Productive Parent-Teacher Interviews

Each semester, St Catherine’s continues to provide the opportunity for parents to meet with their daughter’s teachers to discuss academic progress for each subject. This week, Parent-Teacher Interviews were conducted for VCE students and in the coming weeks, parents of our Years 7 to 10 students are invited to schedule appointments for Wednesday 11 September and Wednesday 19 September.

I share for parents below some sage advice from Judith Locke, author of The Bonsai Child, with her recommendations and tips for approaching Parent-Teacher conferences.

[This is an edited version of an excerpt from Judith Locke’s book, The Bonsai Child.]

Parent-teacher nights provide an opportunity for both parties to collaborate and ensure students are getting the best out of their education. They typically follow on from periods of assessment to enable teachers to give a little more detail about the results, feedback and feedforward comments they have made and give parents the chance to ask more questions or provide more context.

It is a good idea for parents to be a little prepared for these sessions. Maybe relook at the assessment feedback on the Portal and check if anything needs clarification. Think about whether there is anything the teacher needs to know about your daughter or your home situation.

While you do want to discuss your daughter’s results, of most interest should be your daughter’s application to learning. Ask the teacher about how your daughter engages in class and whether they appear to have a high level of motivation for achieving well and seeking advice and inquire if they show an appropriate level of robustness when things do not work out the way they want.

It is important to understand how much homework your daughter should be doing at night and see if she is managing this appropriately. My research found that in the face of student apathy towards homework, many parents expect teachers to motivate their child to do their homework. Forced motivation can only come from one of two areas – either alter the situation at home, for example use of social media or computer games dependent on homework completion and/or to enable the School to give your daughter a consequence when they do not do their homework.

In an ideal world, your daughter should be at the interview, too. The interviews are much more productive if students are included in the conversation to enable them to take responsibility for their learning and any required changes that may need to occur – rather than third parties plotting together, so to speak. If your daughter attends the interviews, then they should be encouraged to be the centre of the conversation.

Parents are encouraged to ensure the opportunity of meeting your daughter’s teacher is used to have a measured and respectful conversation. Work with them to help your daughter rather than blaming them for challenges or disappointments they may be experiencing.

Here are some other questions to ask:

  • Can my daughter work independently or do they need a lot of attention or reassurance?
  • Do they work well with others? Can they lead and can they be led in group work?
  • Do you think they show similar levels of maturity as their peers?
  • How do they take constructive criticism? Can they accept and apply it, or do they become overly emotional at redirection?
  • What should be my involvement in homework? I want to ensure I help them enough but not so much that I reduce their confidence or capability in completing work independently.

This year, our teachers are focused on challenging girls beyond their comfort zones with their learning and to be less risk averse with their academic studies. Parents are encouraged in their conversations with their daughters to instil the values of perseverance and determination when it comes to working through difficult mathematical or scientific problems or grasping the subtleties of English texts and foreign languages. Much like the many hours spent training for sport or rehearsing a musical instrument, academic learning requires the same level of grit and dedication.

Gala Concert

There are only a few remaining seats available at the Melbourne Recital Centre for the Gala Concert on Tuesday evening. The girls and teachers have spent considerable hours rehearsing to ensure the audience will enjoy a spectacular evening of musical entertainment. I trust the School community will support their endeavour with a ‘full house’ at the MRC.

Michelle Carroll

Mrs Michelle Carroll