How Parents’ Meetings Are Conducted in Europe

A joke is going around the Internet: parents’ meetings are like a sect meeting – people leave in the dark, sullen, silent and without money in their pockets. In European countries, communication with parents is a prerequisite for effective learning, and the student’s family and its well-being are no less important than things that happen directly at school.

This article contains several foreign examples of communication with parents and how parents’ meetings are held in some European countries.

Finland

Parents’ meetings, according to the Finnish Parents` Association, are not only a way to convey information about education to the family, but also a method of involving parents in active communication with the school. Teachers are recommended not only to warn parents in advance about the time and place of the event, but also to suggest topics for discussion. In return, parents can also propose learning-related issues that raise their concern..

“Finnish schools hold so-called parents’ evenings 1-3 times per school year,” says Tuija Metso, senior consultant of the Finnish Parents’ Association. “They can be held for all parents, parents of the parallel classes or for one class.”

At parents’ evenings, current topics related to school activities or learning are discussed. Topics may include, for instance, assessment methods, student welfare and welfare services, learning and schooling support or bullying interventions. Nowadays, parents’ evenings are becoming more and more interactive, and parents are actively involved in the discussion.”

If the meeting involves filling out questionnaires or answering formalized questions, it is recommended not to waste time on this, but to do it online in advance. The teacher should also pay attention to a comfortable atmosphere during the meeting, for example, arrange the chairs in a semicircle or offer a short introduction or relaxation exercise at the beginning. Thus, it is emphasized that it is better for the atmosphere at parent meetings to be informal.

The beginning of the meeting is informational, as a rule, when the teacher (classroom teacher) familiarizes parents with the main points of their children’s education – the atmosphere in the class, achievements of the children’s team in general, relationships, children’s security guarantee, etc. Further, parents are invited to discuss issues from the “agenda”, which they have received in advance. Sometimes such discussions are held in groups, the results of which parents share with everyone.

“Approximately 75% of schools have parents’ associations, and many classes have parents’ committees. They can organize trips, discussions, social events and peer support. Education in Finland is free for students, but parents’ associations or parents’ committees can organize fund-raising, for example for school camp or excursions. Parents’ associations can also participate in the development of the school or influence decision-making.”

Finnish schools also practice individual meetings with parents, where the progress and learning of a child is discussed. These meetings can take place on the initiative of the teacher, parents, and even the child himself. After all, in Finland, the child’s opinion is considered extremely important for effective learning. Therefore, from time to time, the school holds meetings of parents together with children, where everyone can propose topics for discussion.

Spain

Parents’ meetings are held 3-4 times per year. Usually, at the beginning and end of the school year there are general meetings, when all parents are invited at the same time.

“The first meeting usually takes place within a month of the beginning of the school year,” says Nina Shlakhova, the mother of two schoolchildren (10 and 14 years old). “The meeting is scheduled at school or recently, due to quarantine, in Zoom. The teacher talks in detail about the curriculum, textbooks and exercise books that the children will use, and the planned extracurricular activities. Further, parents are offered a school tour: they see classrooms their children will study in, places where children will spend their breaks, play, do sports, and go for walks.”

In Spain, children spend a large part of the day at school, but have a two-hour lunch break. During this time, children can stay at school and eat lunch in the school canteen or have free time outside. With parents who leave their children for lunch at school, the teacher discusses the general menu and the cost of meals.

“Probably, this is the only financial issue that is raised at parents` meetings in a Spanish school,” says Ms Shlyakhova. “The teacher can offer the parents to buy additional workbooks for a certain subject, but if one of the parents refuses, the teacher will offer the child another task to study together with the class.”

Around the end of the first academic term, the teacher invites parents to an individual meeting.

“All communications with parents take place through the educational platform of the school. Invitations are usually sent to parents by e-mail. The school rarely calls, mostly if there is an urgent situation. The teacher also never gives a personal number: if you need to talk to him/her, you have to call the general number of the school, and the teacher will be called or he/she will call you back.”

The format and time of the individual meeting are agreed in advance: you can come to the school and talk directly or meet the teacher online.

“At such meeting, they will talk exclusively about your child. But child`s grades will not be mentioned, because every student and his/her parents have electronic accounts for this. At your request, the teacher can show your child’s test results. But the general purpose of such meeting is different – to tell you what and how your child lives at school when you are not seeing him/her. Here, a lot of attention is paid to the individual characteristics and abilities of the child. Teachers pay close attention to what happens not only at lessons, but also during breaks – who communicates with whom and how, who came in what mood, how they learn and communicate with adults and peers”.

The first part of such meeting is devoted to the educational achievements of the child. Parents are told in which disciplines the child has achieved particular success, and where he/she needs help.

“The Spanish school never scolds for failure, parents can be advised to pay attention to areas where the child needs help. But it is always emphasized that additional classes are not needed – you can’t take away a child’s free time.

For instance, the eldest son started studying Spanish already in high school, which means that he immediately had to master the language and study many subjects in Spanish. The teacher emphasized what a good student he was, and they understood how difficult it was for her son to learn a foreign language. The teacher asked for permission to speak with the child additionally during breaks to improve his Spanish. Thus, it was not additional classes, but just communication with the child.”

The second mandatory topic to discuss with parents during individual meetings is socialization and communication skills.

“The teacher shares with the parents his observations of the child’s behavior at school – who he/she is friends with, how he/she communicates, what he/she is interested in. Based on these observations, the teacher can give parents recommendations on what to pay attention, when communicating with the child at home. Sometimes the school gives parents a reminder with the rules of communication with a child of the appropriate age. But the reverse side of this medal can be correct, but the intervention of the teacher in the life of the family. For example, if a child is sad because of a quarrel between his/her parents, the teacher can call the parents and advise them not to find out the relationship in the presence of their child.”

Final parents` meeting is held at the end of the school year. Accordingly, at this meeting the learning results are discussed.

“They can, for example, say that the learning was not based on the textbook that was planned, because children did not like it. Or they can inform that it was not possible to implement certain planned extracurricular activities or that they did something else instead. There is no reading list for the summer, no assignments. They can recommend to pay attention to some subject during the holidays, but do not insist in any case, because they are convinced that every child is a formed personality who needs support, not a constant load.”

France

A general parents’ meeting in France is an extremely rare phenomenon.

“My girls studied at high school here, now one has already graduated, and the other is finishing the 10th grade, says Larysa Maliater. “And during this time, I remember only two general meetings. The first was during admission to high school, when the principal introduced us to the classroom teacher and teachers, and explained the curriculum, subjects and peculiarities of school rules. Then, each of the teachers talked for a while about how the lessons would be conducted.

The second meeting usually takes place during the second year of high school, which is called a lyceum (grades 10–12). The meeting is dedicated to career guidance. Usually, the first year of high school is the same for everyone – the same subjects, number of hours. And then children are divided into classes according to their preferences. Someone already knows which direction to choose – philology, natural sciences, medicine, etc. But there are also those who have not made their decisions. Therefore, they explain to parents what opportunities are available in the chosen lyceum and what abilities of students indicate their inclination towards one or another direction.”

Scheduled parents` meetings are announced in advance, usually by email or through the school platform. Parents are free to attend or not to attend this event. Furthermore, in no case they will talk publicly about achievements or shortcomings in the education of individual students. If parents want to know their child’s grades, everyone has access to their electronic diary and account on the school platform.

“The French school also has so-called individual meetings with teachers. Something similar to our meetings, when subject teachers communicate with parents about their child’s progress. But nonetheless this meeting has strong differences. Parents are also warned in advance about such a “social evening”. As a rule, it lasts 2-3 hours, and the teachers stay in their offices while parents together with the children make a short (up to 10 minutes) meeting with each of them. Parents move from class to class not in a crowd or chaotically, but according to a clear schedule.

Thus, when you receive an invitation to such evening meeting, you provide the class teacher with a list of teachers you would like to speak with, and it is the task of the classroom teacher to develop a schedule for visiting teachers. As a result, parents receive a sheet with timings, for instance, at 6:30 p.m., a math teacher, at 6:40 p.m., a physics teacher, etc.”

If parents have an urgent need to speak with any teacher, class teacher or principal, they can call the school and they will be given an appointment as soon as possible.

“It is also possible to come directly to the school. As a rule, a school has a kind of help desk – non-teaching staff who have to resolve issues accompanying the educational process. Children can come to them, for example, if they urgently need to call their parents (mobile phones are not allowed at school), or they cannot resolve a conflict, or they have lost their physical education form, or they are late for class, or they are just not in the mood today – with any issue. This non-teaching staff can also help parents in communication with teachers.”

Education in non-private schools is free, and most financial issues related to extracurricular activities of the educational institution are also covered from the budget. Thus, almost all excursions, visits to museums and theaters, implementation of school projects, etc. do not require additional subsidies from parents. An exception may be long-distance trips to another European country – in this case parents are warned about such school activity in advance and asked for their consent for the child’s participation.

Slovakia

As a country of the former socialist camp, Slovakia is most similar to Ukraine in terms of the rules for parent meetings.

“As a rule, they take place 3-4 times per year (minimum – two times). At the meetings organizational issues are discussed – election of representatives to the school’s parent council, contributions to the school and class funds,” says Zoreslava Cybko-Larchyk, mother of two elementary school students. According to Slovak parents, the average contribution is 20 euros per year to the school fund and the same amount to class fund for every six months period. In addition, parents also pay for the extended day group and lunches on a monthly basis.

The class teacher also reports on the progress of the class in general and plans for extracurricular activities (excursions, visits to theaters, museums, trips, etc.).

“At the beginning of this school year, we had an offline school meeting,” says Olena Kolmykova, “at which we discussed quarantine restrictions, testing children with antigen tests, using the school’s Internet platform, and new teachers. However, it was not only a formal meeting of parents, but a kind of community meeting: children played basketball, parents barbecued, and everyone talked.”

“On the eve of the meeting,” comments Lyubov Demchuk, “parents receive a plan for the upcoming meeting with a list of issues to be discussed: quarantine conditions at school, what books should be read on vacation and at school, internal school rules, conditions for trips and excursions. If the teacher needs to convey some information to the child’s parents individually, he/she can call, send a message to the messenger for discussions, invite to a meeting.”

School platforms and applications are used to promptly notify parents about the child’s learning results. EduPage is currently the most popular in Slovakia. This is an interactive cloud system designed for secondary schools. It can be used by all participants of the educational process. Parents and children receive an individual access code from the class teacher.

Here, the teacher can leave notes for parents about their child’s attendance, conduct distance learning, conduct online lessons, develop lesson plans and materials, keep electronic journals and diaries, leave homework for students, conduct tests and assessments. Parents, accordingly, have the opportunity to monitor their child’s education.

This material has been prepared for the Learning Together project and published on the NUS portal in 2021.

This document was produced with the financial assistance of the European Union and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union or the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.