experiential methods, it is important for us to realise that with learning, involvement of teachers and parents becomes very important.
Psst. A little something before you leave!
Thank you for taking out the time to read this blog! If you enjoyed reading it and would like to read more about educating in the modern world, go check out these blogs as well!
