Communication

In this Word document you will find some statements with information about Communication Channels between Schools/Settings and Families.

For each statement, you should mark Yes or No according to your knowledge or experience of each channel being used in your child's school/setting (could be with you or with other parents as a whole).

After that discuss with your child the advantages of parents and school/setting communication emphasizing the active role your child might play on it.

Taking into account the characteristics of the communication styles described in activity 1:

1. Think about a specific topic you discussed with your child’s teacher or professional(s) working with him/her. If your child has more than one teacher/carer, think of one of them.


2. Try to recognize the communication style you and the teacher/carer used to communicate with each other when talking about that specific topic.


3. Try to draw a picture of your face and body and the one of the teacher/carer while communicating with each other on that particular topic. You may also like including some emoticons! 
   
   
4. Finally, write down how you felt when communicating with your child´s teacher/carer about that topic.
   


5. If it is the case, suggest any positive changes you may like to introduce in your communication style to improve even more your relationship with the teacher/carer.

In the link you will find an example of a writing template.

You will find four statements describing the four main communication styles: Passive, Assertive, Passive Aggressive and Aggressive. You will also find a list of words associated with these four styles.

1. Together with your child, you should classify these words into four groups according to the style you think they belong to. You might like to match some words to more than one communication style; this is possible.
   
   
2. Think about the style you and your child’s teacher/carer usually use to communicate with each other (if your child has more than one teacher/carer, choose one of them). Write down some words which might help you to picture that style. 
   
   
3. Finally, try to draw a picture of your face and that of the teacher/carer while communicating with each other. You may like including some emoticons!

• in plenary participants are given a short introduction to the onion model of cultural identity
• in small groups they are invited to find two-three common elements for the group and identify the right layer for each, put them on a post-it each
• in plenary they put their identified common feature to the right place of the large onion on the flipchart
• the trainer hands out the second template and everybody is invited to find their layers individually
• this exercise is followed by a pair discussion on similarities and differences
• at the end of the exercise participants are invited to share findings they found surprising and shocking if any

• All participants are invited to carefully read the do’s and don’ts 
• Then they should mark up to three in each category in the four colours:
• Colour 1 for those issues that are easy to follow
• Colour 2 for those issues that are difficult to follow
• Colour 3 for those issues the participant totally disagrees
• Colour 4 + extra space on the papers for what is missing
• Regarding the results discuss what urgently has to be changed in any case

1. Watch this video about implicit bias: 

Peanut Butter, Jelly and Racism [source | New York Times free teaching materials]

2. Read the following checklist of cultural privileges (by McIntosh):

• I can live where I want to live.
• I can worship where I want to worship & near where I live.
• I can shop where I will not be followed or harassed & my form of payment is accepted.
• I can find my preferred kinds of food, clothing, hair salons, hair products, music, etc.
• I can find people like me portrayed positively on television, in the movies, in songs, etc.
• I can find posters, toys, dolls, greeting cards, etc., that show people like me.
• I can find people like me portrayed positively in books, etc., about our nation & history.
• I can find people like me in most textbooks & teaching materials.
• I can say what I want about people & be accepted by the people around me.
• I can be with people like me.

Think about your life and list any of these statements that you think doesn’t apply to you. Think of your first memory of being different from others in this respect.

3. Do you think your own community is diverse? 

Take stock of diversity in your own environment by filling the table:

Downloadable Table

To do this activity you are invited to watch the video 4 Types Parenting Styles (4.24 minutes). 

In this video you will find information on the four main types of parenting styles: 

1. Permissive: parents consent to too much of their children's behaviours and wishes
   
2. Authoritarian: parents like to control too much of their children's behaviour
   
3. Authoritative or Democratic: parents guide their children and set clear limits and consequences to their behaviour
   
4. Uninvolved or Negligent: parents are passive to their children's behaviour

After watching the video read the four family cases below and identify for each case:

1. The parenting style which, according to you, matches them the best.
   
2. The specific parenting reactions to their children's behaviour in each family’s case
   
3. The consequences you think that parenting style in each family case might have on the child.
   
4. How parents could improve their parenting style. What they could do?  
   

Moreover, think about:

1. Which parenting style do you remember your parents have usually shown when you were a child.
   
2. Whether your present parenting style with your children resembles that of your parents. What do you think is your parenting style?
   

Read this article about parenting styles (you can also watch the video).

After reading the summary of different parenting styles and their effect on the lives of children, first guess what your parenting style is, then make the following test to verify or challenge your own assessment.

Copy the results for future reference and answer the following question:

What should I change in my parenting practice to support and educate my child(ren) better, to make them secure and happy?

1. You (and if possible, you together with your child) should write a list with relevant topics you would like to discuss with your child' teacher(s)/carer(s) keeping in mind the reasons for doing that. For example, tips for helping children with homework, your child’s feelings about the school/setting, examples of possible parent/child activities related to what is being learned at school/setting, what type of activities/methodology help him/her the most to learn, what kind of school/setting menu he/she would like to have, what behaviour rules he/she would like to introduce and observe, etc.
2. Discuss those topics with your child and order them according to the priority both of you think they have for you, adding the reasons for that.
3. Write a proposal to address the tree first topics you chose in step 2 taking into account: 1) When will it happen, 2) where will it happen; 3) who will be involved and 4) what you will do.
4. Try to put your proposals into practice for each topic and see what happens! Then, you can try new and different topics......

In the link you find an example of a list of topics templates.

You should read the six statements below about six types of parents according to their kind of involvement at schools (Smith,2007). This is applicable to other types of settings you child attends.

You may like to visit Types of parents and school strategies aimed at the creation of effective partnerships to find out more from the original document describing this typology.

Think about which typology(/ies) you like the most because of its/their positive effects on the children and on the school/setting.

Probably there aren't any parents who suit any typology perfectly all the time and under all circumstances, but there can be a tendency to act according to one or two typologies.

For each typology you should rate the frequency you perceive yourself acting as described in the statements, choosing from: 1-Never; 2-Sometimes; 3-Frequently and 4-Always/Nearly always.

After that think about:

1. the descriptions you think YOU COINCIDE with for each typology,
2. the descriptions you think YOU DO NOT COINCIDE with for each typology.

Check whether the typology(/ies) you like the most is/are the one(s) you coincide the most too. If this is not the case, try to describe what could you do to approach that typology(/ies).

In the link you will find an example of a writing template.

From the following list of diversity criteria choose two of them to think about:

• Two families who differ according their structure: a two-parent family and a one-parent family (you may know these families). One family could be heterosexual and the other one homosexual (two dads or two moms). Also, one of the families could be a reconstructed family (stepfamily: two-parent family having children for former partners). Or maybe one of the families could be an adoptive family. You might want to choose two families from this diversity, or maybe you could think about of all of them.
• Two families who differ according the geographical area they are living in: rural and urban (you may know these families).
• Two families with parents having different levels of education, having different employment status: one where both parents are unemployed, one where somebody is employed and works. (you may know these families).
• Two families with different ethnicity backgrounds, one of them being a Roma family and the other being a family from another ethnicity group you might think of (you may know these families).
• Two families with children having special health or development needs: one having a child at hospital and another one having a child with a special need you think of (you may know these families).

Once you have chosen those two diversity criteria and their related four families, try to find out for these four families their strengths and possible limitations when raising and educating their children. If you know families with these four characteristics who are close to you, talk to them to collect direct information to complete the activity. You may record their information. Then you can check your own ideas on this matter.

Finally, add some suggestions on how those limitations could be faced, who can help, which measures should be taken into account.

You may like to complete this activity considering other additional diversity criteria. For example: Bicultural families, families having children of different ages, etc.

In the link you will find an example of a writing template to fill in your information. 

• Together with your child and your partner if you are in a two-parent family, try to identify the characteristics in your family that matches the following family diversity criteria better (you may like to collect some family pictures):

• Identify your family strengths and possible limitations for raising and educating your children according to your diversity profile. 
  
• Write down one or two cases when you faced some issues associated with your family diversity profile (for example, facing how to look after your small children while you are at work; the same regarding  involvement in your children’s school and education, any difficulty regarding your ethnicity  or your financial circumstances, etc.)
  
• Add some tips for families regarding diversity issues.
  

 

In the link you will find an example of a writing template to fill in your information.

You will find some statements below with information about ways through which schools/settings can promote inclusion.

For each statement you should mark T (True) of F (False) if you think the information given is true or false. Once you finish, you will be able to check your answers. 

Together with your child or another parent you should think about and write down the actions you actually know your child's school/setting is taking to enhance positive relationships among all parties. You should also list ‘otherness’ you are not confidently familiar with or feel uncomfortable/hostile against.

After that, you should ask some teachers/carers or the director of the school/setting about these actions. You may also ask some representative of the parents from the Parents' Association at school/setting, or other parents. When talking to them take some notes or (better) ask them whether you can record the conversation in order to collect valuable information.

You may like to ask about actions to keep peace in the classrooms/groups or in the corridors, to manage conflicts between children, between parents and teachers/carers, issues regarding integration of minority ethnic groups or immigrant people, students with special characteristics and needs, participatory democracy, norms and duties of students, teachers, carers and parents, mediation experiences, and so on.

Finally, write a short paragraph with your conclusions about what your child's school/setting is doing, adding your suggestions to increase the frequency of those actions and your possible contribution to them.

In the link you will find an example of a writing template.

As you have seen there are multiples types of participation and you have to decide which way to participate you prefer. The level of participation is related to the model of citizenship. There are basically three models of citizenship: 

• Individualistic model: based on individual rights. In order to defend them each citizen give the representation of their interests to their political representatives.
• Informed citizen model: the relation between the citizen and the community is more important. The citizen has all the information about the affairs that affect them and participates actively in politics.
• Communitarian model: the community is more important than the citizen. The power is in collective institutions, so citizens participate through this institutions

There are several theories about levels of participation; one of them has been explained in the introduction of the module. Even so, there are other ones. And one of them presents a ladder of participation with eight levels see below (Arnstein, 1969). 

The citizen control level is when the level of participation is higher because the person really has power in the decision-making process. And for example, in the informing or the consultation level the person is only informed and maybe have a vote in a decision-making process but does not really have the power to decide on issues that concern them. So, the person has more power in decision-making processes at higher levels of the ladder. 

1. Look at the infographics on active digital citizenship 

2. Think of an example for each slice of the above cake in your life

3. Read the following scenarios and answer the questions, preferably discussing it with other parents

Scenario 1

A new set of government regulations restrict the offer of officially recognised schoolbooks, but teachers are given total freedom of school material they want to use, including books that are not officially recognised, and thus cost much more than recognised ones.  The majority of books your school’s teachers used in previous years are off the list. The teachers come together and decide that they want to keep using the books they have good teaching experiences with. They commit themselves to ask parents to buy less books than in previous years, but the full package chosen will still cost parents twice as much as it would have cost the year before and triple the price of a pack of subsidised books would.

There is an enrolment issue at the school, so teachers are afraid the demand to pay more for books will trigger an exodus from the school.

How would you as a parent at the school would like to be approached by teachers to be persuaded to keep your child(ren) in the school and to pay for the more expensive books? What do you think the role of elected parents’ representatives and teaching staff is in this situation? What happens if you don’t participate in the discussion? How your child(ren) should be involved in these discussions? How could digital tools be part of the solution?

Scenario 2

The food on offer in the school/setting cafeteria, while meeting the requirements of a so-called Healthy Eating Lifestyle Plan does not meet the taste of children. Most children bring in sandwich and chips instead of eating at the canteen. Some parents buy microwave ovens for the (class)rooms and the children heat up home-made food in them, eating by their desk or in the corridors. There is a strong demand to provide a longer lunch break so that children can go to a nearby restaurant outside of school for their meals. The age group is 6-10 year olds. Some members of the teaching staff/carers don’t feel comfortable with letting the children out of school during the (school) day regardless the wish of parents and the rights of children to do so. While they understand that they must let the children out of the building anytime, they invite the parents and children to try and find a solution that satisfies most families and also satisfies those teachers who have safety concern, so that they keep as many children in the school building as possible. 

1. Assess your leadership style using this tool LINK!

2. Once you know which style of leadership, answer the questions below:

• Which is your leadership style? Which are its main characteristics?
  
• Write three drawbacks and three benefits of your leadership style.
  
• In which areas of your leadership style do you think you need to improve?
  

To perform this activity you are invited to watch the video Parenting-Changing roles (2.10 minutes). 

In this video you will find children of different ages playing typical parenting roles associated with family conflicts.

After watching the video, you should:  

1.       Identify those parenting behaviours you consider non-respectful of children's rights and which lead to conflicts.

2.       Comment on the possible reasons parents have for behaving that way with their children (for example: fear their children get into risk, lack of time, etc.).

3.      Identify your own parenting behaviours similar to that shown in the video and some ideas to change them if you wish to do so. 

4.      If grandparents are involved, discuss with them:

• how the parents' and the children's roles changed in the family in the past 30 years (for example), or when the grandparents were children themselves,
  
• which are the main differences, its advantages and disadvantages
  
• how to cope with the disadvantages.
  
• try to figure out why /how these changes happened (for example, because of social evolution as mothers entered the job market, etc.)
  

In the link you will find an example of a writing template.

Read the article about German parenting.

Use the Parents’ Rights Charter as a reference text to explore your own rights and responsibilities.

Please answer the questions if you think each statement is true (T) or false (F) (be aware of the rights of the child, too).

After completing the activity make a list of topics you have or would have seeked guidance on from professionals or fellow parents (peer):

• What support would you need to defend your rights as a parent in school/setting?
• What support would you need to defend your rights as a parent in the community?
• What support would you need to defend your rights as a parent at work?
• What are the main obstacles that may prevent you from fulfilling your parental duties?

1. Brainstorm participants understanding of what parental involvement/engagement is

2. Play Charles Desforges’ video (3 mins)

3. Split into groups and disseminate Articles 5 and 18 of the UNCRC and summary of research in parental involvement / engagement 

4. Ask the groups to discuss the research and use it to manage effectively a particular scenario. 

5. Other scenarios should be developed to fit the contexts within which the training is taking place.

1. Read the following statements and mark on a scale of 1 to 10 how much you agree with them (1 being totally disagree and 10 being totally agree) 

1. Children have no rights to get involved in family decision making. Parents know best what is best for children. 
   
2. To participate at school means to talk a lot in class. 
   
3. Every child is allowed to participate in the school parliament/school board/school council with equal rights. 
   
4. There is well-proven evidence that parental involvement results in better academic outcomes for the children. 
   
5. Parents are the primary educators. 
   
6. It can be dangerous for children to express their views on school issues. 
   
7. Children cannot teach parents, grandparents or teachers. This is the privilege of the adults. 
   
8. Not all children have the same right to participate. Poor children, disabled children, children with deficits in the majority language or children with separated parents cannot participate as much as others. 
   
9. Parental involvement is lifelong learning for themselves and essential part of active citizenship. 
   
10. Teachers are always better educators than parents. 
    
11. Children/parents who have been in trouble with the law lose their right to participate in any decision-making process. 
    
12. Children/parents with another citizenship are not allowed to participate in school councils. 
    
13. Girls are less good at computer games than boys. 
    
14. Scientific studies have shown that Europeans have smaller brains than Asians. 
    
15. Being gay is a disability which can be cured. 
    

(adapted from COMPASITO, Manual on human rights education for children – Council of Europe 2009)

2. Look at these answers based on the UN Convention on the Rights of Child, research evidence and experience, and compare with your own scores

1, 2) 1, 3) 10, 4) 10, 5) 10, 6) 5-6, 7) 1, 8) 1, 9) 10, 10) 1, 11) 5-6 (court may rule to ban participation) 12) 1, 13) 1, 14) 1 15) 1

3. Discuss the differences you see between your answers and the answers given above with other parents and/or your child

1. Watch this video of Nikhil Goyal on Why kids hate school and take notes of the problems he mentions about school today 

2. Write a short description of the following (you can use the following Q-tips: What objects, tools were used in school and at work when you were 10 and what are used today? What was and what is the most common teaching method? What has changed? What did you like most about school? What does your child like most about school? What did you hate most about school? What does your child hate most about school?)

• A normal schoolday when you were 10 and a normal working day of your parents when you were 10 
  
• A normal schoolday of your child now and a normal working day in your life now 
  

3. Identify the issues in the current time description mentioned in the video and decide how much you agree with it

4. Think about your answers to the following questions and try to discuss them with other parents or a professional:

• What has changed since you were a child and what needs to be changed to make school liked more by children?  
• What do you think you can do about it?  
• What do you think your community (school board, parents’ association, student union, teachers’ professional association) can do about it in your opinion?  
• What can the media do about it?  
• What other stakeholders can be involved and how? (Think of policy, politics, economy, civil society organisations, etc.) 

1. Read the instructions and fill the survey

This instrument helps assess whether your school is involving parents, community members, and students in meaningful ways. The measure is based on the framework of six types of involvement and focuses on how well activities are meeting challenges to involve more – or all – families in their children’s education.  

At this time, your school may conduct all, some, or none of the activities or approaches listed. Not every activity is appropriate at every grade level. Not every activity should be conducted often – some may be implemented once or twice each year. In a goal-oriented partnership program, activities will be selected and outlined in detail in your One Year Action Plan for Partnerships to help reach specific school improvement goals.  

Your school may implement other activities for each type of involvement. These should be added on the blank lines and rated to account for the major partnership practices that your school conducts. 

Directions

Use the scoring rubric below to rate your school on the six types of involvement. As you review each item, circle the response that comes closest to describing how the activity is implemented at your school. 

Scoring Rubric

1–Never: Strategy does not happen at our school. 

2–Rarely: Conducted in one or two classes or with a few families. Not emphasized in this school’s partnership program. 

3–Sometimes: Conducted in a few classes or with some families. Receives minimal emphasis in this school’s partnership program across the grades. Quality of Implementation needs to improve. 

4–Often: Conducted in many, but not all, classes, or with many, but not all, families. Given substantial emphasis in this school’s partnership program across the grades. Quality of implementation is high; only minor changes are needed. 

5–Frequently: Occurs in most or all classes and grade levels, with most or all families. An important part of this school’s partnership program. Quality of implementation is excellent. 

The Measure is designed to be discussed and completed annually or every other year by an Action Team for Partnerships (ATP) to assess program progress. The results not only indicate the scope and quality of involvement activities, but also suggest new directions and needed improvements for the next One Year Action Plan for Partnerships 

2. Downloadable Table

Measure of School, Family, and Community Partnerships 

Karen Clark Salinas, Joyce L. Epstein, & Mavis G. Sanders, Johns Hopkins University. 

Deborah Davi s& Inge Aldersbaes, Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory.

1. 16.Read the description of the methodology of Successful Educational Action (SEA) developed by Ramon Flecha and his team at CREA
   
2. Identify 3-4 needs that could be addressed using this methodology in your school/setting or community context
3. Use the template to develop your SEAs
4. Introduce and discuss the detailed plans with other parents

We all know children should be respected as children and as human beings. However, this does not always happen as expected.

To perform this activity you are invited to watch two videos on children's rights, each of them focusing on different issues and connecting with different feelings:

After watching both videos you should identify:

1. What both videos have in common.
2. Which children's rights each one is focusing on.
3. The consequences for children -advantages and disadvantages-, when those rights are respected and when they are not.
4. Your feelings and reactions. How do you feel about them, what would you like to do and what do you think you can do to respect children's rights better yourself and to help others to do so as well? You might want to share your ideas at school, in the neighbourhood or with friends to put them into practice!

In the link you will find an example of a writing template to fill in your information.

1. Read the following background information about the Six Thinking Hats

Six Thinking Hats – TM’d methodology by Dr. Edward de Bono

Dr. de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats® is a tool that can empower teachers/trainers to motivate students to use critical thinking and problem-solving skills, while expressing inner creativity. Assigning each thinking style a colour serves as a visual cue to help participants recognise the thinking skill they are using.  

The participants wearing the hats of a certain colour will be invited to do the following:

• White Hat. Discuss the facts and other objective information about the problem. 
  
• Red Hat. Share feelings and emotions about the issue. 
  
• Black Hat. Present negative aspects, or worst case scenarios, regarding the situation. 
  
• Yellow Hat. Consider positives, or advantages, of the situation. 
  
• Green Hat. Consider creative ideas that come from looking at the problem in a new way. 
  
• Blue Hat. Sum up all that is learned.

2. Think of a communication issue – it can be a communication difficulty between you and your child, you and a professional, or your child as a professional. Write a short description of the issue for yourself.

3. Brainstorm solutions using the Six Thinking Hats as follows: 

4. Use the following storyboard to describe a solution: