TEACHERS’ EXPECTATIONS OF PARENTS

The parent-teacher relationship is an essential aspect of students’ success. The beginning of a new school year creates the opportunity for educators or teachers to set the tone for establishing strong teacher-parent relationships.

Teachers expect parents to support them in various ways, which include:

• Helping educators to better understand the students.
• Sharing a goal of clarity, consistency, and fairness in all parent-teacher interactions.
• Treating teachers with respect.
• Conveying respect for teachers’ authority.
• Not criticizing teachers in students’ presence, if at all.
• Appreciating the demands and constraints of the educator's job.
• Helping teachers monitor the child's schoolwork.
• Supporting teachers whenever they take an appropriate disciplinary action.
• Keeping the teacher informed of family-related events with direct impact on the child's school activities and performance.

As an educator, working with parents is a two-way street. Let them know what you expect, as this may help establish a strong relationship that will benefit your students in many ways.

PARENTS’ EXPECTATIONS OF TEACHERS

Most parents and families have assumptions around the roles of an educator and the expected outcomes of the students in terms of behavior, academic assessments, character development, and more. These assumptions may be determined by their personal cultural norms. Therefore, it's essential for teachers to clearly define what parents should expect as this will help align the interests and expectations of parents with what happens in a classroom. As the professional in charge of children in school, it's crucial to clarify what parents should expect from educators regarding the following, keeping in mind that many parents, especially those used to more authoritative roles of teachers, would not be familiar with them or think that it's their place to have an opinion:

• Student engagement.
• Fairness and equal learning opportunities for students, especially their own.
• The cycle of teaching and learning (including communication of classroom goals, student engagement, corrective feedback, formative assessment, cooperative learning, and more).

Effectively defining what is expected of teachers eliminates confusion and misunderstandings and makes it easy for parents and other school stakeholders to hold educators accountable. Otherwise, teacher expectations are likely to be a list of statements on a piece of paper instead of well-thought-out actions that could lead to desired results.

The primary goal of a classroom should be to optimize student success through behavioral and academic achievement. This can only be done by instituting reliable and consistent classroom routines and expectations. As many teachers already know, building strong classroom management supports long-term student success and alleviates stressors such as common behavioral concerns. Helping every “new mechanic” to know which car they are supposed to work on first ultimately helps educators focus on teaching and students focus on learning.

HOLISTIC CHILD DEVELOPMENT CAN BECOME THE NORM

As seen in the previous example, parents from international backgrounds can place great trust in those in the role of the educator. A holistic approach to child development pays attention to the child's physical, personal, social, spiritual, and emotional well-being and various cognitive aspects of learning. A student's learning can be perceived as integrated and interconnected, even when a teacher plans or assesses with a focus on a specific outcome or component of the learning process. Therefore, educators should recognize the connections between children, communities, and families and the significance of reciprocal relationships for learning.

For many educators, a holistic approach involves recognizing and identifying, teaching, supporting, counseling, encouraging, challenging, and including children in their development. It encourages children to explore all their capacities and intelligence to discover the world in all its wholeness. For example, Finland adopted phenomenon-based learning, a holistic learning approach that shifts focus from the individual subject to topics and phenomena such as technology, water, and media. This interdisciplinary approach facilitates constructivist and inquiry-based teaching techniques that redefine the role of an educator from “sage-on-the-stage” to “guide-on-the-side.”

Understanding this role can help in the communication with the parents. This does not mean teachers need to change their entire curriculum or the approach to a set curriculum, although certainly these expectations can inspire teachers to be better and better, as one had said earlier. Teachers can emphasize certain points of their curriculum or approach during interactions with the parents. For more grades-oriented parents, where they may be thinking “How is this going to get my kid into a ‘good’ college?,” mentioning the grades or how this approach could lead to stronger grades would be more effective.

WHO'S ACCOUNTABLE?

In most Western countries, there is a high sense of individual responsibility placed on children. The husband of one of Marina's colleagues, who would identify as “White American,” had parents who let him choose in second grade whether or not he wanted to skip a grade. His teacher said he was well beyond the level of other students in his grade. He chose not to skip the grade because he was afraid of needing to make new friends. While remaining in the second grade, he quickly became bored by the relatively easy workload, and began to misbehave frequently. In this case, his parents believed that they were providing him with the right level of agency, and thus held him accountable for his subsequent misbehaviors in class.

In many East Asian cultures and others, the parents would find that it's the teacher's role to inform parents to skip the grade or not. A common saying in multiple languages is a respectfully toned form of, “You're the teacher. You would know. I defer to you.”

The parents from these cultures would expect input and tangible guidance from educators, which would be considered with a much higher priority than the expressed desires of the student. If the teachers don't express an expert opinion, the parents may think that the teacher is lazy, doesn't care about their children, doesn't know how to give guidance (and, therefore, are not good at their jobs), and is not in tune with the students’ needs.

From our professional experience, the level of agency children are expected to have may be among the areas with the highest variability across cultures. For example, when conducting a college consulting session with Marie, a parent from a traditional New England culture, it was clear that most academic decisions where up to her daughter, Joan. Marie was extremely comfortable leaving decisions about classes in high school up to Joan, saying, “I'm not sure if this may feel like too much for Joan once school starts—but I'm going to leave it in her hands. If she wants to adjust, she should work through that herself. She knows she has your guidance when she wants it/needs it.”

In a similar conversation with a traditional Indian family, the student, Albert, talked about where he might like to pursue university studies, sharing his love of Denmark. Albert had widely traveled in the country, and very much enjoyed the food and the social environment. Albert had very little personal incentive to study in the United States or Canada and didn't include any colleges there on his initial lists. Albert's mother, meanwhile, decided that Albert must study in either the United States or Canada, due to her perception of better employment prospects. Albert's own preferences were not seen as relevant to the decision-making.

Within every learning environment, there's a prevailing culture that influences other aspects of classroom activities. The choice of content, attitudes and skills promoted, teacher-student relationships, and other aspects of the learning environment are deeply influenced by culture. This is the main reason parents tend to place their children in learning institutions that reflect their beliefs and values and that they believe will give their children the right kind of advantages, even if it means at the cost of losing their language.

This cultural match starts in even preschool where a school may have adapted a more child-centered/play-based model. Some families may not as readily grasp the concept so the students may come overdressed, and they expect the toddler to stay neat and clean, contrary to the American progressive model of getting muddy is good. Some families might still be spoon-feeding their child, which can turn off some teachers and other parents. Calling back to the collectivist/individualist cultures, there could be a judgment made against the parent for not encouraging the child to feed herself independently. It's important for teachers not to assume and not judge, as you may not know the cultural context. However, whose role is it to support families in understanding a new set of values sometimes important to their survival?

Some parents unfortunately will need to find out on their own the hard way. For example, during a high school tour where a bilingual educator accompanied a Korean parent for the week, she noticed the mother brought over one large suitcase that contained her son's canned or instant pack versions of his favorite meals. “Bob” was the only male child and was given all the resources the family could provide. She had Bob eat first and sometimes spoon-fed him to eat another bite of a certain dish. The educator, concerned the parent had no idea about the appropriate behavior within the American context, mentioned how such behavior can be seen as “babying” and would be looked down on. After a few more repeated attempts with no change in behavior, the educator realized it didn't matter what she said.

A few years later, the mother reached out again. The educator was told that Bob had been accepted to a highly selective school, a perfect academic match for the family. To them, as it is to some families, a perfect match meant a name-brand match. One wintery day during Bob's junior year, his American roommate, whom he wasn't on the best of terms with, saw his mother buttoning up Bob's coat, not an uncommon if not typical practice. His roommate told other students and the teen, unfortunately, was bullied, and with the pressures of junior year and the stress of getting into one of the most highly selective universities, Bob developed a mental health issue and was put on leave for two semesters. The mother realized then that she was indeed “babying” him, so much so that he didn't develop the independence, resilience, and grit he needed to navigate society.

Thus, even if there is what seems to be a school match in the parents’ eyes, it's important to understand why they think it so. It might be that they believe a match in culture of a school means a match in academic strength, reputation, and prestige. This may not be the best place for the child and family, and as much as educators can do to support the families, it is always going to be their decision.

Still, we can still explore and implement the right education program. In the case above, the educator might have tried a more nuanced approach that gave Bob's parents ways to honor their sense of role without overtly “babying” him. If this behavioral pattern held true for many families in the classroom, this may have been the necessary impetus to create curriculum that equipped the students and parents to discuss actively how their actions expressed different emotions. Ultimately, such a supportive learning environment fosters a wider appreciation of human differences and enables all stakeholders to prosper.

CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN THE CLASSROOM

American classrooms have become more culturally diverse, which means cultural diversity is an increasingly important issue for educators. This is why educators should embrace diversity and foster culturally inclusive classrooms designed to help students succeed. Culture is more than a list of food preferences, holidays, or the language people speak. It is the framework around which one's identity is built. It influences how you engage with the world, the expectations you have, and the perspectives you take. Everyone has a culture, and most Americans have identities built from different cultures.

Educators must ensure they don't neglect any aspects of students’ culture, much harder to do when certain aspects of a culture—beliefs, perceptions, core values, etc.—are largely unseen. This is why it's important to engage with various cultures and seek out cultural training. Also, educators must foster a learning environment where cultural diversity is understood and accepted, particularly when cultural differences have historical significance. As no two students are the same, to foster cultural awareness in the classroom, the educator must understand cultural aspects that can influence students’ attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors.