What Are Typical Mistakes of Teachers in Parent Interviews? Findings From a Delphi Study

• In Event: Roundtable Session 33
  In Roundtable Session: Errors and Their Potential for Learning in the Professions

Abstract

In this contribution we report findings from a Delphi study with teachers that aimed at identifying typical mistakes in parent-teacher interviews. Establishing and maintaining a good relationship to parents has been shown to have beneficial effects on school climate and on students’ learning outcomes. Therefore, parent-teacher communication is an important task requiring teachers to develop competences in effective communication. According to the Munich Model of Communicative Competence in Parent-Teacher Communication (MMCC-P) this competence is comprised of three related aspects: (i) The establishment of a positive relationship to parents, (ii) the advancement of problem solutions and (iii) the effective and transparent structuring of a conversation.
In our study, we identified typical problems and mistakes in parent-teacher interviews through a three-round Delphi-study with N = 21 teachers from upper secondary schools. The three competence aspects described in the above model served as a framework for classifying the mistakes and problems and for drawing conclusions on the related errors and error-types.
Content analysis revealed ten typical mistakes and problems that teachers frequently encounter in conversations with parents. These types could be related to the three competence facets reliably (Cohen’s  = .69, p = .003; ICC (A, 2) = .91, p = .001): (i) In terms of the relationship between teachers and parents, teachers reported situations in which they were driven to indiscretions, felt their authority being questioned, had to handle their own negative emotions and in which parents failed to keep an appropriate interpersonal distance. One class of mistakes related to these situations is abandoning one’s professional role as a teacher – e.g. concerning collegiality and discretion, the support for parents while maintaining professional distance or the need to control one’s own emotions. (ii) In terms of problem-solving, the study participants described communicational difficulties arising due to the parents holding – and insisting on – biased views of their children or having unrealistic expectations about how school can support their children. A frequent mistake teachers described was attempting to impose problem solutions on parents, that is, trying to solve problems for the parents instead of finding a solution together in co-constructive dialogue. Another mistake described was a teacher not attempting to correct mistaken views or misunderstandings with parents. (iii) Finally, the subjects mentioned problems in ending unconstructive discussions and handling circumstances inappropriate for parent-teacher discussion – for example, an inappropriate time and/or location. A related category of mistakes includes conducting a parent-teacher discussion without enough time to do it properly or talking in a location that does not offer a sufficient level of privacy.
The findings from our study point to challenges and critical incidents in parent-teacher interviews. Though the generalizability of the findings is limited due to the study design, they provide preliminary hints for designing problem-oriented training environments for professional development courses on communicative skills for teachers. Based on our findings, we suggest that training courses on parent-teacher communication should aim at sensitizing (prospective) teachers to typical problems that teachers frequently encounter in parent-teacher communication.

Authors

• Martin Gartmeier, Technische Universität München, TUM School of Educaiton

• Johannes Bauer, Technische Universität München

• Manfred Prenzel, Technische Universität München