Training to be a teacher means that you will be working not just with children and young people, but with colleagues, parents and others in your school’s community too. There is no doubt that schools function effectively and efficiently when attention is paid to developing and nurturing sound working relationships. Understandably, however, there is a strong focus on the children you teach during your initial teacher education and training, and less so on the other relationships that will help you to develop into an excellent teacher.
This post explores working with colleagues as allies and keeping parents on your side.
Colleagues as allies
As an early career teacher, there is a lot to take on board in your first few weeks and months in the profession. It can be tempting to keep your head down and wade through your “to do” list in relative isolation, but that approach will not serve you well. These ideas may help:
Be approachable
If you are new to the school you will hopefully be introduced to the other staff by the headteacher or your mentor. Some staff will go out of their way to welcome you, but aim to talk to as many different staff members as possible over the term so that you build up a knowledge of who does what, in which departments and with which classes. The more you get to know colleagues and what they do, the more you can learn from them!
Be reliable
If you are asked, and agree, to do something, make sure you do it. Help school life to flow with ease. Your colleagues will really appreciate it!
Be respectful
You won’t agree with everything you hear in the staffroom, or every teaching approach you see going on at your school, but it’s important to appreciate that there will be a diversity of approaches even in schools that fairly tightly control what happens. Learn from what you see and hear, and critique it by all means, but leave criticism well alone.
Be open
Your mentor will be involved in your professional learning and development and the chances are that other staff members may be involved too in cascading new learning. Be open to what they have to teach you, and if in doubt, ask specific questions about how that learning might best be applied to the context in which you are teaching.
Keeping parents on side
Working with the parents of the children you teach is one of the keys to success.
Attitude
Start the year with the attitude that parents are very much a part of the learning journey of the children that you teach. Great working relationships between schools and parents can help children tremendously so demonstrating your openness to communication is important. Make sure the parents of the children you teach know exactly what your school’s procedures are for contacting staff.
Availability
It is probably fair to say that the vast majority of parents will not want to get in touch unless they have a concern. And if they have a concern, they want to be able to contact you about it quickly and efficiently to make sure you will be doing something about their concern. This is why having guidance for parents on how they can get in touch is key.
No surprises
If you have any developing concerns about a child’s work or their behaviour, it is usually best to raise these as early as possible. Do not save them up until a parent comes into the school for a parents evening or for report time. Parents do not want tricky surprises when something could have been done sooner to halt the decline in their child’s achievements. If in any doubt about how to proceed, talk to your mentor, line manager or head of department.
Tell them the good stuff
You may have to have difficult conversations with parents throughout the year but it is always worth following up with contact when things improve. If a child does some particularly good work, tell the parents. A quick email or phone call is all it takes and that effort will be well rewarded!
If you are starting your ECT years, we wish you the very best of luck!
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About the author
Elizabeth Holmes
After graduating with a degree in Politics and International Relations from the University of Reading, Elizabeth Holmes completed her PGCE at the Institute of Education, University of London. She then taught humanities and social sciences in schools in London, Oxfordshire and West Sussex, where she ran the history department in a challenging comprehensive. Elizabeth specialises in education but also writes on many other issues and themes. As well as her regular blogs for Eteach and FEjobs, her books have been published by a variety of publishers and translated around the world. Elizabeth has also taught on education courses in HE and presented at national and international conferences.
