IPPN

Published: 12 November 2020

Schools are currently making preparations for Parent/Teacher meetings, as well as deciding when to schedule them into the 2020/21 school year. Most parents look forward to the meeting, even if it is only for 10mins to discuss their child’s progress. The majority of meetings proceed smoothly and with good humour and teachers and parents generally feel appreciated and affirmed by the experience.

In last week’s e-scéal, we included Guidance issued by the DES for the facilitation of parent/teacher meetings for 2020/2021 school year.

The following are some issues/suggestions that may need to be considered:

• What is the school’s preferred option for facilitating parent/teacher meetings?
• What if a parent becomes upset and/or aggressive during a parent/teacher meeting?
• What if a parent wants to record the meeting? If online, confirm to the parent that the session is not being recorded and that there is no one else with you in the room. Ask the parent to confirm the same.
• What if more than the allocated time is required? Discuss and agree the procedure to be followed in these cases. There may be instances where a teacher does not feel comfortable meeting a particular parent(s) on their own. In such cases it would be advisable to support that teacher by sitting in on the meeting or by having a Support teacher present during the meeting. If online, specific permission will need to be obtained from the parent(s) attending. Be aware that some parents may surreptitiously record a parent/teacher meeting. This is illegal and can only be done with the consent of the parties involved. Many schools now post prominent notices to this effect. (See above)
• Normally parents of children availing of additional support, will want to meet those teachers. These can be arranged as a follow-up to meeting the class teacher or involve both teachers at the same time. These arrangements will depend on the school context and procedures, especially in the context of Covid-19 protocols.