Key points
Throughout your child’s time in primary school, you might be invited to parent-teacher interviews.
These interviews are usually meetings of 10-15 minutes between you and your child’s teacher or teachers. Every parent is invited to attend at least one interview a year. At some schools, children take part in interviews too.
Your child’s school will probably use its parent portal or newsletter to tell you that interviews are coming up. You’ll probably use an online booking system to make an interview time with your child’s teacher.
Interviews might be held face to face or online. They might be during school hours, before or after school, or in the evening. It’s good to make a time when both parents can attend, if you can. If you can’t manage any of the available times, you can usually call the school to arrange another time.
It’s important to be on time for parent-teacher interviews. But be aware that teachers might be running late because previous interviews have run over time.
Parent-teacher interviews might be called parent-teacher conferences. If students are expected to attend, they might be called student-led conferences or 3-way conferences.
Parent-teacher interviews are a great opportunity for you to:
If you don’t have concerns, you might wonder whether it’s worth going to parent-teacher interviews. But going to interviews shows your child that you’re interested in their learning and what’s happening for them at school.
To get the most out of parent-teacher interviews, it helps to be well prepared.
Interviews might be held early in the school year so the teacher can find out more about your child. For this kind of interview, it’s a good idea to think about the information you want to share with the teacher. For example, you might want to talk about your child’s strengths or interests or the areas of learning where your child might need more support.
Sometimes primary school interviews are held around the time school reports come home. One of the first things you can do for this kind of interview is read your child’s school report carefully and note down anything you want to ask about. You can also use interviews at this time of year to share feedback about your child’s experiences at school.
It’s a good idea to talk with your child before the interview too. They might have questions they want you to ask or things they want you to raise with the teacher.
It can help to take a list of questions with you to interviews so you remember what you want to talk about.
If you’re not sure what to talk about, these questions can get you started:
If you or your child still have questions or things to talk about after the interview or there’s something private you want to let the teacher know about, you might need to arrange another time to talk with the teacher.
Being open and friendly will set you up for positive communication with your child’s teacher. You can show that you respect what the teacher is saying by listening carefully and trying not to become defensive, even if you disagree with feedback about your child.
It’s important to get as much out of the meeting as you can, so it’s OK to be direct when you need to be. For example, you can ask the teacher to explain, clarify or say more if you don’t understand what’s being said.
If you’re concerned about something, try to be specific and avoid blame. Combining a request with understanding will usually help. It can also help if you mention something positive at the same time. For example, ‘Freya says she doesn’t have any friends in class. I understand you can’t move her into a different class, but is there something we can do together to help her make friends?’
If you have to discuss problems with the teacher, it helps to come ready with some solutions or at least some positive and practical suggestions. Be willing to listen to the teacher’s ideas too.
If you make any decisions, it’s good to agree on who will follow up and when.
If you need an interpreter for parent-teacher interviews, you can ask the school to organise this for you.
Some primary schools have student-led conferences instead of parent-teacher interviews. Children are expected to attend and lead the discussion about their work at these conferences.
You might prefer to meet with the teacher separately, especially if you want to discuss things your child is struggling with. If you want to do this, you can contact the teacher to organise another time.
If you’ve agreed on actions at the interview, you might organise a follow-up phone call in about a month’s time.
This lets both you and the teacher check how the actions are working. If you need to, you can adjust them.
If you have any concerns about your child’s social or academic development, you don’t have to wait for a formal parent-teacher interview to talk about them. Your child’s teacher will be happy to arrange a time to talk with you.
If you have opportunities to meet your child’s teacher at information nights or other school events, it can be a good time to socialise and build relationships. This can help when you meet for formal parent-teacher interviews.
Our content is regularly reviewed for quality and currency. The last review of this article was by Dr Meredith Rayner, psychologist, secondary school teacher, and Director of Care, Ballarat Grammar. Scientific Advisory Board review was provided by Emeritus Professor Susan M. Moore.
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