Do I have to go to the parents’ meeting?
Parents’ evenings, also known as parents’ meetings, are held in kindergartens, day-care centers and schools to inform parents about current developments and plans at the facility. However, problems or organizational issues can also be addressed.
As a rule, a parents’ evening is convened at the beginning of the school year. In some federal states there are also regulations on topics and the number of parents’ evenings. Parents will receive an invitation on this occasion. Some parents find parents’ evenings at school tiresome and wonder if they really need to come. Of course, there is no obligation or compulsion to attend a parents’ evening. Participation is to be recommended to every parent, as it expresses interest in their own child and their school. Also, there is an obligation to your child, the teachers, and the school that you should not neglect. Also, don’t underestimate the impact you, as a parent, can have on the day-to-day running of the school. Some federal states involve the parents’ representatives of the respective schools in the specialist conferences, in which decisions are made on the forms of teaching and teaching materials, important points in the field of school education. If you don’t want decisions to be made over your head, get involved in the various committees and help ensure that your child’s educational opportunities are optimal.
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What is a parents’ evening for and why should I go?
The class teacher invites parents to parents’ evenings to inform the parents about the school and house rules, to present the curriculum and the learning goals of the respective school year and to familiarize them with the various forms of teaching. When a new school year begins, teachers who have taken over the class often introduce themselves at the parents’ evening. For the class teacher, the parents’ evening also serves to get to know the parents of their students and to get in direct contact with them.
If you are interested in actively following your child’s academic development, you should not miss this event. In this way, you can check over the course of the school year whether the specified learning objectives are being met.
In addition, the parents can be involved in the decision-making process or the planning of class trips or school trips at a parents’ meeting.
Parents’ evenings can also be called when there are problems in the class, whether with discipline within the class or with a group of students. However, problems in the area of willingness to perform or grading in general can also be discussed.
Parents’ representatives are also elected at the parents’ meeting, who take on the task of representing the interests of the parents and students vis-à-vis the class teacher and the school. The parent representatives become active, for example, when there are problems with a particular teacher or there are issues that the parents see as problematic but are not addressed directly by the school. These can be drugs or violence at school , for example , but also Bullying or clique formation should be mentioned in this context.
In such a case, there is the possibility that the parent representatives will organize a parents’ evening to draw the attention of the teachers or the school in general to certain problems.
Parents who care about their child’s academic development and performance should accept the invitation to the parents’ meeting and actively participate in what is happening. This is the only way to ensure that your own interests are heard and implemented. Getting upset about certain problems at home, arguing heatedly, but ultimately not taking action is a well-known phenomenon that unfortunately doesn’t help anyone. Despite this, more and more teachers are complaining about the parents’ lack of interest in their children’s everyday school life.
What a parent meeting is not for
As a parent, you should be aware that parents’ evenings are not primarily intended to find out about your child’s performance or to address specific school problems of your own offspring. In order to clarify such questions and problems, the parents’ day, which takes place once every school year in most federal states. If there are urgent questions that you would like to discuss with a teacher, you can arrange a personal meeting. During this conversation you can discuss grades or problems. Of course, there can also be time for such a conversation on the sidelines of the parents’ evening!