10 things every new primary school teacher needs to know

Do smile before Christmas but don’t foray into the staff room if you actually need a break. Here are some top tips for surviving your first year



 “Don’t smile before Christmas” is a cliched piece of advice regarding classroom discipline, typically dished out to new teachers by veteran ones. Photograph: Esther Bubley/Time Life Pictures/Getty

Congratulations on qualifying to enter the world of glitz, glamour and hedonism that is primary education. Sorry, I meant glitter, clamour and headaches – far more exciting. You’re about to embark on one of the most challenging yet rewarding periods of your working life, so here are a few pointers to help you make the most of it:

1. Get to know parents

Parents have more influence over their child’s life in the classroom now than ever. You’ll probably hear your school’s veteran staff reminiscing about the days when teacher, head and parent were all guaranteed, as surely as night follows day, to unite as one to deal with a child’s disciplinary problems or lack of effort in the classroom.

These days are long gone, and the onus is now very much on the teacher and school being able to justify their decisions to parents. So it’s a good idea to engage your new class’s parents as quickly as possible. Little things like standing outside your classroom for a while even after all the kids have left will help to show that you are welcoming. Why not invite a few parents in to show off their child’s successes? If they respect you from the start, their child is more likely to do the same.

2. The staffroom: you might not want to go there

Besides hosting a constant scrummage for the kettle or biscuit tin, the staff room is often the hub of the school building. But it’s also the one place where you’re most likely to get collared by a senior member of the staff and “updated” or expected to quickly digest an urgent memo.

If you actually need a break, it’s the one place you might want to avoid. Even after seven years, I still regularly beg a trusted colleague to make me a cuppa and then hide in the ITC suite for ten minutes at breaktime. 

On the up side, if you ever need advice in a hurry - and you will - it’s the only place you’ll ever need to be.

3. Sorry, there will be nasty people

There comes a point where too many sideways glances in the staff room or scoldings for minor shortcomings might threaten to get the better of you. Try to remember you’ve worked hard to get this far and you shouldn’t have to put up with it. Talk to your headteacher or someone from the governing body. If that doesn’t help, then go to your union.You may feel a little bit isolated as your induction year progresses, and particularly around those who are seasoned professionals or who have risen very quickly up the ranks. Support should be on hand in the form of your mentor, but in rare cases it’s worth bearing alternatives in mind.

4. DO smile before Christmas

“Don’t smile before Christmas” is a cliched piece of advice regarding classroom discipline, typically dished out to new teachers by veteran ones. The truth is that at the moment, too many children have little or nothing to smile about at home and their best hope of any positivity might be in your hands. It may sound simplistic but it’s pivotal - whenever you can, smile your head off. A little bit of comedy goes a long way.

5. It’s the thought that counts

Now, I’m not being greedy here, I am being practical. Every staff room cupboard in the country has ten “World’s Best Teacher” mugs inside, so when the end of term gift-giving season approaches you might want to prepare the ground. Demonstrate to the kids that you only ever use your one “special” mug (the one with Wayne Rooney on it), and instead drop little hints about your favourite indulgences: children love to find out little snippets about their teacher’s life outside of class. This is definitely worth doing if you want to avoid being inundated with Terry’s All Gold when you’re trying to diet, or alcohol when you’re cutting down.

6. Behaviour: pick your battles

Whether you are working in leafy suburbia or a very disadvantaged inner city neighbourhood, you are going to come across children who have specific behavioural needs and you need to empathise with them. If you inherit children in your new class whose behavioural traits are so exceptional that the school policy cannot be applied to them, then they should have an IBP (individual behavioural plan) already written. Familiarise yourself with this, and be sure to listen to the advice offered by parents and previous teachers.

7. There’s no such thing as an “informal” observation

Lesson observations and book scrutiny are something every teacher endures several times a year, and never more so than as a NQT. During my first year, on top of all the standard observations, we were told that a random 20% of us NQTs would be subject to a visit from a county adviser, who would check we were receiving the in-school support we needed. We would also be observed informally, but it was “nothing to worry about”.

I delivered a barely-satisfactory literacy lesson, which led to the deputy head describing my NQT year as being “near dead-in-the-water”. Remember, you should prepare for all observations diligently.

8. Be aware of the rise of cross-curricular writing 

The rise of extended writing in the primary classroom is nothing new – most schools will have seen a notable increase in the quantity of writing, editing and re-writing their pupils are required to produce. More recent studies suggest that children learn subjects more effectively by writing about them at length. Brace yourself for questions about how you’re planning to make this happen early on in the new school year. And sorry, but don’t expect your marking pile to become any more manageable either.

9. Keep it real

No matter how much you might have excelled on your training placements, having your own class is a different world entirely. The majority of your lessons as an NQT will not be outstanding, nor will every set of results go as you expected. Don’t dwell on it, for the sake of your own self-worth. Take advice on board and move on quickly, as something else will soon come along and you’ll be expected to take that on board as well. The good news is that successes are also guaranteed, and whatever shape or size they might take, make sure you celebrate and reward yourself for each and every one of them.

10. Let go

The first class you teach will always be special, despite the times when you have been left screaming in your store-cupboard shortly after home time. But everybody has to move on, and you would do well to bear this in mind. The end of the year will creep up on you so be prepared to feel thoroughly emotional during those last few days, and thoroughly exhausted in the few that follow.

Now go and enjoy your new career – and make sure you stick at it because it’s worth it.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2014/sep/09/primary-school-newly-qualified-teacher-10-things-need-to-know

How to stretch and challenge your students

There are two ways to interpret the phrase “stretch and challenge”. On the one hand, it relates to whole-class teaching and the importance of stretching and challenging every pupil’s thinking. On the other, it relates to individuals and the importance of pushing the ­thinking of the most able pupils. Both interpretations are equally valid and essential components of great teaching.

Stretching and challenging all pupils

As teachers, we know it is not enough for our pupils to coast through lessons, picking up the minimum they need to get by. First, motivation and engagement are likely to sag if the work is too easy. Second, we want the very best for our pupils. We want them to love learning, to be stimulated by the lessons we teach and to develop intellectually. So it is vital that we strive to stretch and challenge all our pupils. The three key areas through which we can make this happen are planning; lesson structure and pace; and the expectations we convey.

Planning

When creating your lessons, ask yourself if the content is sufficiently demanding. How close is it to what your pupils already know? Does it include ­conceptual and concrete material? In what kind of language is it couched?

Ideally, you should be aiming for material that is just beyond the point pupils have already reached – something just at the edge of their capabilities. This idea arises from Lev Vygotsky’s notion of the zone of proximal development. This is the essence of education, where pupils are put in a position that enables them to move beyond their existing knowledge and understanding.

To judge whether your content is sufficiently challenging, elicit information from your pupils. When teaching and marking, observe how the class is coping with the material you present. Adjust the content of your lessons accordingly. At first, your content will probably oscillate between slightly too easy and slightly too difficult, but through trial and error you will come to develop a sound sense of what level of content a class can handle.

Do not be averse to plunging your ­pupils into the realms of uncertainty from time to time. This helps to keep their thinking sharp, stops them getting complacent and discourages automatic recourse to what has been proved to work. Use content aimed at pupils who are two or three years older, that requires a high level of interpretation or challenges their received beliefs.

Lesson structure and pace

When you are planning, and teaching, keep the following questions in mind:

1. Why are we doing this?

2. What am I expecting pupils to do at each point?

3. What is the optimum amount of time for each activity?

The first question deals with purpose. If the answer is unclear, it is time to think again. Pupils are unlikely to make significant progress if there is no clear rationale.

The second question focuses on how you are intending pupils to engage with the learning. Ideally, activities should be structured so that every pupil in your class is doing something. This includes listening, reading, writing, talking and so on. Nobody should be passive or doing nothing. We must make every second count.

There needs to be a definite link between the answers to questions one and two. If an activity does not serve a specific purpose, what is it doing there? Jettison anything that does not help you achieve your aims: cutting away excess and ­unfocused activities will help to maintain a sense of drive and challenge.

The third question deals with pace. That does not mean rattling through a series of activities, but giving the right amount of time to each lesson segment.

It involves constantly assessing what stage each pupil is at and being flexible enough to act on these judgements.

For example, you might move half the class on to a new activity while the others continue with what they are doing; give extra time to an activity because pupils have found it difficult; and truncate an activity after realising that pupils have understood it more quickly than anticipated.

High expectations

Never underestimate the importance of having high expectations of all pupils. We know that every pupil can make progress, given the right set of circumstances (including a great teacher).

Here are five ways to convey your high expectations:

• Reasoning: When pupils share their opinion with you, or with a partner during discussion, push them to explain what underpins that opinion. Do not let unsupported assertions escape without asking “Why?”, “What reasons do you have for thinking that?”. You can even train your pupils to start asking these questions of each other.
• Products: Plan your lessons so that pupils are building up to creating some kind of product – an essay, perhaps, or an extended piece of drama or a presentation. This will imbue your lessons with purpose and show them that you believe they can create significant pieces of work.
• Success criteria: Make sure that every pupil knows what the success criteria are for each major piece of work you ask them to do, and that it is possible for everybody to attain them. In a positive classroom, pupils will be more likely to push themselves to excel.
• All, most and some: If you use the idea of “all, most and some” in your planning, do not share it with pupils. Consider how demoralising it must be for a pupil who knows they are not top of the class to see that noted down at the start.
• Formative feedback: Set your pupils challenging targets regularly. Forget about sharing grades for the moment. Instead, tell pupils what they need to do to improve and give them the opportunity to do it.

Challenging more able pupils

So how do you push the thinking of more able pupils in the context of whole-class teaching?

Socratic questioning

Socrates, an Athenian philosopher born in 469BC, appears in the dialogues of ­Plato interrogating his fellow citizens to draw out the assumptions, errors and misconceptions in their thinking. We can use Socrates’ methods in the classroom to challenge the thinking of all pupils – particularly the most able.

There are four roles that Socrates takes on when asking questions: the gadfly, the stingray, the midwife and the ignoramus. Teachers can flit between these in order to question the views, opinions and judgements held by more able pupils.

• The gadfly: Mimic the practice of the gadfly, which nips away at larger animals. This involves asking lots of little questions intended to push thinking and avoid sloppiness: “What do you mean by that?”; “But, what if…?”;  “What evidence do you have?”; “Does that always apply?”; “How can you be certain that is true?”.
• The stingray: Administer a shock to ­pupils’ traditional way of thinking in the same way a stingray unleashes its sting: “Imagine if X was not the case, what then?”; “What if everything you’ve said was turned on its head?”; “What if a great change happened?”.
• The midwife: Ask questions that help give birth to ideas: “That’s an interesting idea; could you explain it a bit more?”;  “How might that affect things?”; “What made you think of that idea?”.
• The ignoramus: Emulate a character who has never encountered the topic you are discussing and play dumb to encourage explanation: “What does that mean?”;  “I don’t understand – can you start from the beginning?”; “So, do you mean that…?”.

Listen to what the pupil says and look for ways to respond in one of the above guises. Fix on to a pupil’s assertions and question them. This might help you to identify inaccurate use of a concept or over-reliance on a weak piece of analysis.

Evaluation

This is all about making judgements: “What do you think and why?”; “Is this better than that, or vice versa?”; “Which option should we go for and what reasons do you have to support your choice?”.

Really good evaluation demonstrates a mastery of the topic. Pupils will be able to highlight the strengths and limitations of the issue before making a judgement about what ought to be done or what they believe is the best perspective on the matter.

Nearly every activity you do in the classroom can be supplemented by an evaluation task, directly or tangentially associated with the topic.

Use evaluation command words – appraise, argue, assess, critique, defend, evaluate, judge, justify and value – to frame questions and tasks for pupils who finish before their peers. Or build them into your PowerPoint or interactive whiteboard slides as extensions. You will then have them to hand as soon as pupils finish the main work you have set.

If you make regular recourse to evaluation questions and tasks, pupils’ ability to make reasoned judgements will improve and this will trickle into the rest of the work that they produce.

Critical thinking

This involves analysing the issue and reflecting on the best way to tackle it. It can be challenging for more able pupils because it asks them to alter their mindsets and to think differently.

• Analyse meaning: Have pupils analyse the accuracy and precision of their writing and speech. When they have finished an activity, ask them to review what they have done. How accurately did they convey the meaning they intended? How precise were they in their choice and use of words? How could they have said the same thing but more simply? Get them to amend or redo their work accordingly.
• Self-criticism: Stretch pupils’ thinking by asking them to reread what they have written critically. Ask them to revisit the work and develop a series of questions in connection with it. These will focus on issues thrown up by the text or questions that have not been answered in the text but ought to have been.
• Challenging debate: Ask pupils to look through their work and identify every instance where they have put forward an argument or a view. They should then come up with two pieces of evidence and two examples (additional to anything in the text) that could be used to support their argument. This will stretch their thinking and improve their arguments.

For further ideas on how to stretch and challenge more able pupils, see Mike Gershon’s Challenge Toolkit resource at www.tes.co.uk/mikegershon. He has written seven books on pedagogy, all of which are available on Amazon.

Technique checklist

Evaluation keywords:

• Appraise
• Argue
• Assess
• Critique
• Defend
• Evaluate
• Judge
• Justify
• Value

Socratic questioning roles:

• The gadfly
• The stingray
• The midwife
• The ignoramus

Stretch and challenge through planning:

• How difficult is the content?
• What are you asking pupils to do?
• Will pupils be learning actively?
• How will you adapt the length of tasks?
• Do pupils know why they are doing the work?

 Source: http://newteachers.tes.co.uk/content/how-stretch-and-challenge-your-students

How to teach … Summer Fairs

With the summer term on its way, it’s time to start thinking about face paint and hooplas. Here’s how to plan and organise the perfect school fair

 From face painting and bunting, to safety advice and fundraising suggestions – our resources to make your summer fair shine. Photograph: Alamy

The traditional summer fair has become an important date in the school calendar – not only as a social event for the local community, but also as a major fundraising opportunity.

You don’t need iPads or foreign holidays in your raffle to make the event a success. But there’s no escaping the need for careful planning and an army of parent, teacher and student volunteers.

Choosing the right date and planning an exciting programme of events is key. Consider the timing of other school activities, such as exams or sports days, and events in the wider community, such as carnivals or football matches.

Once everything is in place behind the scenes, you can think about what you’d like the fair to look like. It helps to pick a theme and plan stalls and activities around this. You could have a barbecue and tin-can alley in the wild west, for example, or a coconut shy and treasure hunt at pirate island. A great way to do this is to ask students for their ideas and have a whole-school vote to select a winner. You’ll find more themes and fundraising ideas in this leaflet by the SPTC.Equally important is making sure that your summer fair is safe and legal, especially when it comes to things like bouncy castles and pony rides. PTA UK, a charitable body that supports parent-teacher associations, has put together astep-by-step guide to help you plan the perfect summer fair. It includes tips on getting people involved, obtaining the correct licences, handling money and checking your insurance. You’ll find more ideas in these leaflets from the Scottish Parent Teacher Council (SPTC), a charity that provides information and support to parents and carers who want to be involved in their child’s education, that cover fundraising, planning andhealth and safety.

Student involvement is important to the success of any fair. Get them excited in the lead up by holding a poster competition to help promote the event, with a winning entry chosen from each year group. Send these out to local libraries and shops, and turn them into fliers for students to take home. Also, find out what stalls pupils would like to organise and help run. Face painting and hair braiding are often popular activities. Students can also help to grow and sell plants –marigolds and nasturtiums work best as they are relatively fast-growing.

And as you head towards the big day, ask students to make their own summer fair-themed puzzles, like thisword search by PrimaryLeap. We also have a set of worksheets for early learners about the fair that feature writing, matching and drawing activities.

A good programme of events will ensure that people spend more time – and more money – at your fair so it’s worth putting the time into planning it well. Consider asking local groups, such as gymnastic clubs or martial arts instructors, to put on a display. And there might be a local band or dance group that would be willing to perform for free. You can find more ideas in this SPTC leaflet.

Raffles and competitions are another good way of engaging your crowd. Why not try “Bean Champion”, a contest to find out who can eat the most beans with a cocktail stick in 30 seconds? Players pay 50p to take part, with a portion of the takings or a prize going to the champion. Or there’s the more ambitious “Guess the square” game, which requires an area of grass and a borrowed cow, horse or donkey (you can always try contacting local farms). Mark out squares of grass and sell them for £1. The winning square is the one where the animal poos first – disgusting, but kids love it.

When it comes to the finishing decorating touches, we have banners for thetombola, raffle, lucky dip, hoopla, barbecue and beat the goalie, along withsummer fair bunting with lettering – all created by Twinkl.

And for students’ work that will be on show during the fair, check out this page border from SeeMe Resources. On the day, assign some students as reporters and photographers to gather vox-pops and information for a summer fair newsletter. You can publish and send these out to parents and helpers to celebrate the success of your event and encourage support for next year.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2015/may/05/how-to-teach-summer-fairs-school

Lost your cool? Learn to regain authority

When you blow up in front of your students there are no short cuts to regaining their trust - the first step is to say you’re sorry

Every teacher has, at some point, lost control during a class, be it with a tearful run from the room or an explosion of irrational and indiscriminate anger. There is no quick fix to regaining your authority after such a loss of face. You could call in the big hitters and police each lesson with growling heads of department. You could pretend that you still have authority. But, in reality, until you do the hard work to rebuild trust and relationships, everything else is just a pantomime.

The first thing you should do is apologise to your students: this is an assertive act that models appropriate behaviour. If you have become frustrated and acted in anger, been inconsistent or unfair, or have thrown your toys out of the pram, admit your mistakes and say sorry. You may be surprised by the positive reaction you get, both immediately and some time later. The students will begin to see you as reasonable, fair - human, even. The apology does not need to be reciprocated, although in practice it often is. In behaviour management, humility is a sign of strength.

Build on what works

Apologising may also prompt you into some essential self-reflection. There will be elements of your behaviour practice that you will want to change. You may choose to reveal your plan for moving forward or agree it with the class. Either way, give yourself time to implement changes, drip-feeding new strategies and monitoring their effects honestly. Simply replacing one regime with another is unlikely to solve difficulties in the medium or long term. Look for what is working and then build on it.

This last point is crucial: just because a behaviour plan has failed you once, do not throw it all out. Minor tweaks can lead to substantial transformations. Ask a colleague to help you look dispassionately at how you provide structure for the children and examine how you develop and reinforce existing routines. You should also provide clarity on rules, reinforcements and sanctions, schedule proactive communication with parents, target specific students and learn from strategies that are working for other teachers. It is useful to make a visual statement that reiterates your commitment to the classroom climate and the students, too. You can do this by spending time on displays and asking students to help.

This is all about rebuilding trust. When classes have been through rough waters with a teacher, trust will need to be repaired. Tell them that despite past troubles you care about them and their achievements, and that you are committed to building positive relationships. Be prepared to tell them the same thing again and again. Some classes will need to hear you say this repeatedly over a long period. For those students who have learned to mistrust adults outside school this is particularly important. Building trust will sustain your authority far better than punishment ever can.

It is worth noting that most teachers who find themselves in difficulty realise that they have let things slip over time. Inconsistencies have eaten away at relationships with students and the climate in the classroom. Sticks and sanctions were delivered with too much emotion, carrots of recognition lay unpicked and withered. The solution to regaining your authority lies in your ability to pull out of this cycle of sanctions and punishment by shamelessly and enthusiastically recognising and celebrating the learning attitudes that you want to see - in every lesson, on every day.

30-day plan

It is useful when rebuilding your authority to give the process some structure with a 30-day plan. Within this period, be consistent and predictable: make sure that your words match your actions; communicate accurately, openly and transparently; and share and delegate responsibility for classroom tasks. It is important to nurture a common identity for the class and create a sense of unity but, most of all, to focus on a single, identifiable learning attitude that you intend to acknowledge whenever you see it.

Digging your way out of the hole is going to be hard work. You need the energy of the hare and the dogged persistence of the tortoise in equal measure. But rest assured, there is a way back if you are willing to take the time, and to be humble enough, to work at it.

Paul Dix is lead trainer at UK training company Pivotal Education and author of The Essential Guide to Taking Care of Behaviour.

In short - keep calm and carry on teaching

• Coming back from losing control of a class is difficult but with humility and effort it is possible.
• It is important to ask for support from colleagues and feedback from students.
• You have to apologise and move on by identifying the particular aspects of your behaviour practice that need to be adjusted.
• You must reaffirm your commitment to the students and try to involve them in any changes you are making.
• Remember to set a schedule for implementing and monitoring the effectiveness of a new approach.

What else?

• Read some hot tips on keeping your cool bit.ly/KeepingYourCool
• A teacher writes about losing his temper bit.ly/LostTemper.

http://newteachers.tes.co.uk/content/lost-your-cool-learn-regain-authority

Building good working relationships with parents

Getting parents on side benefits everyone – make contact and listen well

Engaging with parents is one of the more difficult aspects of an NQT’s induction year. You may have excellent subject knowledge and have been trained in managing classroom behaviour, but dealing with difficult or hard-to-engage parents brings a different set of challenges.

A student teacher will have been largely sheltered from involvement with parents on their school placements by more experienced colleagues, but once in the job, this relationship becomes part of the front line of teaching.

So how do you go about initiating and maintaining a good working relationship with parents who may have little interest in their child’s education, or who simply don’t have the confidence to come to school?

“Getting parents on your side is hugely helpful, but failure to do so can be a huge battle, so it’s important to get things right,” says Dr Sara Bubb, educational consultant and teacher trainer at the Institute of Education, University of London. “Those early days are difficult because much of it has to be learned on the job.

“Appearance and perception is the first step because you need to make the right impression, while at the same time getting across the important messages about your expectations.”

Bubb believes that NQTs should appear confident and reasonably assertive at the first meeting, even if they are quaking in their boots. “You also need to look the part; so if you have a jacket then wear it, as it looks more formal,” she suggests. 

Making eye contact and nodding in the appropriate places show that you are listening to the parents, particularly if they have initiated the meeting because of a problem. “You need to leave them in no doubt that they are being heard and that you care, as this can build great bridges in what might otherwise be a difficult or awkward situation,” she says.

Engaging with families in primary schools is nearly always easier than in secondaries. Parents, usually mothers, tend to accompany their children to school and often linger around the school gate, affording staff and especially new teachers, great opportunities for conversations, says Tracey Smith, head of Tower Hill Community Primary School in Witney, Oxfordshire.

The extended services coordinator at the school has responsibility for parental engagement but, of course, it is for every teacher to establish good relations with the parents of the pupils in their class. The school pays a great deal of attention to the involvement of parents, not least because a third of the pupils have special needs and a similar proportion is entitled to free school meals.

“The most important thing is to be available and obvious, at whatever time of the day but particularly in the mornings and at home time when the parents are around,” Smith advises. “Our NQTs wear a badge so that everyone knows who they are and which class they are teaching, so that parents don’t have to ask, as some may feel awkward about doing so. This immediately breaks down barriers. 

“All teachers, including NQTs, have to take the initiative and this is particularly important with difficult or hard-to-reach parents. We set aside a day during the second week in September when parents are free to come into their child’s classroom after 2.30pm to meet new teachers, without the pupils being present. This is mainly to enable everyone to put names to faces, but it is also an opportunity for the teacher to gather information and to inform parents about the boundaries they want to set, their values and expectations, and to convey messages about the importance of the relationship between school and home.

“Parents need to know that we don’t just want to see them if something is wrong or we are going to give bad news, but that it is an ongoing process.”

One way of getting off on a good footing in a new school, Smith suggests, is to write to every child in the class before starting the job. “NQTs need to make themselves known as early as possible, and one way to do this is to send an individual letter or short note to every child’s home, with a brief introduction.

“This helps the NQT to get to know names, but also gets that relationship off to a good start by stating to the family that you are looking forward to meeting them and teaching their children. Parents really like this personal approach.”

At Medina College, on the Isle of Wight, meanwhile, staff set up a Facebook page for parents, which gives them a forum to discuss issues that may concern them. “We have had some fairly challenging issues being raised, which the school may not want publicising to a wider audience, but we believe it makes the process of communicating with parents and the decisions made in school more transparent,” says Nathan Thomas, the headteacher.

NQTs at the school are always given a Year 7 tutor group so that they are both new to the school and can share the journey through the school together. Each tutor group also has two tutors, so the new teacher has the benefit of the experience and expertise of a more senior colleague. An ongoing programme of professional development relating to parental engagement is offered to all new staff and regular meetings are encouraged to foster good relations.

“We are big believers in focusing on the good, as well as seeking help with the negative, so we send home messages in the form of postcards and mobile text messages offering praise for good work and behaviour,” Thomas adds.

Prepare for challenges

The potential for challenges is always present. Broaching difficult issues, such as poor behaviour or complaints about the teacher, needs to be done with consideration for the views of all parties and an NQT should never be afraid of seeking support from a more senior colleague if he or she feels the conversation has strayed into difficult areas.

The Teacher Support Network and Parentline Plus charities carried out research three years ago into the relationships between teachers and parents, and sent its recommendations to the government and schools.

It advises schools to appoint a member of staff as a parent support worker with expertise in dealing with a range of family issues that may affect pupil learning. This worker should be a visible part of the school community and help to support the school and families in understanding their roles.

Furthermore, it says that all school staff should be trained in parental engagement, and schools should focus more on accurately appraising a child’s progress rather than just reporting the positives or negatives.

Highly effective strategies for engaging parents are becoming increasingly embedded in schools with the national roll-out of the Achievement for All programme. Piloted four years ago and used primarily to target vulnerable groups and pupils with special needs, AfA comprises a framework for raising achievement with parental involvement at its heart.

Links with parents are established and maintained through the use of a “structured conversation”, in which staff initiate discussions about what strategies should be employed to best serve the interests of the child. By taking part in these talks, parents play a role in supporting the school.

Contact points

In most schools, specific members of staff are assigned to liaise with parents, but these approaches are eventually cascaded down to all staff, including NQTs. 

“We have a family liaison officer who instigates the contact but even so, some parents remain reluctant,” says Paul Green, head of Lyng Hall School in Coventry, one of the AfA pilot schools. “There has to be information-sharing on all sides, with a clear dialogue about academic outcomes.”

He adds that although instigating and maintaining links with parents might be difficult for NQTs, it was for more senior colleagues to guide and support them, whether this be their mentor during the induction year, the head of department or head of year. 

Schools using the AfA scheme have become more creative about how to engage parents. Some have held initial meetings in the family home, or organised neutral venues if the parents expressed a reluctance to come to the school.

“NQTs should be made aware of school policies in relation to parental engagement so they don’t do anything that might contravene and therefore undermine that,” Green warns. “I have not yet met a parent who does not want their child to do well, but we have to break down barriers and it is usually teachers that must take the initiative.”

Rachel Barrell, course leader for primary teacher education at the University of Worcester, agrees and believes that if NQTs can get the relationship right with parents, they can secure a valuable ally.

“Parents know their children better than anyone else and can provide valuable insights into their behaviour, interests and motivations,” she says. “For children with complex needs, particularly, it is the parents who may be able to help the teachers to get the best out of them and that interaction is really important.

“Engaging with parents should never be an inconvenience – it is an integral part of the learning process.”