Utilizing Parents/Teachers Forum to Grow your School
Dear School Owner,
How are you utilizing the parents/teachers forum in your school?
ย Are you using it to your advantage or disadvantage?
As a school owner, you can use the parents/teachers forum to your advantage.
Why?
- ๐ฌ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐/๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐
โ๏ธUse the parents/teachers forum as an avenue to market your school to the parents/teachers.
ย โ๏ธUse it to talk about your strength and opportunities to grow.
โ๏ธ Use it to showcase where you are in your mission statement and where you are aiming to be.
โ๏ธLet the parents see why they should continue to keep their children with you. The parents/teachers will leave the event with messages to use in getting more pupils to enroll in your school.
ย โ๏ธYour cheapest means of marketing your school is “Word of Mouth”. But how will the parents market your school if they do not know your strength, your value proposition? Use the forum to educate your Parents/teachers and they will go round marketing your school.
ย
- ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ถ๐๐บ
โ๏ธSee the parents/teachers forum as a way of telling you what you are doing right, what you need to improve upon.
โ๏ธDo not be comfortable with the “O- Yes” members that came to massage your ego but outside will bad-mouth you.
โ๏ธTake critism in a matured way. You job in that forum should be to listen. Listen like the Chinese and take note of all points mentioned.
Such feedback when ploughed back into your planning will go a long way to help you increase the value you are creating.
- ๐ฆ๐๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐๐๐ฒ๐บ
โ๏ธSee your parent/teacher association as your support system. When properly constituted, your parent/teachers association can be a good support system to you. They can help with such things as providing/managing the school bus; fundraising for the school developmental projects; donating textbooks to the school library; equipping the school laboratories,etc.
Most parents see this as a way of showing off themselves.
“๐โ๐๐ก ๐ธ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐
๐กโ๐ ๐ ๐โ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ฆ ๐ค๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ ๐๐ฆ ๐๐ ๐บ๐๐๐ค๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐, ๐ธ๐๐๐๐’๐ ๐๐๐กโ๐๐”.
๐ผ๐ก ๐๐ ๐ ๐กโ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐กโ ๐๐ ๐บ๐๐๐ค๐๐ ๐๐๐ โ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐ธ๐๐๐๐.
As a school owner, you have to cash in on that to ease yourself of some burden.
๐๐๐ ๐ต๐ผ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ผ๐ฝ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐/๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐บ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐น๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐น?
- .๐๐ถ๐บ ๐๐ผ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ผ๐ฝ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐/๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐บ
ย Most school owners make the mistake of seeing the parents/teachers forum as the avenue to pour out their frustration of school fees defaulting parents, mention about the mountain of problems facing the school, etc.
The strategy is really wrong. See the occassion as an opportunity to educate the parents, to empower them, to understand their challenges and proffer solutions.
ย For instance, you can invite your bankers to come talk about financial intelligence, investing in their children’s education using their different education financing programmes. Let the parent leave that event with a knowledge they never had before.
For instance, I recall a customer forum we had for our key distributors from different parts of Nigeria in 2013. Our company invited a seasoned lecturer from Lagos Business School to talk to the traders on “how to mitigate the impact of the global recession on their business”. At the end of the event, one of my key distributor said he has been attending other pharmaceutical companies customer forum but have never been schooled on business management like this. The point: we would have used that forum to talk and talk about customers owing us huge debts but instead we focused on their business which is the source of that money and how they can better manage it and perform better with us.
Dear school owner, you can make your parents/teachers forum so refreshing and something every parent look forward to as they would go home better persons.
๐ฎ.๐ฆ๐ผ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ป๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐
Use the parents/teachers forum to socialize with your parents.
Get to know them as individuals.
Connect with them.
I know of a school in Ibadan,the parents/teachers forum is more like a picnic. They play football on the Saturday they fix for the event. They unwind. They bond together during the event.
๐ฏ. ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ฒ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐
Use the event to celebrate your outstanding teacher of the month, term or year as the case may be.
Let the parents see your teachers as the pillar of support in the school.
In conclusion, school business is a business that impacts on our lives. It defines who we become in the school of life.
Collaborate with your parents/teachers to help you run a value-driven school that will stand out as the best among equals.
You can achieve that only if you put your mind to it.