Page 59: The transition part C - all about adults (working with additional staff and parents).
As a teacher, throughout your career there will be a large variety of adults you will be working closely with. From staff within school, outside agencies such as SALT's and EP's forming these positive working relationships is vital from the set off. Heading into your ECT years it is perfectly normal to feel aprehensive/worried, working with additional adults and parents for the first time. Hopefully some of these insights from my personal critical reflection will set you off to a good start!
(a) Working with teaching assistants.
Knowing I was teaching in the EYFS, I knew I was going to be leading a large team. Many members of this team with years of experiences in EYFS over mine. This is what I did to build the strong positive relationship myself and my team uphold now:
Set your high and shared expectations e.g., walking all adults around provision weekly and setting that shared expectation across all staff.
Make all staff feel involved and included in decision making e.g., taking the time before I plan to discuss next week's objectives, the team have fantastic experience and ideas from previous work, I want to know these!
Sharing feedback e.g., sharing your observation and SLT feedback which teaching assistants play a crucial role in. Teaching assistants play an integral role in children’s learning and progress, share their fabulous hard work!
Say thank you. This one might seem extremely obvious, however, a now and again Friday treat, small half term gifts, a thank you post it note goes a long way. Educating is done through fantastic teamwork, every team member should know their value and your appreciation often.
(b) Establishing strong parents relationships.
Parents are so important. Having parents on board in your team from that first day is essential in their support towards the school, yourself, but most importantly their child’s learning and outcomes. These are some of the things that I did to help foster strong relationships:
Be personable. Treat the parents, this sounds silly as people. Making the effort, referring to parents by names helps them feel of value and of priority to you as a teacher. This also greatly helps if you do need to have a more tricky conversation,
Don’t be afraid to so something different. Following on from a parent meeting, I invited a parent into observe a teaching session, this allowed the parent to feel involved and in control of their child’s learning and supported a complete change in relationship between the school and family.
Daily compliments. The logistics can be tricky at the business of home time everyday, at least 3 times a week (attempted daily) I share an amazing thing their child has done. From super sitting, sharing and showing a piece of artwork to discussing a huge step in their child’s learning, everyday a parent and their child walk away smiling.
To end this final chapter on the transition from being a student teacher to an ECT, this quote perfectly aligns with the importance of solid and successful partnerships between the school, child, parents and staff.
" Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success." - Henry Ford.
- Miss Yeoman
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