Strategies that Promote School - Family Cooperation
- Maintain a positive non-judgmental approach even if the response seems negative.
- Continue to invite parents to come to school even if they refuse or don’t respond to invitations. Try a range of ways to contact them. In addition to letters or phone calls, see if there is a school staff member, such as a Community Education Liaison Coordinator (CELC) or Education Support Worker (ESW), who could visit the home to arrange a get-together with the teacher. - Ask for the assistance of someone from an agency that may be involved with the family, such as a social worker or someone from the local First Nation office, and see if he or she might accompany you on a home visit (with prior notice to the family). - Offer to meet parents at a location of their choosing, such as the community centre, First Nation office, or local park. - Suggest parents invite someone to come to the meeting to support them — family member, friend, social worker, counselor, CELC or ESW. |
- Take advantage of the opportunity to meet parents in an informal setting where their child is not a topic of conversation: for example, a community pancake breakfast. This can make it easier to make connections at a later date.
- Long-term members of the community who are employed at the school, such as educational assistants or aboriginal language teachers, may be good links with the family. - Provide a single contact person at the school for parents, even if there are siblings in other classes at the same school. - Try to partner parents with other parents who may understand the school system and how it works. They can be a source of information that may be less threatening than direct contact with teachers. School council members might be an example of resource people to consider. - Consider the use of programs such as Effective Behaviour Support (www.pbis.org) that create a “wrap-around” support for the student and family. |