November 14, 2024

The importance of building a strong parent-teacher relationship

Child educational support comes from many quarters. The average preschooler doesn’t just get that support from home, for instance. It’s also provided by his/her preschool teachers or caregivers. 

This is why parent-teacher relationships are so important for children’s development. Particularly in the formative years of preschool, a good parent-teacher partnership can work wonders. 

In our country, increasing attention is being paid to such partnerships in early education. Let’s go over the way these can offer better outcomes for children in preschools in Singapore.

Easy and open communication 

Open lines of communication are good for parent-teacher relationships. When the primary caregivers at home and school can collaborate, they can provide better child educational support.

Regularity is the first key here. If you and your child’s teachers have a fixed schedule for updates, you always know what’s going on with your child at preschool and vice versa. 

That being said, don’t limit your interactions to formal meetings or update notes. Don’t be afraid to engage with your child’s teachers by chatting with them at drop-off or pick-up. 

Doing this can facilitate the camaraderie between you and the teacher. This reduces friction and makes working together easier. At the same time, you may glean even more valuable insights into your child’s behaviour and development.

Enhanced contextual insights

Everything happens within a context, even your child’s growth. When you work with your child’s teachers, you get a better understanding of that context. 

For example, you may learn why your child has recently developed an interest in artistic expression. You may see what activities he/she disliked in preschool. You may find whether his/her attention is held better by audio or visual media. 

You can discover things like that by exchanging information with your child’s teacher, who may do the same with you. The result can be active collaboration to put that information to good use. 

For instance, say your child’s teacher says he/she is struggling to tell left from right. Say the teacher also reveals that he/she loves interactive learning experiences. 

Based on that, you may then try playing games or activities with him/her at home that can help with spatial awareness. It’s a great way of using shared information to deliver what your child needs.

Consistent learning environments and practices

Children don’t do too well when they’re given conflicting instructions or input. You can’t blame them – even adults don’t do well in such situations!

That’s why establishing consistency in your learning practices and environments is useful. It avoids confusion for the child and also helps him/her feel secure about expectations or goals.

This is where communicating with your child’s teachers for preschool in Singapore helps. If you can share your approaches to common activities with each other, you can establish consistency between your home and the preschool.

Enhanced emotional development 

A good parent-teacher relationship is also a good behaviour model for little ones. Remember, they tend to imitate what they see! So, why not give them a model they can happily emulate?

If your child observes you communicating politely and amiably with his/her teacher, that’s already a model for learning. He/She can pick up essential skills there, especially in terms of communication and socialisation. 

These are skills that your child will benefit from even when he/she is grown up. Emotional development is a critical part of growth in our society, so the sooner you support it, the better!

Conflict resolution modelling

This relates to the previous benefit. One thing we can’t evade is occasional conflict when interacting with others. Even the dearest friends don’t always agree on the same things, so the same is true of parents and teachers. 

When that happens, treat it as a useful opportunity to teach your child yet another new skill, which is conflict resolution. Again, this is a skill that he/she is likely to use even after he/she is no longer a child. In fact, one might say a great deal of adulthood is about resolving conflict!

So, early development of this ability can be a gift. To contribute to that, try showing your child that your interactions with his/her teachers are open enough to allow you to discuss concerns. At the same time, show that you can air those concerns in a non-confrontational way.

Proactive issue resolution

If your child has an issue in school, a strong parent-teacher relationship can help again. That’s because the issue is more likely to be addressed earlier, before it worsens. 

There are so many issues that can crop up too in these early days. From behavioural problems to academic struggles, both parents and teachers will run into their fair share.

But when they notice, discuss, and move to address them early on, they prevent those issues from snowballing. This gives children the prompt and directed attention they need in such situations.

Build supportive parent-teacher relationships with us at MLC

In sum, strong parent-teacher relationships are essential for your child’s development. They enhance child educational support, strengthen understanding of his/her needs, and facilitate collaborative caregiving. 

If you want to work with teachers who invest time in building such relationships with parents and students in this way, reach out to us! At My Little Campus, we believe in the long-term benefits of such positive collaborations. Talk to us today to learn more.