By: Marni B. Solosa, Teacher III
SDO Laguna, Liliw Sub Office
Pag-asa ES
Learning and discipline begins at home. However, the school role is to provide suitable educational experiences to children to develop learners’ innate talents and acquire knowledge and skills for the attainment of learning outcomes. It is a shared responsibility between the home and school to mold the learners into a better individual. The connection of home and school is significant to achieve the holistic development of the learners.
The support and collaboration of stakeholders particularly the parents or family of every learner is always encouraged even before pandemic. The cooperation of parents to the programs of schools will benefit the learners and eventually will turn into improved student achievement. Teachers which is regard to as “locu parentis” of the learners emphasized the importance of involvement of parents or students’ environment at home to the well-being of the learners. The learners’ improvement with their academic status and discipline can be achieved through strengthen relationship of home and school.
The parents and teachers’ harmonious relationship is vital for the development of the children. The Department of Education had released the DO 54, s. 2009 also known as the Revised Guidelines Governing Parents-Teachers Associations (PTAs) at the School Level that supports the parent-teacher relationship. It states that every elementary and secondary school shall organize a Parents- Teachers Associations (PTAs) for the purpose of providing a forum for the discussion of issues and their solutions related to the school program and to ensure the full cooperation of parents in the implementation of such program. Through this DepEd Order, the teacher and parents may have a positive relationship because of open communication and cooperative dialogue to promote the welfare of the students. By simply attending PTA or Homeroom PTA meeting, it can solve as much as many conflicts or problems with the child. From the experience before pandemic, this practice and collaboration of home and school, lead to a better behavior, higher attendance rate, good academic standing, and positive outlook of learners toward school and learning. Indeed, strengthen partnership and open communication is crucial for the attainment of common goal to children’s learning.
During pandemic, the need for effective partnership of home and school were very crucial with the implementation of distance learning. Parents being the teacher, as teaching-learning process were taken place at the comfort of their home are expected to communicate with teachers to facilitate learning. However, with the effect of pandemic on family’s economic status due to loss of income, their time to assist the learners during distance learning were affected. Communication is vital during this trying times as education shift to remote learning. Thus, the school continues to seek solution on every challenge and adapt new ways on collaborating to parents and other stakeholders.
With the reopening of the school to start the face-to-face classes in a post pandemic school year, the support of the parents is necessary more than ever. From the cleaning of school facilities or classrooms, repairs, painting and preparation of teaching-learning materials, the school needs the collaboration of the home and community. In line with this, the engagement of the parents was very evident as they are all excited for the comeback of their children at the school. The encouragement and communication of school paid off with the influx of help and donations from the parents and other stakeholders. They were also active in participating to schools’ programs and projects that prioritize the welfare of their children. These acts of support provide a brighter day for the school after two years of closure to finally facilitate teaching-learning process effectively at classroom setting while ensuring safety and security of the Filipino learners. All of these are from the collaborative effort of school, home, and community to continue delivering quality education in the post pandemic school setting.
