Teachers, administrators and other school staff can foster parents’ and caregivers’ ability to be “ambassadors of school culture”, reinforcing the school’s values and attitudes linked to equity, inclusion and bullying prevention at home. We do so through proactive strategies that create, strengthen and stimulate a two-way conduit between home and school. This ensures an ongoing exchange of support, information, expertise, knowledge and skills between these two environments.
The connection and contact may be different at the secondary level, when parents’ or caregivers’ presence may be experienced by students as humiliating or embarrassing. A greater split between the separate spheres of home and school tends to be reinforced by secondary school culture, where parents and caregivers are usually only present in the school when there are serious problems. Nonetheless, teens also need the involvement of their parents and caregivers, though their role may be more subtle and discreet. Secondary schools can find ways to build and maintain an appropriate connection that is comfortable for all involved. That connection can be fully activated should a situation arise when parents’ and caregivers’ active input and involvement are needed.
Strengthened connections between home and school are a lynchpin to building healthy partnerships between teachers and school staff, and parents and caregivers.