Parents’ evenings can be long, taxing affairs - and not just for teachers, but for everyone involved.
Attending multiple appointments in close succession can lead to information overload and disorientation for parents, while late arrivals and reluctance to end appointments on time can create jams in the system. This impacts other parents’ schedules, too, leading to frayed nerves all around.
So, what can teachers do to ensure that parents’ evenings run smoothly and appointments are truly beneficial feedback opportunities for all?
Don’t over-exert; assert
It is important to look after your own wellbeing during this time. Make sure you’ve eaten something beforehand to boost your energy and always have a bottle of water nearby. Constant talking will dry your throat and irritate your vocal muscles, so don’t forget to hydrate regularly.
When greeting parents, rising from your seat to usher them over or shaking their hand with direct eye contact demonstrates an assured style; similarly, standing up and holding out your hand can be an effective signal that you must draw the meeting to a close in a prompt fashion.
Some teachers like to keep timers on their desks to mark out the appointment slot, but it is worth being mindful of courtesy. Abruptly cutting off a parent mid-sentence because time is up could be viewed as rude. Instead, pause, smile and offer them your work email address for follow-up queries.
Don’t wing it; bring it
For the most part, parents want reassurance that you value their child and that they are engaged in productive learning at school. Your job at parents’ evening is to demonstrate that, so make sure you know exactly who you are talking about.
This is easier said than done if you teach the whole of Year 8 just once a week, or even once a fortnight. Horror stories abound of teachers who realise halfway through an appointment that they have been talking about a similarly-named, or similar-looking, child with wildly different attributes, and must then pivot the discussion into bland generalities to hide their mistake.
An effective way to avoid such a faux pas is to gather your tools in advance. Try printing out copies of class photos if they’re available and jot down short notes about each pupil’s attitude and application in your subject.
It can also be helpful to bring samples of pupils’ work to parents’ evening so that you can point out their progress and areas for development. Similarly, keeping a copy of your mark book on hand enables you to directly reference attainment data to back up your comments.
Don’t narrate; evaluate
Ideally, curriculum overviews will have been distributed to parents at the beginning of each academic year, so avoid padding the discussion with a potted history of your scheme of work. Narrating the story of what you’ve been teaching is a time drain that does little to inform parents of the progress their child is making in your subject.
Your goal should be to communicate your evaluation of the pupil’s progress against an established assessment framework.
For example, if you are teaching a history unit on the Second World War, focus your comments on how confidently the pupil can identify key events, understand primary source bias and independently construct analysis of causation factors.
Understanding the progress their child is making towards achieving specific end-of-year skills and knowledge objectives is much more useful feedback for parents than hearing about how you taught a lesson on the Blitz using page 17 of the textbook last week and that their child wrote some reasonable answers, but must try harder.
Don’t surprise; strategise
If your assessment data points to the existence of significant gaps in a pupil’s skill set or knowledge, then it is best to communicate this long before parents’ evening arrives.
Surprising parents with news of their child’s stalled progress in your subject (when they assumed all was fine) is a surefire way to destroy trust and breed parental resentment.
The same goes for sustained pastoral and behavioural concerns. Parents’ evening appointments often won’t allow time for sufficient discussion of the issues, so show parents you are an effective communicator by flagging up concerns via email or phone in advance, and arranging a longer meeting with them, if appropriate.
If you’ve done this and need to reiterate ongoing concerns during parents’ evening, frame your comments with positive reflections for balance and set out a forward-focused strategy of your next steps.
For example: “Sam has worked incredibly hard to achieve full marks in the past few weekly spelling tests but still struggles to retain this knowledge when writing independently. Due to the pattern of errors emerging, I would now like to refer Sam to our Sendco who offers small-group spelling intervention sessions to accelerate pupil progress.
“I will also continue to support Sam in the classroom via the use of word banks and differentiated phonics resources. Shall we arrange a meeting for early next term to check in with how this intervention is going?”
Healthy relationships
Ultimately, parents’ evenings offer wonderful opportunities to connect with parents and discover more about pupils’ home contexts.
Building healthy relationships through these meetings is key to providing holistic educational support and ensures that parents are clear about the next steps of their child’s learning journey.
By planning ahead, and being strategic, you can make sure that you get all of this - and more - out of your next parents’ evening.
Emma Newton is a secondary English teacher at an independent school in Surrey
For the latest research, pedagogy and practical classroom advice delivered directly to your inbox every week, sign up to our Teaching Essentials newsletter
