Interviewing Parents

Abstract

A frequent claim of teachers is that most children’s problems stem in some considerable part from their home backgrounds and that there is little that they as teachers can do to effect any real or lasting changes in their pupils’ homes. An interview with a child’s parents represents the most important technique readily available to teachers for effecting such changes, besides offering the important gains accruing to a child’s in-school life from committed parental cooperation and involvement. The interview, then, merits more careful thought and planning than harassed teachers often allocate to it.