Teachers want improved means of communication between school and parents

Seventy-one per cent of teachers feel that a secure internet “parent portal”, where parents could see details about their child’s schooling, would improve school-to- parent communication, according to a survey of 5,805 teachers released by leading educational ICT provider its learning (www.itslearning.eu).

In the survey of teachers in France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the UK and the US, 75 per cent of teachers also rated parental engagement as either “important” or “very important” for the success of a child’s education.

However, 44 per cent said they did not have the time or means to communicate with parents as much as they would like.

“Teachers agree that involving parents is critical, but they aren’t able to communicate with parents effectively,” said research manager Morten Fahlvik.

“Most teachers speak to parents at least once a semester. But communication has to occur more often to be really effective. The internet could be the answer ­– as long as the tool is correctly designed.”

How do teachers currently communicate with parents? According to the survey, 46 per cent of teachers e-mail each of their students’ parents at least once a month; 37 per cent use texts/SMSs and 24 per cent still send letters.

“Many teachers use a mix of technologies to communicate with parents, but none of them are specifically designed for the task,” said Mr Fahlvik. “Teachers want a tool that will improve the flow of information and reduce their workload.”

To meet this need, itslearning.eu launched a parent portal last year. As part of the company’s cloud-based learning platform, much of the information on the portal – such as grades and attendance – is updated automatically to save teachers time. Teachers can also add specific information about individual students as required.