Difficult parents? Approaching the collaboration with parents beyond professional constraints

Working with parents is an important topic for students in their teacher-training. During their internships, they often attend parent-teacher discussions. Our seminar Collaboration with Parents discusses this experience. The student experiences generate questions that are addressed to parents in an interview situation. The interviews are transcribed and methodically analyzed. Our experience and the evaluation of the seminar show that these parental conversations, which are approached unburdened by professional constraints, enable the students to better understand the parents’ situation. It helps them develop an understanding of the concern and criticism which parents direct to their children’s teachers.