Parent-teacher conferences in a secondary school

Abstract

The authors report on the findings of a case study of parent–teacher conferences in a secondary school in Hong Kong. They explored through interviews parents' and teachers' perspectives of parent–teacher conferences. They noted that parent–teacher conferences were sources of stress for teachers and embarrassment for parents. Parent–teacher conferences were useful for problem‐clarification. The building of mutual trust was the most important conferencing skill. They drew out some practical guidelines which were useful to teachers of the case study school but are also valuable to all teachers who wish to work effectively and positively with parents.