A strong bond between teachers and parents fosters better communication, leading to increased support for the child’s academic and personal development. Recent research by Kraft and Dougherty (2013) highlights that frequent communication between parents and teachers boosts student engagement, particularly when teachers share positive news about their child’s performance.

During a recent project at a private school, Centre for Intrinsic Motivation aimed to strengthen parent-teacher relationships through positive phone calls as a strategy. Teachers would call parents to share one or two positive things about their child, helping parents appreciate their child’s efforts and value the teacher’s role. This approach proved highly effective.

Here’s a heartwarming story from one of the teachers during our last training session:
One of the teachers used WhatsApp to call a parent to share an interesting moment of a student who was participating in a seminar. The student, usually shy and never having participated in a seminar before, impressed the teacher, who decided to share this with her parents. The parent, attending a Magaleer Mandram (Women Self-help group) meeting, happily watched as her daughter did her presentation well. She was so happy, and the members of the group appreciated her with a huge round of applause. This recognition significantly boosted the student’s confidence and created a proud moment for both the student and parent.

This story shows the power of positive phone calls in building strong parent-teacher relationships and celebrating student achievements. How can we further use such strategies to create more supportive educational environments?