The Challenge of Teacher-Parent Collaboration in Georgia

Abstract

The aim of our research is to reveal the challenges the teachers of the secondary schools of the modern world have to face in the context of being free and having enough flexibility in terms of application of contemporary teaching/learning methods while teaching foreign languages. To be more precise, teachers who follow new tendencies in teaching and try to integrate all innovative methods to ensure the communicative approach and building up the 21 century skills in learners have to defend themselves vis-à-vis parents who come with complaints on the ways the teachers teach their children expressing their concern on the quality the teaching/learning process is carried out. They have several complaints that sometimes reach the school principals too and get even more serious. In our research we try to make classification of the complaints parents and the teachers can have in the context of relations and partnership as well as find the solution to them. The study envisages survey through the Interviews with the teachers of public as well as private schools to have the opportunity to see the differences in the approach of the parents and the teacher on top of identification of the typical complaints in general. We attempt to elaborate the measures that could be easily implemented by the teachers to raise awareness in those who do not trust the innovative methods and create obstacles for the enthusiastic and motivated teachers. Teachers must teach instead of being tensed by thinking of the possible complications and the arguments they will need to justify themselves. On the other hand, the parents and the children sometimes may become the subject of unfair treatment as results of poorly acknowledgment of the importance of in-depth analysis of own job by the teachers not intensively involved in the special qualification raising oriented trainings, seminars and workshops.