What to do with parents who…

Answers to questions teachers and schools are afraid to ask

 

Much focus is spent on student behaviour. But how do you deal with parents you dread? Or deliver bad news to good parents? Or reach out to disengaged parents?

 

Communicating with parents is a challenging and stressful task teachers and principals face on a daily basis. Whether trying to engage an avoidant parent or handle a complaint, it is essential to know how to initiate contact, handle difficult situations, establish positive relationships, recognise when a parent is right, stop problems before they escalate to the main office and never let ‘em see you sweat. 

 

But dealing with parents, often leaves teachers and schools feeling out of their depth or on the back foot. 24 per cent of Australian teachers report ‘addressing parent or guardian concerns’ as a major source of stress which has contributed to more teachers wanting to leave teaching within the next five years.

 

Using real classroom examples, Greg Mitchell shares 40yrs of teacher coaching in one concise workshop of insights, tips and tools to help all educators have positive communication with parents who:

 

• Challenge your credibility – Establishing authority with parents from your first contact.
• Expectations are way off – Understanding todays parents and their expectations versus values.
• Don’t show up –  How to initiate and maintain contact with parents through their child’s learning.

 

• Abuse staff – Safely diffuse risky situations and understand parents’ motivations.
• Can’t shift – Avoid getting stuck addressing the same problems week after week.
• Is over-involved – Turn parent passion into compassion.

 

• Is right! – How to save face and move on.
• Protects their child from consequences – Creating a shared commitment to accountability.
• Catastrophises – How to avoid becoming entangled and refocus a parents attention to what matters.

 

• Always goes over your head for action – Establishing boundaries with parents and addressing complaints with your leadership.
• Uses social media – Friend or foe? How, why and when to connect. The role social media can play in parent interactions.

 

This workshop is for every educator who has asked – why do parents to that? Dynamic, insightful and practical this is must do training for graduates to old school teachers wanting to know how to deal with sticky situations they don’t teach in college/ uni. Packed with over 30 simple strategies you can start using tomorrow to expertly navigate challenging interactions with parents, and walk away feeling that you have made a positive and meaningful impact.