Parents Can Revitalise Teachers
After many years in Christian schooling, I can see how parents can lift and re-energise their children’s teachers. Our school is an imperfect community. Our staff are not perfect professionals. Our students are not perfect pupils, and you, as parents, are not perfect people.
But none of that means that our school is not a place of powerful potential where parents can unlock teachers’ best. Here are four tips on how you can do that for your children’s best interests.
1. Reinforce the school’s values
When parents echo the school’s Core Values at home, teachers feel supported and encouraged. A quick comment like, “We’re reinforcing respect at home — thank you for teaching it,” shows teachers that the student is supported from home and school. They will never forget that you said that.
2. Share excitement about learning
Teachers are motivated by student growth. When parents show excitement about their child’s progress, it fuels a teacher’s passion. I hope you know that teachers are not at all interested in trying to catch children out. Teachers love creating an environment where learning can flourish. When parents acknowledge that shared purpose, it strengthens the teachers’ trust in you, and that makes your child’s learning more effective.
3. Choose to be a Partner
Teachers make decisions for the good of the whole class. When parents trust the teacher’s judgement and act like genuine teammates, teachers feel backed rather than critiqued. Parent support is deeply revitalising, and makes the classroom work better.
4. Speak wisely in front of your children
Children absorb the tone of home conversations. Criticism of teachers in front of the children definitely erodes trust. Eroded trust prevents learning. Concerns can still be raised, but directly in a private conversation with the teacher, respectfully, and genuinely seeking understanding.
These four tips are mostly ‘no brainers’, but we would be no brainers ourselves if we didn’t see the good sense in uplifting the people who nurture and teach our children.
david gleeson, principal