ABSTRACT
Parents are integral to schooling. Inevitably, by both example and instruction, usually for good but sometimes for ill, parents teach their children and through that teaching they influence the extent to which we, as teachers, can be effective. Further, parents, not teachers, are primarily responsible in law for the education of their individual child. They are therefore first-line clients of the school. They should not be lumped together with remoter interested parties, such as children’s possible future employers or ‘the community’, which are largely outside the schooling process. The parental dimension of schooling is central to our professional performance as teachers. Yet it is often underrated. In my view we neglect it at our peril, for our impact as teachers and our status as professionals may substantially depend upon the extent to which we take seriously the phrase ‘partnership with parents’.
