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Parent- Teacher Relationships: We have no intention of considering the genera] theme of linking home and school, which is well documented elsewhere,25'26 except to note one point. Namely, that a PACT scheme develops a relationship between parent and teacher which, like all good relationships, needs encouragement in order to be sustained and allowed to grow. Many teachers have commented on improved parent- teacher relationshipsteacher relationships with the introduction of PACT and they realize how important it is to listen to what parents have to say. Such listening, on both sides, can help develop the relationship. If this is accepted and acted upon, the dialogue between every school and its parents can develop in a variety of different ways, the richness of which we can only speculate on.
Home-school relationships are never easy, because we have not defined what this whole concept means and agreed what it involves. It means something different for each teacher and for each set of parents: often the expectations and types of relationship vary with individual children in a family. It is important to recognise that educators' relationships are different with either parent.
Parents may be given euphemistic tides such as 'parent listeners', and relegated to a small room somewhere in the school. Nevertheless, where this is happening at all it is a major professional step forward, and must enhance children's learning and parent- teacher relationshipsteacher relationships. No one would advocate that parents should be brought into classrooms on such a scale that rooms would be crowded, or that they should necessarily be present for substantial parts of the day. We do believe, though, that such practice should be considered professionally acceptable, and that the work of parents should be fully acknowledged as beneficial to the children's education. This would mean raising the status of parents in a school, and accepting their role as integral to a child's school life. |
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