Preparing teachers to work in
partnership with parents
Andrew Mullins
Redfield College, Dural, NSW
2158
Abstract
This study looks at the preparedness
of beginning teachers to work in partnership with the parents of
the students whom they teach. Conclusions are based on the
responses of 35 independent school principals across Australia,
and are of relevance to the design of teacher education courses.
Responses indicate that beginning teachers have a limited concept
of “partnership with parents” which often does not
descend to building individual relationships and is often not
committed to fostering the individual child’s esteem for his
or her parents. Responses almost universally call for better
preparation for beginning teachers so that they have better skills
in handling parental concerns, so they be more effective in
guiding parents to support the school in academic matters and so
they give better support to parents in areas of character
building. Respondents note the frequent apprehension that
beginning teachers can experience in the face of parental contact
and most are of the view that a significant proportion of
beginning teachers minimise parental contact.
An integrated and holistic vision of teacher
parent partnership is discussed. Some conclusions are
drawn for the design of teacher education programs. In particular,
a broader vision of the benefits of strong parent-teacher
collaboration, and practical approaches for parent-teacher
collaboration in both academic and character building areas, are
required. On the premise that character education is more
effective if the efforts of school and home are complementary and
consistent, the predominant features of a character education in
the classroom that reinforces the work of parents are proposed.
Some practical strategies are also discussed.
Some observations are made concerning
potential benefits were teacher training programs more effective
in preparing teachers to work with parents.
1. Introduction
1.1 Questions about how effectively teacher
education courses prepare teachers to work with parents.
The idea for this paper really arose in
February 2000 when I attended the Change and Choice in the New
Century Symposium conducted by the Change in Education Research Group
at the University of Technology, Sydney. At that conference I
presented a paper entitled, Creating schools which provide more
substantial support for parents. I believe that of the some fifty
presentations at the conference this was the only paper that focused
on, or made serious mention of partnership between school and home.
This suggested to me the possibility that there might be limited
current research being conducted into this theme in at least some
Australian teacher education faculties. And an implication of this
was that those faculties, in their teacher education curricula, might
be giving little emphasis to the advantages of forging strong bonds
between home and school and to preparing teachers to work in
partnership with parents.
I decided to study this issue, not by looking
at the courses themselves, but by looking at the perceived
effectiveness of teacher education courses in preparing teachers to
work in partnership with parents. In a sense I was interested in the
real outcomes of teacher education courses. I decided to gather data
about how adequately beginning teachers were being prepared to work
with parents by polling principals for an evaluation of the work of
the beginning teachers on their staffs.
My paper two years ago focused on what schools
themselves can do to be supportive of parents. This paper will draw
tentative conclusions about what teacher education courses can do
better with respect to preparing beginning teachers to support
parents.
1.2 Contemporary Attitudes Towards the
Parent-Teacher Partnership
1.2.1 Within Australia
At the level of public policy in Australia
calls for more effective collaboration between parents and teachers
have increased over the past decade. Considerable impulse has come
from Federal ministers who are nevertheless, in a sense, out of the
education loop. A milestone was the release in the mid 1990s by Ross
Free[2]
as Minister for Schools, Vocational Training and Education a booklet,
Parents as Partners in School Education at the National Level,
seeking to supply information to parents about current goals and
trends in education in which he described parents as “the first
educators [3]”.
More recently David Kemp has released documents
for both parents and teachers advocating
“partnership” and advising very specific strategies for
cooperation.[4]
During the nineties, the parent-teacher
partnership was also been very much on the mind of educational
administrators in both the private and government sector. For a
decade or more, all government schools have been directed to increase
their links with their local community and parent body, and most if
not all now have mechanisms in place to permit greater parent
involvement in decision making. The report of the ACSSO & the APC
(1996)[5]
wrote of the need for parents to be given opportunities to “to
feel welcome and comfortable in their children’s school”
and “opportunities to... share their children’s experience
of school”. A NSW Board of Studies presentation to the 1997 AGM
of the Association of Independent Schools nominated “Links with
parents” as third on the list of current educational trends in
NSW.
Some academics have picked up the issue.
Australian Parents’ Council publications[6]
contained extensive bibliography of research demonstrating the
importance of parental involvement in improving the academic
performance of their own children. The report of Prof. Peter Cuttence
in 1999 demanded that schools take the initiative to communicate far
more meaningfully with parents. A constant recent theme
of Prof. Don Edgar of RMIT has been what he regards as the urgent
priority that schools work more closely with parents[7].
1.2.2
Overseas
But most of the running has been done off
shore.
In Europe, after Macbeth’s 1984
ground-breaking study The Child Between[8]
research into, and implementation of, school-home partnerships
blossomed. Many publications have developed the theory over
these past seventeen years[9].
Much research continues into the partnership theme. A noteworthy
recent paper by Heywood-Everett looks critically at the concept of
partnership and argues for an emphasis on individual relationships
between teachers and parents[10].
The OECD has commissioned studies into the parent
partnership[11].
Various departments of education have issued their guidelines for
enhancing parent-teacher cooperation[12].
For example the Scottish Office of the Education and Industry
Department stressed that schools need to “respect the
responsibilities and rights of parents”. The British Department
of Education and Employment also picked up the partnership
terminology, arguing “we all need to be involved: schools,
teachers and parents are at the heart of the partnership”. Tony
Blair even came to power on an election platform that spoke of
partnership between school and community.
Major parent bodies in Europe are also beating
the same drum. The extensive Belgian based European Parents
Association, representing some 100 million parents in
parents’ associations across Europe, places prominently in its
constitutional aims:
“Recognition for parents of
their central place as primary educators of their children, and of
the need to involve them actively at all stages of the education
of their children.” [13]
Europe in general is seeing a flowering of
parent-school initiatives. OIDEL is an example of a European
NGO which is taking a high profile in the drive to bring home and
school closer together as a response the increasing alienation from
the family and family values to which young persons are subjected.
The Fomento movement of Spanish family schools, now numbering
some 50 schools, is an example of the extension of the
parent-school partnership concept to its practical conclusions. The
schools of this organization retain their professional independence
from parental meddling, but are founded on the need to reinforce
parental values and to empower parents in the education of their own
children.
The USA is also nationally committed to
fostering strong partnerships between home and school. Many states
taking advantage of federal funding for projects to build strong
school-home links with respect to character
education.[14]
Individual states are running extensive character education programs
that are founded on strong family school cooperation.[15]
The governors of Colorado, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, New
Hampshire, New Mexico, South Dakota, and Utah all have recently
endorsed a Character Education Manifesto that declares
We strongly affirm parents as the
primary moral educators of their children and believe schools
should build a partnership with the home.[16]
The current Teachers Guide to the US Department
of Education has a section entitled “The Partnership for Family
Involvement in Education”[17].
Numerous state education departments have issued directives for
partnership building.[18]
Major US publications have called for closer links between home and
school. Across the country there are many academics advocating closer
parent-school links in both for both the academic and character
building benefits that flow on. Dr Thomas Lickona has established the
Centre for the Fourth and Fifth R’s in The University of New
York. Lickona argues in his “12 Point Plan for Character
Education”, that one of the key whole school strategies must be
“Parents and community as partners”. His bestselling
Educating for Character: How our schools can teach respect and
responsibility is founded on the principle that schools and
families are essential partners. The influential Boston University
Institute for Character Development includes in its charter,
“Together with parents, teachers are responsible for character
education, they must be selected, educated, and encouraged with this
mission in mind.” The former Director of the Institute, Kevin
Ryan, and the present Director, Karen Bohlin have condensed much of
their thinking into their excellently practical Teaching character
in schools.
A most interesting trend in the US is for
teacher education institutions to pick up on this research and public
policy. The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education
has just announced that, in conjunction with Metropolitan Life
Foundation, it will be creating the AACTE-Metropolitan Life
Foundation Parental Engagement Institute. The purpose of the
institute is to ensure that the nation’s teacher education
programs effectively prepare pre-service teachers to engage parents
and families toward student learning. The Institute will promote best
practices in teacher education programs. [19]
2. Survey of Principals
2.1 The Survey
As a member of the Australian Heads of
Independent Schools (AHISA), I have the benefit of immediate email
contact with my colleagues in other independent schools across the
nation. I used this network to conduct a simple poll, inviting my
colleagues to offer what we could call “scale-of-agreement”
feedback on ten statements about the quality of beginning
teachers’ interaction with parents (see survey page in Appendix
1). There were 35 respondents nationally, all principals of
independent schools. In addition one principal also polled her
beginning teachers on my behalf, data which I kept separate but which
suggests a productive future line of investigation. The survey was
emailed out during the last week of school on 6 December, 2001. That
35 responses came back in this most busy time of the year suggests
that principals regard with importance the issue of how to better
prepare teachers to work with parents.
For the respondent’s convenience, and to
thereby increase the number of responses, the survey was designed as
ten statements requiring a simple tick on a ten point scale ranging
from “strongly agree” to “disagree”. Statements
gathered information about beginning teachers’ understanding of
the dimensions of the term “partnership with parents” (S5,
6, 8), teachers’ attitudes to parental contact (S1, 2, 7) and
competence in working with parents (S3, 9, 10). A statement was also
included which asked whether parental expectations for communication
from the school have increased (S4).
2.2 Comments on the Limitations of this Data
Collection
Although the survey is limited in its extent,
it is reasonable to conclude that the respondents, being independent
of each other and spread across six states are a reasonably
representative distribution of independent school principals.
Furthermore, although the nature of the survey is subjective there
are strong consistencies of responses emerging. Qualified conclusions
may therefore be drawn concerning the general opinions of Australian
independent school principals, and qualified conclusions about the
effectiveness of teacher education programs in preparing their
students for effective collaboration with parents may also be
made.
2.3
Analysis of the survey
2.3.1 Principals’ perceptions of
beginning teachers’ understanding of the dimensions of the term
“partnership with parents”: analysis of survey Statements
5, 6, and 8.
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Statement 5.
The statement highlighted three
“minimum benchmarks” for parental
interaction… a limited vision of the potential for
partnership with parents. Yet the opinion of the principals
is that beginning teachers tend to see these minimums as
encapsulating the essence of partnership with
parents.
This table shows that 30/35
respondents are of the opinion that beginning teachers tend
to have a limited vision of the dimensions and therefore of
the potential for partnership with parents. About half of
the respondents (17/35) gave their response in the first
three categories, indicating various shades of strong
agreement with the statement.
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Statement 6
This chart shows a more or less
equivocal response. A little over half the reponses agree
with the statement but the difference is certainly
statistically insignificant. What we can say, given the high
percentage of responses in the middle categories, is that
the majority of respondents were not confident that
beginning teachers do try to build individual relationships
with parents of the students they teach.
Yet without a personal relationship,
the term partnership is stripped of the core of its meaning.
At best we have a commitment to the conventional but
impersonal means of working with parents: notes occasionally
in the diary, annual parent teacher meeting, and school
reports. These responses are consistent with the responses
to Statement 5.
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Statement 8
As for Statement 6, the responses show
little agreement. We can say that, in the opinion and
experience of the respondents, up to half of beginning
teachers do not see the need to foster a child’s esteem
for his or her parents. Yet we could say that such an
attitude is at the core of any commitment to
partnership.
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2.3.2 Principals’ perceptions of
beginning teachers’ attitudes to parental contact : analysis of
survey Statements 1,2 and 7.
This second group of responses moves from
principals’ perceptions of how the beginning teachers see their
role, to principals’ perceptions of actual performance by
beginning teachers in specific areas relating to the parent-teacher
partnership.
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Statement 1.
This statement is included as an
indicator of subliminal attitudes in the beginning teacher,
revealed in those teachers’ responses to parental
messages left for them.
Principals show themselves firmly of
the opinion that beginning teachers will often show
pronounced negativity and apprehension when contacted. the
statement refers to the request to return a call and
responses suggest teachers can be unreasonably fearful of
the intention of the parent, or of their own capacity to
deal with the query without undue stress.
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Statement 2.
Whilst the feedback in this table is
less conclusive the responses are considerably weighted
towards the left hand side of the table, indicating that the
greater part of principals consider the statement to be
true.
The statement itself is quite strongly
worded. An effort to minimise parental contact can suggest
unprofessional behaviour; perhaps this is one reason for the
moderated responses.
Implications seem to be in line with
those of Statement 1 above, that a proportion of beginning
teachers respond with fear and negativity to parental
approaches. This statement refers not only to parent
initiated contact, but also to contact normally be initiated
by a teacher, for example, telephone calls to
parents.
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Statement 7.
Again the responses are strongly
biased to the left, revealing almost unanimous perception by
principals that there is a certain reluctance amongst
beginning teachers to communicate with parents. The
statement also uses the word “effectively”;
possibly some respondents focused more on the skills
component of effective communication.
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2.3.3 Principals’ perceptions of
beginning teachers’ competence in working with parents :
analysis of survey Statements 3, 9, and 10.
This is perhaps the most significant section of
this study. The section analyses responses to the three statements
which focus on the whether, in the principal’s opinions, the
beginning teachers have the necessary skills to work with parents.
All three questions show a concordance of responses revealing deep
concerns that the young teachers have not been well equipped to carry
out core tasks in a partnership with parents.
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Statement 3.
This table is very significant.
Respondents are almost unanimous in their estimation that
beginning teachers are ill equipped to deal with parental
concerns; numerous implications must follow for redesign of
teacher training, and for induction processes in schools
themselves. The responses do not reveal whether principals
see these skills acquired later on the job, nor the impact
of the inevitable loss of confidence many beginning teachers
must feel in the face of these situations for which they
feel ill equipped, nor the damage to the teachers’
attitudes with respect to building future partnerships with
parents. The unanimity of the responses should not be
underestimated. We are clearly identifying a problem which
has implications for all efforts to create a culture of
partnership.
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Statement 9.
Again there is almost a unanimous
response revealing a concern by principals that beginning
teachers have insufficient training to give effective
guidance to parents in the major area of the home-school
partnership… successful academics.
Note the change from
“skills” in Statement 3, to “training”
in Statements 9 and 10. In other words, Statement 3 is
requesting perceptions about certain actual abilities of
beginning teachers. Statements 9 and 10, whilst still
concerned about effective skill development, are focussing
on perceptions about training those teachers may have
received.
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Statement 10.
This is the companion table to the
above. The wording is changed to suggest that in character
development, it is the teachers who play the minor role to
parents. Again the emphatic nature of the responses appear
to suggest a considerable concern that beginning teachers
have been prepared to reinforce the work of parents in
character development. It is not clear whether this is
because of lack of training, or because of some
misconception they may hold about the subordinate role of
teachers to parents in this area of character building.
Whatever the reason, both possible deficiencies could be
addressed by more effective training at the tertiary
level
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2.3.4 Principals’ perceptions on
whether parental expectations for communication from the school have
increased: comments on Statement 4.
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The overwhelming response in agreement
with this statement suggests the need for teacher training
institutions to be aware of the trend and to react
constructively with positive programs which better prepare
teachers to communicate more effectively and to build
partnership more effectively. We have seen that too often,
beginning teacher’s perceptions of parental
communication seem to be coloured by anxiety and
fear.
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2.3.5 Conclusions from the Survey
A number of conclusions and inferences are
suggested by the patterns of responses. Statements upon which
the following conclusions and inferences are based are noted in
brackets.
3. Inferences and Conclusions
from the Survey. Implications for Teacher Educators.
3.1 Emphatic pattern of responses suggests the
need for critical evaluation of aspects of tertiary teacher education
curriculum.
The survey suggests that far more needs to be
done at tertiary level to foster and support teachers’
performance in the whole area of building effective partnerships with
parents. The emphatic consensus of responses to most of the
statements on the survey indicate a degree of concern on the part of
the respondents, and suggest an urgency is required in at least some
teacher training institutions to address more effectively this whole
area of the parent-teacher partnership. (S1, S2, S3, S5, S7, S9, S10)
Critical research seems required into the prevailing conventions of
present curriculum in teacher training institutions.
3.2 Need to teach a broader concept of
“partnership”.
3.3 Teach that partnerships are
inter-personal.
The survey indicates that beginning teachers
have a narrow concept of the term “parental partnership”,
and a deficient view of the potential of a personal and
well-developed parent-teacher relationship to enchance educational
outcomes. Teacher training courses would do well to provide specific
content on both these themes. (S5 and S6)
3.4 Teach that teachers have a duty to foster
the prestige of parents in the eyes of children.
Many beginning teachers do not seem to have
understood the need to foster in the eyes of children the esteem of
the parents. This suggests a lack of vision, as noted in Goal 1, and
perhaps also a need for the inclusion of sound parenting practices in
teacher training courses so that training teachers are equipped with
sensitivity to the key dynamics of the parent-child relationship.
(S8) This deficiency seems linked to the emphatic observation that
beginning teachers need enhanced skills to assist in the character
development of children. (S10)
3.5 Foster the skills of proactive
communication with parents.
3.6 Find ways to consolidate these skills
during practicum experiences.
The survey indicates that beginning teachers
can be reluctant to open communication and to respond to parental
communication. It is therefore suggested that teacher training
courses emphasise the skills of proactive communication with parents.
It would be of benefit if these skills were modelled and fostered
during practicum experiences. (S1, S2, and S7)
3.7 Teach the skills to work with concerned
parents.
3.8 Teach ways to help parents assist in the
academic progress of their child.
3.9 Teach ways to reinforce character
development.
Specific skills at the core of working closely
with parents seem to be deficient in beginning teachers. In
particular, skills to work with and to orient concerned parents,
skills to teach parents how best to cooperate with the school’s
educational initiatives, and skills to reinforce parental efforts to
build character are all perceived as needed and should be included in
teacher training curricula. (S3,S9 and S10)
3.10 Research suggested into implications of
the increasing communication being demanded from schools.
The principals’ perception that parents
are now requiring more communication from the school than ever
suggests that educational research is needed into the implications of
this shift in parental attitudes. (S4)
4. Reinforcing the work of parents in
character education.
4.1 Predominant principles of a character
education in schools that reinforces the work of parents.
The following are predominant features of a
character education in the classroom that reinforces the work of
parents. I have drawn heavily on our own experiences at Redfield
College, in the north west of Sydney.
4.1.1 Foster unity with parents in
every aspect of school life.
Ryan and Bohlin nominate pitfalls to avoid in
character education in their book addressed to teachers. The first
pitfall is “Don’t keep parents in the dark-they are your
number one allies. Their fourth commandment for parents is “Thou
shalt be deeply involved in thy child’s school life”,
explaining that
“Parents are the child’s
primary character educators, but teachers and the schools are also
major players. It is important to know what is going on your
child’s school life, from the curriculum to the playground,
from the classrooms to the bathrooms. Teachers, in particular need
to know of your interest, and they need to feel your support for
their work as character educators.”[20]
4.1.2 Build the idea that schools are a
service to parents[21].
Therefore we talk more about school supporting parents, than about
parents supporting the school. Therefore school values should not
challenge parental values.
4.1.3 Shift the school culture by an
on-the-table rationale, practical strategies, and sensible
timeframes.[22]
4.1.4 As schools have a line into most homes
in this country, they can help to deliver simple, sound, and
ongoing parenting advice.
This will happen if it is part of the culture
in the school, if teachers are equipped with the basic principles of
sound parenting, and if teachers are professionally guided to have
strong communication with parents. Appendix II contains a list of
“Ten time-proven tips to promote effective
parenting”[23],
which is an example of simple principles that can be included in a
parent support curriculum and workshopped with teachers to help them
give parents meaningful input.
4.1.5 Foster a common
language of character education.
Teach what is right and wrong. Show the
reasons. There are two virtually identical moments in the Odyssey
when it seems as if Homer is telling us what he sees as the key
distinguishing feature between adolescence and adulthood.
Odysseus’ son Telemachus, proclaims to his mother, “I now
know the difference between right and wrong. I am no longer a
child.” There are lessons we can take from this.
Teach that character is more about
habits, virtues, and reasoned convictions rather than an
arbitrary collection of attitudes, that may or may not be subjective.
Be confident that virtue education, or the development of sound
habits, is not one more theory of the way that human beings mature,
but that for almost 2,500 years in most cultures it has been seen as
the only effective way, at least until the past three decades.
Aristotle proclaimed that “Good habits formed in childhood make
all the difference.[24]”
There is a window of opportunity for children to acquire habits that
must not be lost.
4.1.6 Develop quality control and support
systems in schools.
It is possible
to foster parenting expertise in schools, through teacher inservice
courses specifically in parenting, or even through training of
specialist support staff, such as school counselors or even of
parenting coordinators. Parenting programs can be designed and
delivered to all senior students. Furthermore, the extra time
impositions on staff can be acknowledged by time
allowances.
5. Conclusions
Over the past fifteen years there has been an
increasing trend in Europe and the United States for educational
administrators, academics and teacher training institutions to study
the implications of parent-teacher partnerships and put in
place practical strategies to enhance the quality of the
teacher-parent engagement. So far it would appear that this trend has
not gathered self-sustaining momentum in Australia.
The survey at the core of this paper, a survey
of thirty five independent school principals across Australia, has
highlighted the need for better preparation for beginning teachers so
they can better work with the parents of the students in their
classes. The survey identified the importance of teaching a broader
understanding of the term “partnership”; it identified the
need to build specific skills of proactive communication and of
dealing with emotional parents; and it identified the perception
amongst principals that specific skills are needed to help parents
work with the school in academics and also to train teachers
effectively to reinforce the parents’ efforts at character
education. Some key features of a character education in schools that
would effectively complement the work of parents in the home have
been enumerated.
The bottom line is that it would appear that
there are features of our preparation of pre-service teachers that
are deficient, both on the actual perceptions of school
administrators, and on the benchmarks of international research and
practice.
APPENDIX 1
Survey and Frequency of Responses to
Statements.
PREPARING TEACHERS TO WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
PARENTS
Please tick the scale to answer the
following questions:
|
|
Strongly
agree
Disagree
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1
|
If beginning teachers receive a
message to call a parent their reaction can often be
negative or apprehensive.
|
2
|
7
|
12
|
4
|
9
|
1
|
|
1
|
|
|
|
2
|
A significant proportion of beginning
teachers seek to minimise parental contact.
|
2
|
4
|
7
|
6
|
4
|
5
|
3
|
4
|
|
|
|
3
|
Beginning teachers need better skills
to defuse parental concerns that do arise.
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8
|
12
|
10
|
3
|
|
1
|
1
|
|
|
|
|
4
|
On the whole, parents are asking for
more communication from school.
|
16
|
13
|
5
|
1
|
3
|
2
|
|
|
|
|
|
5
|
Beginning teachers tend to understand
partnership with parents as occasional notes in
diaries, report comments, and yearly parent teacher
nights.
|
2
|
9
|
6
|
9
|
4
|
|
1
|
2
|
|
2
|
|
6
|
Beginning teachers try to build a
relationship with the individual parents of their
students.
|
|
3
|
3
|
2
|
10
|
6
|
5
|
4
|
1
|
1
|
|
7
|
Beginning teachers need
encouragement to communicate more effectively with
parents.
|
11
|
9
|
9
|
3
|
2
|
|
|
1
|
|
|
|
8
|
Beginning teachers realise they have a
duty to foster the child’s esteem for his or her
parents.
|
4
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
1
|
4
|
3
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
|
9
|
Beginning teachers need training to
help parents cooperate with the school in the
academic development of students.
|
4
|
9
|
11
|
3
|
6
|
|
|
1
|
|
|
|
10
|
Beginning teachers need training to
reinforce the work of parents in the character
development of students.
|
10
|
7
|
6
|
2
|
6
|
1
|
|
1
|
|
|
Data from this survey will be used for a
paper at the
Challenging Futures Conference
UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND
3-7 February 2002
Only anonymous and collective data will be
used. No respondent nor school will be identifiable.
Andrew Mullins
Headmaster
Redfield College
855 Old Northern Road
Dural 2158 NSW
02 9651 4066 FAX 02 9651 3789
email:
andrew.mullins@redfield.pared.edu.au
Thank you. Please email or fax back to me by
25 December 2001.
Note: the layout of the
table has been chnaged slightly in HTML
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APPENDIX II
For inclusion in a Parent Support
Curriculum.
Ten time-proven tips to promote
effective parenting
Unity between spouses makes parenting
more likely to succeed.
" the best thing a husband can do
for his children is to love their mother"
from Ray Guarendi Back to the
Family
Give lots of time and
affection.
“Every piece of research on
effective childhood socialisation identifies two broad
parameters, emotional support (affection) and limit
setting….” Prof. Don Edgar RMIT Centre for
Workplace Culture Change
Give unconditional love and
encouragement.
“I give them lots of love and
tell them that we don’t tolerate that behaviour
here.”
Louisiana reform school headmistress
interviewed on Sydney radio.
Have high but specific
expectations.
“First Corollary to the Law of
Domestic Expectations: Mum shouldn’t do anything anyone
else can do, and if no one else can do it, then teach
‘em how.”
Lead by example.
“It’s amazing how high
some parents put the crossbar for their kids and how low
they put it for themselves.” Jack Gibson. Rugby
League Coach.
Manage the inputs.
“Remove indecent pictures and
speech from the stage and from the sight and hearing
of the young.” Aristotle 384-322BC
Teach right and wrong.
“My mother, I am no longer a
child, I know the difference between right and
wrong.”
Telemachus, in Homer’s Odyssey
c800BC
Build good habits from the
start.
“Good character consists of
knowing the good, desiring the good, and doing the good...
habits of mind, habits of heart, and habits of action.”
Dr Thomas Lickona Educating for
Character
Let your child wear his or her
mistakes.
“Children need to fail.…
When we impulsively protect our children from failure, we
deprive them of learning…” Martin
Seligman The Optimistic Child
Use initiative to create a bright and
happy home life.
“Why should children be happy
with their lot when parents complain about
theirs?”
Barbara Holborow, Childrens’
Court Magistrate.
|
References
Aristotle. Ethica Nicomachea
Australian Council of State School
Organisations Inc. & Australian Parents’ Council Inc. 1996.
Assessing and Reporting Student Achievement: A Report of the
National Parent Consensus.
Canberra: Australian Council of State School
Organisations Inc. & Australian Parents’ Council
Inc.
Bennett, W. 1994. The Book of Virtues.
NY: Bookman.
Cole, P. 1996. Children’s learning: The
Parent Factor. Australian Parents’ Council,
Canberra
Commonwealth Department of Education, Science
and Training. 2000. Best Practice in Reporting on Student
and School Achievement. Canberra.
DeMarco D. 1996. The Heart of Virtue.
San Fransisco: Ignatius.
Department of Schools, Vocational Training and
Education. 1995. Parents as Partners in School Education at the
National Level. Canberra.
Gary Heywood-Everett. 1999. The business of
learning: parents as full, unwilling, or sleeping partners.
International Studies in Sociology of Education Vol 9, No
3.
Isaacs, D. 1983. Character Building. NY:
Scepter.
John Paul II. 1979. Familiaris
Consortio
Kilpatrick, W. 1992. Why Johnny Can’t
Tell Right From Wrong.. NY: Touchstone, Simon and
Schuster.
Lickona, Dr T. 1991. Educating for Character.
How our schools can teach respect and responsibility. New York:
Bantam Books.
Macbeth, A. 1984. The Child Between. Report on
School-Family Relationships in the Counties of the European Economic
Communities. Education Series 13. Brussels. Commission of the
European Communities.
Mullins, A. 1999-3.. Practical approaches to
virtue education in schools. The Educational
Administrator.
Mullins, A. March 2001. Values Education
Column. Education Review.
Munn, P.1996. Parents and schools.
London: Routledge
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD).1997. Parents as Partners in Schooling.
London: OECD/HMSO.
Ryan, K., & Bohlin, K. 1999 Building
Character in Schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
The Scottish Office. 1998. Parents as
partners: enhancing the role of parents in school education.
Edinburgh. The Scottish Office, Education and Industry
Department.
Spreadbury, J. 1995. Collaborating for
Successful Learning: The Parent Factor. Canberra: Australian
Parents’ Council.
