Moderators' Summary-Day 1

I certainly agree with all the comments that focus on the importance of involving parents in the education  process of their children. Teachers, however, may not have the skills that will help them to build meaningful relationships with the parents. It is for this reason that  a course on "Working with Parents" was considered integral to the training of teachers for the early childhood diploma programme offered in local teachers colleges. GRaduates of this programme have spoken very favourably about the impact the course has had on how they relate to and work with the parents, and how successful their parent/teacher partnerships have been. Research that I have carried out on the early childhood trained teachers in the field, consistentlyshow parent/teacher relationship as one of the strong points of their work. I cite two cases of EC teachers working in inner city primary schools (Grade 1). In one case, the parents became so endeared to the teacher that in spite of their socio-economic status, they provided several amenities for the classroom from their own funds, e.g fans, tape recorder, video player, brooms etc. the teacher made every effort to involve them  eg frequent conferences to discuss individual parent's  child and to show them how to work with certain types of educational materials with their children. Some mothers spent time in the classroom helping to make teaching aids e.g board games, puzzles, matching card sets etc. In the other case, the teacher  similarly allowed parents to come into the class to see how she worked with the children. In some instances parents wanted to be in the class for certain lessons as they wanted to learn how to do the particular task to be better able to help their  children at home.It has been suggested several times that this important course should be offered at every level of teacher education programmes-not only early childhood but also primary and secondary schools. Parents do want the best for their children but sometimes they don't know how to help. Caring and understanding teachers will invite them into the process and help them to learn various ways of helping their children. But the teacher has to have the knowledge and skills and be convinced that this partnership is not only essential but critical..Rose DAvies  Rose Davies, Ph.DSenior Lecturer & HeadInstitute of EducationUniversity of the West IndiesMona, Kingston 7JamaicaTel: 876-927-2431Fax: 876-927-2502