Benefits and Barriers to Teacher-Family Partnerships

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2. What do you think children gain when their
teachers create partnerships with their parents?
 What do you think parents gain when they work
closely with their children’s teachers?
 How do you think teachers benefit when they
create partnerships with families?
 What are some of the reasons that forming
effective partnerships can be difficult, for both
teachers and parents?

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3. Security and decreased anxiety in school
environment and improved academic performance
 Sense of self-worth when they perceive that
others value and respect their parents
 Knowledgeable and consistent responses from all
adults in their lives

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4. Feelings of support for parenting
 Knowledge and skills to support parenting and
support their children’s education
 Enhanced parental self-esteem when invited to
participate and make a contribution to their child’s
school life

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5. Increased knowledge about individual children,
their backgrounds, and their needs
 Positive feedback increases teacher confidence
and social skills, and supports their efforts
 Parent resources for enriched learning
experiences in and out of the classroom

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6. 
A five-year-old child newly immigrated from
Russia is entering your kindergarten class. How
will he and his family benefit when the teacher
reaches out to welcome his family into full
communication and partnership? How will you
benefit as the teacher?
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7. 
Reasons for barriers
◦ Human reactions, communication, and external factors
◦ Seven role dimensions and distinctions between
mothering and teaching (Katz)
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9. Maneuvering over turf
 Issue of trust
 Differences in expertise
 Essential differences between teaching and
parenting

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10. Emotional responses of both parents and teachers
 Reactions to other’s role
 Harmful emotional responses: jealousy, guilt,
resentment
 Fear of criticism

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11. Time
 “Busy-ness”
 Old ideas of parent involvement and families
 Administrative policies
 Personal problems or style

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12. 
In the scenario described earlier, of the 5-year-old
Russian immigrant child entering kindergarten,
consider all the possible barriers on both sides
that could make forming a partnership difficult. For
each barrier identified, reflect on possible
solutions.
©2013 Cengage Learning.
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13. There are benefits for children, parents, and
teachers when parents become involved in
partnerships with teachers. Name several of each.
 Barriers to partnerships may be found in factors
that influence the relationship, in emotional
responses of both teachers and parents, and in
external factors.

©2013 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.