Partnership Makes Good Sense

There are some things that just make good sense because they work for everyone.

Lots of countries don’t have what we Aussies call ‘roundabouts’ at intersections. ‘Roundabouts’ make great sense. If there is no other vehicle, I can drive straight through. There’s no needless waiting at an empty, pointless, time-wasting traffic light when there is no one else on the road. On the other hand, when there is another vehicle, we all know who goes first, and we all get our chance to move through… simple yet just makes good sense.

There are elements of schools and schooling that just make good sense.

Good partnership just makes sense. In schools, good partnerships work for everyone. There’s partnership between home and school. Partnership between parents and teachers. Among staff we do partnership across the teaching spaces. We construct and commend partnership between students and teachers as they both work together to optimise the learning for the learner.

Some schools aren’t like that.

In some schools, parents see the school as something to critique, but at our school parents see the school as something to protect. At some schools, teachers see the parents as an irrelevance, but at our school, teachers see the parents as co-workers in the nurture of the children’s learning. At some schools, students see the teachers as enemies, but at our school students see their teacher as their resource, their advocate, their support.

Yes, I know it is stating the obvious, but I need to say that partnership, good partnership between parents and teachers is the way to get the best for our children. For example, wise parents bring out the best in their children’s teachers by speaking in ways that consolidate good partnership. Wise teachers do the same. Another way to see it would be that wise parents and teachers use the language of ‘let’s work together’. A great way for teachers and parents to speak with each other is to ask to hear one another’s perspective. Seeking another person’s perspective is to listen, and that paves the way for engagement and shared goals.

It is actually weird that there can be misunderstandings at times between parents and teachers, because in actual fact, the goals parents have for their children are exactly the goals that teachers have for every child in their care.

Teachers want success for their students. Parents want success for their child. Teachers want safety and nurture for their students, parents want their children safe and nurtured. Teachers want the best individual achievement possible for each child, and that is what parents want too. In every instance, parents and teachers are pursuing the same outcomes. That is why seeking one another’s perspective is such a wise starting point for the partnership that is going to optimise the children’s learning.

For the sake of our learners, let’s work at being great partners. Great partners seek one another’s perspective; great partners seek first to understand.

david gleeson, principal