Now, parents constantly question
their children about the lessons
and
activities going on in school and hav
e
strong opinions about the best way
to educate their kids, some of whi
ch
might run contrary to what the teac
her
believes in.
This is when the power struggle
begins, leading to the strained
relationship between parents and
teachers.
Walker doesn’t blame the parents
;
in fact, she empathises with them
.
“Parents are under a great deal of
pressure to ensure that their chil
dren
are getting everything they need
so
that they can succeed later on in
life,” she says. “Then, these parents
become more aggressive and star
t
fighting for what they want.”
This includes demanding a greater
say in matters that are usually
left up to a teacher’s professiona
l
judgement such as marking
schemes, appropriateness of
punishments, volume of homewo
rk
and even the objectives of a lear
ning
trip. The former rigid boundaries
between parents’ and teachers’
roles, suggests Tan, have become
increasingly blurred.
Some of the more demanding par
ents
have even gone to the extent of
contacting the teacher after school
hours, made easier due to the adv
ent
of 24-hour communicability tools
such as email, social media and
the
smartphone. “Teachers are often
expected to be contactable even
after
school hours (though individual sch
ool
heads may set their own guidelin
es
for teachers on this matter) and
to provide prompt, courteous and
efficient service,” says Tan.
Naturally, teachers may feel at tim
es
that their hard work is unapprecia
ted.
As Tan shares, “there are few
sanctions or costs to parents, bes
ides
disapproval from netizens, if they
do
not live up to the same high stan
dards
they expect of teachers”.
He continues: “There are numero
us
official and unofficial channels for
parents to express their opinions
about teachers, but fewer similar
channels for teachers to do the
same
with respect to their students or
parents. This situation probably
leads
some teachers, rather unfortunat
ely,
to view parents as being antagonist
ic
towards them instead of being
receptive partners.”
STARTING AT THE
FOUNDATIONS
For Walker, she believes in the valu
e
of open, two-way communication
between parent and teacher. For
example, in her pre-schools,
Walker is adamant in setting
clear expectations so that no
misunderstanding arises. Every
potential parent who is enrolling his
or her child in the school will have
to come down for an interview so
that Walker and her colleagues can
explain what they expect from parent
and child and vice-versa.
“From the very beginning, we must
agree how to manage the child.
So, if an incident occurs, there are
no mixed signals,” says Walker.
Ultimately, Walker feels that parents
want to know that their concerns are
being heard and that teachers are
doing something about a problem.
She says: “Some parents might
think that their issues are just being
dismissed and that nothing is being
done. At the end of the day, the
parent is the main teacher and we
have to respect that.”
Tan fully agrees with Walker’s
assertion and also notes that a
parent’s attitude and belief system
will have a degree of
impact on his or
her children,
so it becomes
even more
pertinent
for the parent and the
teacher to have a healthy
relationship, lest the children
lose their respect for educators too. In
fact, this is already beginning to occur,
as seen in a coupl Hو