A SWOT ANALYSIS OF TEACHER-PARENT COMMUNICATION IN EDUCATION: EVIDENCE FROM TURKEY

Abstract

This study was designed to explore strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats drivenby teacher-parent communication (TPC, henceforth) from the perspectives of teachers andstudents based on teacher views. A phenomenological design was adopted in the study ofwhich sampling was constituted by 10 Turkish teachers of different subject areas working atstate middle schools. The data were collected via semi-structured interviews with theseteachers and examined through content analysis. Based on the preliminary findings, theteachers believe that TPC has certain strengths such as enhancement of students' feeling ofworthiness and their sense of belonging to the school, and improvement of their motivationand in-class performance, and facilitation of the learning process. The teachers also reportedthat it helps students develop a sense of responsibility and improve self-confidence, andreduce student misbehaviors. As for the TPC-driven strengths from teachers' perspective,they stated that it facilitates recognition of students from different angles, makes positivecontributions to the learning process, improves teacher status and prestige, and reducesteachers' workload through collaboration with parents. The study discusses strengths,weaknesses, possible threats and opportunities of TPC in detail.