Children Benefit When Parents & Teachers Work Together

Have you ever won­dered what sets your child on the path to suc­cess? Is it just the school they attend, the grades they achieve, or the dreams they hold close to their hearts? While these are undoubt­ed­ly impor­tant, there’s a hid­den key to unlock­ing your child’s true poten­tial, one that often goes unno­ticed amidst the bustling jour­ney of par­ent­hood. It’s the pow­er of col­lab­o­ra­tion between par­ents and teach­ers.

In this arti­cle, we’ll delve into the art of col­lab­o­ra­tion between par­ents and teach­ers. We’ll explore prac­ti­cal strate­gies to strength­en this part­ner­ship, to ensure that your child’s edu­ca­tion­al jour­ney is not just a soli­tary walk but a col­lec­tive, enrich­ing adven­ture. Join us as we unlock the hid­den key to your child’s aca­d­e­m­ic suc­cess, one that lies with­in the har­mo­nious bond between you, the par­ent, and the teacher, the guid­ing light in your child’s edu­ca­tion­al voy­age.

MOE’s Stance

Enter the Nation­al Par­ent­ing Frame­work, a vision­ary ini­tia­tive devel­oped by the Fam­i­lies for Life Coun­cil and the Min­istry of Edu­ca­tion (MOE). This frame­work serves as a clar­i­on call to par­ents and schools alike, urg­ing them to join hands in nur­tur­ing not just aca­d­e­m­ic prowess but also char­ac­ter and life skills in our chil­dren. It’s a call to action that res­onates deeply with the val­ues we hold dear as par­ents.

One of the tan­gi­ble out­comes of this frame­work is the estab­lish­ment of Par­ent Sup­port Groups (PSGs) with­in schools. These PSGs pro­vide plat­forms for par­ents to active­ly engage with teach­ers, cre­at­ing a dynam­ic ecosys­tem of sup­port for our stu­dents. It’s not just about attend­ing par­ent-teacher meet­ings; it’s about forg­ing mean­ing­ful con­nec­tions, shar­ing insights, and col­lab­o­ra­tive­ly shap­ing the edu­ca­tion­al jour­ney of our chil­dren.

But that’s not all. The MOE goes the extra mile to ensure that the bonds between par­ents and schools are con­tin­u­al­ly strength­ened. They orga­nize an array of fam­i­ly engage­ment ini­tia­tives, includ­ing Learn­ing Jour­neys and Par­ent Engage­ment Work­shops. These ini­tia­tives serve as vital bridges, con­nect­ing par­ents and teach­ers in a shared mis­sion to nur­ture the next gen­er­a­tion.

Why this stead­fast focus on part­ner­ship, you may won­der? The answer is crys­tal clear, as artic­u­lat­ed in the MOE’s Par­ent Kit: “When par­ents and teach­ers work togeth­er, stu­dents tend to suc­ceed not just aca­d­e­m­i­cal­ly but in oth­er areas.” Research con­sis­tent­ly under­scores the pro­found impact of a strong par­ent-teacher part­ner­ship on a child’s edu­ca­tion­al jour­ney.

Chil­dren whose par­ents col­lab­o­rate close­ly with teach­ers tend to achieve bet­ter grades, com­plete home­work more con­sis­tent­ly, and exhib­it improved behav­ior. This align­ment of par­ent­ing prac­tices with teacher guid­ance ensures that chil­dren receive con­sis­tent mes­sages and expec­ta­tions, both at home and in school. It cre­ates a cohe­sive envi­ron­ment where the val­ues and lessons taught at school seam­less­ly extend to the home front.

Teach Less, Learn More and Student-Centric Teaching

Addi­tion­al­ly, par­ent-teacher col­lab­o­ra­tion sup­ports key nation­al edu­ca­tion poli­cies like Teach Less, Learn More and Stu­dent-Cen­tric Teach­ing. These aren’t just lofty ideals; they are tan­gi­ble poli­cies and prin­ci­ples dri­ving Sin­ga­pore’s edu­ca­tion sys­tem for­ward. They rep­re­sent a com­mit­ment to ensur­ing that every child receives not only a qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion but also an edu­ca­tion that empow­ers them to become crit­i­cal thinkers, prob­lem solvers, and life­long learn­ers. Par­ents who under­stand the school’s approach can rein­force the same skills and mind­sets at home. Reg­u­lar com­mu­ni­ca­tion allows par­ents to get time­ly feed­back on their child’s progress and cus­tomise their sup­port accord­ing­ly.

Of course, dif­fer­ing expec­ta­tions can ham­per col­lab­o­ra­tion. Some par­ents may hes­i­tate to engage teach­ers seen as author­i­ty fig­ures. Oth­ers may lack time due to hec­tic work sched­ules. But these chal­lenges are sur­mount­able. Sim­ple prac­tices like start­ing con­ver­sa­tions open­ly, using bridg­ing ser­vices for non-Eng­lish speak­ing par­ents, and sched­ul­ing meet­ings ahead of time can facil­i­tate mean­ing­ful part­ner­ships between par­ents and teachers.These chal­lenges are not insur­mount­able.

The edu­ca­tion of our chil­dren is a shared voy­age, one where par­ents, teach­ers, and pol­i­cy­mak­ers all play piv­otal roles. The guid­ing prin­ci­ples of “Teach Less, Learn More” and “Stu­dent-Cen­tric Teach­ing” beck­on us towards a vision of edu­ca­tion that tran­scends rote learn­ing and places our chil­dren’s holis­tic growth at the fore­front. It is with­in the cru­cible of par­ent-teacher col­lab­o­ra­tion that this vision finds its truest expres­sion, where class­room lessons extend into the heart of our homes. Chal­lenges and dif­fer­ing per­spec­tives may arise, but these are oppor­tu­ni­ties for growth, bridges that we can build with open dia­logue, proac­tive engage­ment, and a mutu­al ded­i­ca­tion to our chil­dren’s suc­cess. The sto­ries of tri­umph that emerge from such col­lab­o­ra­tions are tes­ta­ment to the pro­found impact of our col­lec­tive efforts. Our chil­dren’s edu­ca­tion­al jour­neys are too impor­tant to be left to chance; togeth­er, as a unit­ed front, we can empow­er the next gen­er­a­tion to achieve their fullest poten­tial. 

At Think Teach Acad­e­my, we are strong believ­ers that a strong part­ner­ship with par­ents is cru­cial for a child’s aca­d­e­m­ic suc­cess. This is why we send par­ents a twice year­ly Stu­dent Progress Report that details our stu­dents’ results in our assess­ments and qual­i­ta­tive remarks on areas for improve­ment. In addi­tion, all our teach­ers are con­tactable via email to com­mu­ni­cate fre­quent­ly with par­ents to exchange school infor­ma­tion, addi­tion­al prac­tices tar­get­ed at stu­dents’ weak areas, and offer advice. The close part­ner­ship with par­ents has been a cor­ner­stone of the suc­cess behind count­less stu­dents who have passed through the gates of Think Teach Acad­e­my.

This arti­cle was proud­ly writ­ten for you by the Think Teach Team. Every year, we impact over a thou­sand stu­dents and empow­er them with our smart tech­niques to achieve exam excel­lence in their school exams as well as the PSLE. We want your child to be our next suc­cess sto­ry!