Primary school teachers´ perception of their qualification for cooperating with parents

V prispevku predstavljamo rezultate raziskave glede usposobljenosti učiteljev prvega in drugega triletja osnovne šole za sodelovanje s starši. Preverili smo, s kakšnimi težavami se učitelji najpogosteje srečujejo v odnosih s starši, na kakšne načine se z njimi soočajo in kako jih poskušajo obvladovati. Pri tem so nas zanimale razlike glede na delovno dobo učiteljev in šolsko okolje, v katerem poučujejo. Anketirani učitelji menijo, da se za delo s starši v dodiplomskem izobraževanju niso dovolj strokovno usposobili in da jim primanjkuje vrsta kompetenc, ki bi jim sodelovanje s starši olajšale. Glede na rezultate raziskave anketiranih učiteljev – učitelji v srečanjih s starši zaznavajo pripravljenost staršev na konstruktiven pogovor, tudi precenjevanje staršev sposobnosti njihovega otroka, nemoč staršev v pogovorih o njihovih otrocih ter celo elemente agresivnega obnašanja – podajamo smernice, ki bi lahko doprinesle k izboljšanju konkretne situacije. V učeči se družbi postajajo kompetence učiteljev kompleksnejše, kar zahteva njihovo stalno strokovno izpopolnjevanje, izobraževanje ter sledenje sodobnim izobraževalnim in vzgojnim trendom. Obenem pa se zavedamo, da je komunikacija dvosmeren in soodvisen proces, zato moramo ob kompetencah učitelja upoštevati tudi kompetence staršev in njihov doprinos h kakovostnemu sodelovanju in dobri komunikaciji.The article presents a survey on teachers’ qualification for collaborating with parents of primary school children aged between 6 and 12. We investigated the most common difficulties that teachers face in communicating with parents and the way they tackle them. We differentiated the responses obtained according to the teachers’ years of service and the school environment they teach in. The teachers claimed that during their undergraduate studies, they had not received satisfactory training on how to communicate with parents. They believe they are not professionally qualified and they lack a wide array of competences which would facilitate their cooperation with parents. Some of the teachers’ observations are as follows: parents are generally willing to constructively exchange opinions about their childrensome of them tend to overestimate their children’s abilities or are unequipped with skills on how to handle their child. One third of teacher respondents noted that they had experienced elements of aggressive behaviour in communicating with some parents. This is why we have introduced some guidelines which might help improve certain situations. In a learning society, teachers’ competences have been changing, becoming more complex and requiring teacher’s permanent professional advancement and adoption of modern educational trends. At the same time, we realise that communication is a two- way interdependent process. Along with the competences of a teacher, we must therefore also consider the competences of parents and their contribution to quality cooperation and effective communication