DO SCHOOLS REACH OUT TO PARENTS?

Abstract

What are the elements of an effective program of school-parent communications? Traditionally, communication between the school and the home bas been basically a process of "information-giving". The school in effect has told parents what it wants them to know. Where the information relates to what's happening in the school, such "one way" messages have not surprisingly tended to portray the school in a favourable light. (In the terminology of systems theory, this tendency reflects the natural concern of a system for generating "output" supportive of its existence.) Where it relates to pupils, however, such messages have frequently tended to be negative, particularly when the school has felt that it was necessary to initiate contact with a parent.