ISS CHALLENGES Winner Kasey Burns: Online Family Meetings
In this feature, Kasey Burns of Riffa Views International School shares how online family involvement allows parents to partner in their child’s learning, plus builds positive partnerships with teachers.
Online Family Meetings
During online learning, parents have become true partners in their child’s learning journey. Regular online discussions with students-teachers-parents can be very beneficial in building positive relationships & furthering learning.
We experienced a very high level of participation during online conferences, with parents joining who had never joined in the past when conferences were conducted at school.
Continuing to offer families the option of regular online discussions, even after school reopens, will allow this positive trend to continue. The idea could also be extended to offering online parent/family workshops, share sessions, Q&A etc.
Why is this idea important?
Online family discussions provide another way for teachers to connect and build positive partnerships. Online meetings allow participants to join from anywhere (home, work, another country) so parents who would typically be unable to come to school, can still be highly involved in their child’s school experience.
What key tasks would need to be completed to get a prototype up and running?
- Framework for effective online family meetings/discussions
- Schedule/plan for the academic year
How easy would it be to grow this idea across multiple schools or contexts?
Easy – any school could start offering online meetings or give parents the option of meeting in person or online
What might be the tangible outcome/s of your idea?
- Increased parent-teacher communication
- Increased parent participation
- Increased connections & support between student-parent-teacher
- Stronger home-school relationships = improved learning outcomes
Thank you to Kasey for sharing this idea! Keep an eye out for other ISS Challenges winners, plus continue to share your own school initiatives and inspiration with #ISSedu.