Professional Engagement
7   Engage professionally with colleagues, parents/carers and the community   

7.3 Engage with the parents/carers    
It is my personal philosophy that positive relationships with integral members of a student's social and support network, including communities and families, is fundamental to a nurturing and successful classroom culture. By engaging with parents, and engaging parents within the classroom context, teachers will create a culture that is beneficial for the learning and development of all students, as well as their families. Joyce Epstein remarks on one school of thought, in which "schools and families share the responsibility for the socialization [sic] of the child. Teachers and parents are believed to have common goals for children that are achieved most effectively when teachers and parents work together". The Professional Standards for Teachers indicates that the graduate teacher will "[u]nderstand strategies for working effectively, sensitively and confidentially with parents/carers". 
The ability to engage professionally with parents and carers has been demonstrated in my professional practice through the following articles of evidence:

Professional Experience Report Excerpt

During my final professional experience I was able to establish and maintain trusting and respectful relationships with both parents and carers of the students in the classroom. This manifested in a number of ways for the different needs of parents; for example, as a foundation class, many parents were experiencing the joys, stresses and surprises of adapting to school life with their first child, these parents required additional support and communication to reaffirm their feelings towards their child beginning school. Throughout my professional experience I was able to support and engage parents through before and after school conversations, written communication, the sharing of students' work, class excursions with parent volunteers, through open door learning experiences, and during parent-teacher conferences. 

Sample Letter of Communication 

It is necessary for teachers to keep parents and carers informed of classroom practices and information. During my professional experience this was achieved through a take-home communication book. At the beginning of the school year, once I had commenced my initial lead-in days, I sent home a letter of communication to formally introduce myself to parents to indicate key element of my teaching philosophy, to explain my role within the classroom, and to invite parents to make contact with me as an educator of their child. 
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Parent Letter of Recommendation

During my professional experience our classroom maintained an open-door policy to parents and caregivers. As such, many parents observed me teaching their children, and had many opportunities to reflect on my teaching from a parent's perspective. The following letter of recommendation was provided by a parent who spent 2-3 mornings in the classroom each week, as well as attending school excursions and onsite activities. It further demonstrates my ability to develop respectful relationships with parents, and in particular by providing parents with opportunities to observe daily classroom activities and interactions.