Parents' evening: more than just a compulsory event

A father asks: «Isn't there such a rule: dot before dash?» and bends over a tablet together with a mother in an attempt to solve a problem from his son's maths lesson. It's parents' evening. Instead of being in the classroom, the parents are spread out all over the school building and are constantly coming together in small groups.

They look for QR codes, which they scan with their tablets to gain an insight into the children's schoolwork. They then discuss how social media should be handled in the classroom. Together with the teacher, the parents work out seven tangible points. «We all got to know each other better and were able to contribute and co-decide on the content,» says the father. A successful evening for parents and teachers alike.

Parents often take part in parents' evenings without a licence

However, parents' evenings often take a completely different course. Parents attend listlessly or stay at home. Those who do come complain about the same old topics such as cancelled lessons, poor school meals or homework - without being interested in an objective discussion. And the teacher uses the mandatory meeting primarily to communicate upcoming appointments.

«In this form, the parents' evening is actually a discontinued model, because there are now many other and better channels for providing information,» says Thomas Eberhard. The teacher and psychologist advises schools on communication and recently published a book entitled «Aller Eltern Abend». He believes that parents' evenings would be a model for the future if teachers and parents made good use of their time together.

Relationship work is the best prevention

«The primary aim of a parents' evening should be to create a community between parents and between parents and teachers,» says Thomas Eberhard. It pays off for teachers if they think about this and invest time. «This is the best prevention for the rest of the school year. If there are any difficulties, for example if rules are broken, I know that the parents are behind me and I get the necessary support as a teacher,» says Eberhard. And that is what is needed.

With the first meeting, the teacher lays an important foundation for building trust.

Fabienne Zehntner, educational scientist

Whether it's about parents accompanying a trip or disciplinary problems arising in the classroom. When parents and teachers come together for the first parents' evening of the new school year, it is an important moment for future collaboration. «With this often first meeting, the teacher lays an important foundation for the school relationship and for building trust,» says Fabienne Zehntner, lecturer in educational science at the Bern University of Teacher Education. She advises teachers to adopt the perspectives of different parents and to consciously organise the parents' evening with this focus. After all, parents have very different backgrounds and expectations.

Some may not have found their own school days particularly pleasant. Others are not yet familiar with the school system or have language barriers and don't understand Swiss German, for example. However, admitting this in front of everyone is not everyone's cup of tea. «You can create opportunities for informal discussions at the beginning and give parents time to settle in,» says Fabienne Zehntner.

Thomas Eberhard has found that such informal conversations often come about more easily if the parents have something to do at the parents' evening, such as a small rally or group work. Shy people or parents with language difficulties in particular find it easier to communicate in this way than if there is a traditional round of introductions of the parents in front of everyone.

Parents want to feel at the parents' evening that the teacher enjoys their job

According to Fabienne Zehntner, after such an arrival period, it is the teacher's job to introduce themselves in detail and explain their ideas of successful learning to the parents. «Parents want to be able to trust that their child is in good hands with the teacher,» says Zehntner. According to Thomas Eberhard, parents expect these three things above all from a parents' evening: they want to feel that the teacher enjoys their job and that they like the children. And they want to see that there is a plan for the school year.

«Of course, upcoming appointments can also be discussed. But before everyone has to write them down, it might be better to give them a note to take home, write an email or use an app,» says Thomas Eberhard. All of these channels can also be used by teachers to maintain contact with parents during the school year. «The best way to do this is for a school to come up with a communication concept that clearly regulates which channels are used to communicate what,» says Fabienne Zehntner.

Schools should become more transparent

A representative survey conducted by the Mercator Foundation Switzerland on the topic of «What kind of school does Switzerland want?» shows that many schools still have some catching up to do. Of the more than 2,500 parents of school-age children surveyed in 2022, almost 80 per cent responded that schools should become more transparent and provide more information. Around half feel that parents' concerns and wishes are not taken seriously enough and that parents have too little say in important decisions.

There is too little positive feedback between parents and teachers. Yet this would be so important.

Thomas Eberhard, teacher and psychologist

However, communication is not a one-way street; parents also have an influence on how it is organised. «If a teacher invites children to a theatre performance, parents can also write back that they think the project is great,» says Thomas Eberhard. Because: «Positive feedback is also given far too little in parent-teacher communication, but is so important for a good relationship.» So when the next invitation to a parents' evening comes, there should be no question for parents as to whether they go or not, because without getting to know each other, no good contact can develop.