Parents and school
Parents
As parents you are the experts about your children. Your child should achieve a good final school grade and find a career that suits him or her. As parents you have an important task: participating in parents’ evenings and having regular conversations with teachers are just as important in achieving a good final grade as your child attending school regularly and doing his or her homework.
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Information and events
It is not easy to understand the German school system and support your child. Therefore, at the beginning of the school year parents at the school are given a lot of written information, e.g. as letters or leaflets that the children bring home. Invitations are also sent for events that take place. In this way, you can find out how lessons are organised, what your child will learn, the materials your child needs and who your child’s teachers are. This information and having contact with teachers is important so that you can support your child and work well together with the school.
Active in school life
As parents you can also actively participate in school life. Sometimes there is the opportunity to present your culture and language at parties, on excursions or as part of a project. Another opportunity to be involved is through the institutionalised committees and different types of parent representation, above all at form or school level.
In Germany there is not a single name for parent representations. Depending on the Federal Land, they are called Elternbeirat, Elternrat, Elternausschuss, Elternkuratorium or Elternpflegschaft. The aim of these bodies is to facilitate cooperation, based on trust, between school and home, and to involve parents in all important decisions. This applies, for example, to drawing up, updating or amending pedagogical programmes and cost structuring.
