Parent teacher meetings are vital to craft a student’s fulfilling educational journey. Therefore, it is important to have a constant effort and a planned approach to PTMs. The agenda of a Parent-Teacher Meeting (PTM) is: to discuss a student’s academic progress and achievement, learning styles, homework discipline, holistic development, behavioral issues, and any other concerns that need to be discussed.
It is important to calendarise this meeting at a certain frequency despite any other issues so that the parent and teacher are on the same page about a student’s learning. However, despite understanding the importance of the meetings, many parents and teachers take these meetings casually and may not attend them. The usual issues in a PTM are: no show in the virtual meeting, one-sided discussions, and defending the issues are some of the common problems that make this meeting unproductive.
Often, it is the obvious and the smaller things that we miss and that impacts the productivity of the PTM meeting. In this post, we discuss the common issues of PTMs and how to prepare to make PTMs a productive meeting for both teachers and parents.
How can a virtual parent teacher conference be productive for parents?
Parents should be prepared and must know what questions to ask in a PTM. Some of the questions that parents should ask to make the meeting productive are:
- Where is my child in terms of the course goals?
- What is my child’s learning style?
- Is my child just doing enough or is he or she tackling the tough challenges?
- Are there any learning difficulties that my child is facing?
- Is there any issue in terms of discipline?
Language fluency, accent, attitude of the teachers, helpfulness or any other academic related and teaching related areas are common concerns shared by teachers and parents.
Tips for making the PTM a productive meeting for the parents:
- Keep your discussion points ready, and be on time for the meeting.
- Promote positive interaction throughout the online parent teacher meeting without blaming the teacher for any child-related issue.
- Do not make the interaction one-sided.
- If you have any issues with the teacher, take it up separately with the school management and not in your child’s presence during the PTM.
- Discuss your time slots in advance if you wish to modify the timings of the parent teacher conference.
Tips for making the PTM a productive meeting for the teachers:
- Prepare well before the PTM, keep your observations, notes, and feedback documented and handy.
- Be a good listener when parents voice their concerns.
- Try to be genuine and collaborative to help the learning of the child rather than sounding harsh or sounding like you’re blaming the child or the parent.
- Maintain positivity throughout the meeting.
- Start with the student’s achievements before coming to workable areas.
- Always be open to feedback.
Hope this is useful, thank you.
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