Received: 25.11.2018 Received in revised form: 14.02.2019 Accepted: 14.03.2019 Ünsal, S., & Ağçam, R. (2019). A swot analysis of teacher-parent communication in education: evidence from Turkey. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET), 6(2), 416-430. http://iojet.org/index.php/IOJET/article/view/574 A SWOT ANALYSIS OF TEACHER-PARENT COMMUNICATION IN EDUCATION: EVIDENCE FROM TURKEY Research Article Serkan Ünsal Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University serkan-unsal09@hotmail.com Reyhan Ağçam Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University reyhanagcam@gmail.com Serkan Ünsal received his MA and PhD in educational sciences from KSU and Gaziantep University, respectively. He currently works at Faculty of Education, Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University, Turkey. His research interests include teacher training, educational philosophy and educational sociology. Reyhan Ağçam received her MA and PhD in ELT from Çukurova University, Turkey. She currently works at Faculty of Education, Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University, Turkey. Her research interests include language teaching, second language acquisition, academic writing and corpus linguistics. Copyright by Informascope. Material published and so copyrighted may not be published elsewhere without the written permission of IOJET. http://iojet.org/index.php/IOJET/article/view/574 mailto:serkan-unsal09@hotmail.com mailto:reyhanagcam@gmail.com Ünsal&Ağçam 416 A SWOT ANALYSIS OF TEACHER-PARENT COMMUNICATION IN EDUCATION: EVIDENCE FROM TURKEY Abstract This study was designed to explore strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats driven by teacher-parent communication (TPC, henceforth) from the perspectives of teachers and students based on teacher views. A phenomenological design was adopted in the study of which sampling was constituted by 10 Turkish teachers of different subject areas working at state middle schools. The data were collected via semi-structured interviews with these teachers and examined through content analysis. Based on the preliminary findings, the teachers believe that TPC has certain strengths such as enhancement of students' feeling of worthiness and their sense of belonging to the school, and improvement of their motivation and in-class performance, and facilitation of the learning process. The teachers also reported that it helps students develop a sense of responsibility and improve self-confidence, and reduce student misbehaviors. As for the TPC-driven strengths from teachers' perspective, they stated that it facilitates recognition of students from different angles, makes positive contributions to the learning process, improves teacher status and prestige, and reduces teachers' workload through collaboration with parents. The study discusses strengths, weaknesses, possible threats and opportunities of TPC in detail. Keywords: teacher-parent communication, school success, SWOT analysis 1. Introduction It is widely accepted that a number of formal and informal factors influence students’ success, motivation and school commitment in their educational life. Parents could be considered the most significant among the most prominent informal factors (Erdoğan & Demirkasımoğlu, 2010). As the positive correlation between parental involvement in educational process and students’ academic achievement, and development of more positive stance towards school have been reported in various studies (i.e. Bogenschneider, 1997; Boonk et al., 2018; Castro et al., 2015; Cook, Dearing, & Zachrisson, 2018; Dinç & Keşli- Dollar, 2017; Kikoti, 2018; Gonzalez-DeHass, Willems, & Holbein, 2005; Steiner, & Cassano, 2017; Smith, & Sheridan, 2018), researchers have paid significant attention to the role of families in students’ academic achievement in recent years (Rogers, Theule, Ryan, Adams, & Keating, 2009). In a similar vein, Mahler (2011) contends that quality of communication among teacher-student-parents plays an important role in identifying the students’ level of school commitment. It is also known that the positive communication between teachers and parents contributes to student learning outcomes. The initial studies on parental involvement in education on student success were conducted by Coleman (1996) (cited in Shaw, 2008). According to Coleman (1996), such factors as family structure, family income and parental working hours are more effective on students' academic achievement than school (Shaw, 2008). Teacher-parent collaboration and communication have a crucial part not only in improving students' academic success but helping them learn about their individual rights, responsibilities and assignments, and organising these into behavioural patterns (Aydın, 2005). Furthermore, parental involvement in education influences quality of schools and education (Schneider, 2018). As a matter of fact, teacher-parent cooperation is indicated among the features of effective schools (Balcı, International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2019, 6(2), 416-430 417 2001; Đurišić, & Bunijevac, 2017; Walner, & Hiatt-Michael, 2017). There are two types of approaches towards the roles of parents in educational process. In the first type, parents view schools as institutions, and get involved in the educational process through communication with teachers and participation in school activities (Dearing, Kreider, Simpkins, & Weiss, 2006; Hill & Taylor, 2004). In the second type, parents focus relatively on student behaviours related to their academic development (i.e., assisting them with homework assignments) (Zeith, Reimers, Fehrmann, Pottebaum, & Aubey, 1986; Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2001). Establishment of effective teacher-parent cooperation is essentially significant both for students’ academic achievement and their future life in general. Gürşimşek (2010) defines teacher-parent cooperation, or parental involvement in a broader sense, as a process of communication and collaboration which is established in order to support students’ development and education. Likewise, Şahin and Ünver (2005) postulate that effective teacher-parent collaboration is needed for quality education, and that the parties in concern are required to establish communication-based on mutual trust and sincerity. Various definitions have been proposed for teacher roles for over a century. Today teachers are supposed to fulfill such roles as refereeing, nursing, parenting, advocacy, and social work in addition to facilitating learning (Milne & Plourde, 2006). The role of "communicator" might also be included in the list. In this sense, teachers are required to take initiative and directive roles in communicating with parents in order to establish and sustain it efficiently. Erkan (1996) emphasizes that the teachers take an integrative role during this process. In a recent study, Kraft and Dougherty (2013) concluded that the frequent TPC has positive outcomes such as improving students' school commitment, fulfilling their responsibilities, participating in classroom activities and completing homework assignments. In an earlier study, Biber (2003) investigated socio-economic levels of first-grade students and communication style of their families, and reported that parents of lower socio-economic background tend to communicate with teachers through their children and to visit school on an irregular basis for an unknown period of time. Studying the feasibility of parent-centred collaborative learning in English language teaching, Dinç and Keşli-Dollar (2017) concluded that parents play a significant role in their children’s language development and learning process, and contribute to their academic attainment. The existing literature has shown that TPC is of high significance for students, teachers and parents. Since it needs to be explored through an in-depth analysis, SWOT analysis technique was adopted in the present research. The obtained findings are believed to constitute a prominent source of information for the establishment of more effective TPC. Besides, they are believed to shed light into the regulations to be committed by the decision- makers for realizing TPC at a systematic and theoretical level. Lastly, the study is hoped to provide practical implications for both teachers and parents via its findings on TPC-driven strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats from the perspective of teachers and students. Accordingly, the following research questions were addressed. 1. What are the teachers’ views on TPC-driven strengths and weaknesses from the perspective of students? 2. What are the teachers’ views on TPC-driven opportunities and threats from the perspective of students? 3. What are the teachers’ views on TPC-driven strengths and weaknesses from the perspective of teachers? 4. What are the teachers’ views on TPC-driven opportunities and threats from the perspective of teachers? Ünsal&Ağçam 418 Methodological design of the study is introduced in the following section. 2. Method 2.1. Participants The phenomenological research design was utilized in this study. Phenomenological research aims to fundamental structure and facts behind experiences (Merriam, 2013), and focuses on phenomena of which we are aware but about which we do not have an in-depth knowledge (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2011). TPC was considered as a phenomenon in this research, and teachers’ views on it were examined through SWOT analysis. Sources of information in phenomenological research are the individuals or groups who experience the focused phenomenon and who could speak out on it (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2011, p. 74). Hence, sampling of the study was constituted by 10 teachers working at state middle schools located in Şanlıurfa Province, Turkey. In order to obtain as various data sets as possible and different points of view, the maximum diversity sampling was used; namely, the participants were chosen among teachers of different subject areas, teaching experience, and gender. Likewise, the teachers who were working at schools located in districts of different socio- economic background were included in the study. Demographic information about the participants is given in Table 1. Table 1. Demographic information about teachers Participant Gender Subject Area Teaching Experience (Year) T1 Female Turkish Language 4 T2 Male Counselling 2 T3 Male Mathematics 1 T4 Female English as a Foreign Language 3 T5 Male Physical Education 6 T6 Male Natural Sciences 2 T7 Male Social Sciences 15 T8 Female Music 12 T9 Male Mathematics 4 T10 Female Turkish Language 6 As illustrated in Table 1, 4 female and 6 male teachers participated in the present study. Their professional experience ranges from 1 to 15 years. At the time of data collection, 2 teachers were working at middle schools located in a village while 3 teachers were working at schools of high socio-economic level and 5 at schools of relatively lower socio-economic level which are located in the city centre. 2.2. Data Collection and Analysis Data were gathered from 10 teachers working at state middle schools in Turkey through a semi-structured interview of which questions were developed by the researchers. The elicited data were examined through SWOT Analysis, which is a method used in revealing internal factors, strengths, weaknesses, and external factors of the examined programme, institution, International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2019, 6(2), 416-430 419 or process, and opportunities and threats for the institution or process in concern (Gökmenoğlu & Eret, 2010). SWOT analysis aims to identify the strengths and weaknesses of an organisation and the opportunities and threats in the environment, and hence, strategies are developed which may build on the strengths, eliminate the weaknesses, exploit the opportunities or counter the threats. (Dyson, 2002, p. 632). By identifying opportunities and threats, strengths and weaknesses, organizations can develop strategies based on their strengths, vanish weaknesses, gain maximum profit using opportunities and neutralize threats (Kangas, Kurtila, Kajanus, & Kangas, 2003, cited in Shariatmadaria, Sarfarazb, & Hedayat, 2013, p. 887). The elicited data were coded based on the categorical analysis, and tabulated in order to provide a detailed picture of the findings. The study also offers direct quotes from teachers’ views from which categories and codes were set for the sake of validity (Patton, 1987). Lastly, for the sake of reliability, expert opinion was elicited from two faculty members specialized in testing and assessment while coding the data. The following section presents and discusses findings. 3. Findings The first research question of the study investigated TPC-driven strengths and weaknesses from the students’ perspective. The related findings based on teacher views are provided in Table 2. Table 2. TPC-driven strengths and weaknesses from students’ perspective Strengths f Weaknesses f Feeling of worthiness 1 Increase in misbehaviours due to parents not visiting schools 2 Improving commitment to school 2 Psychological pressure and violence 2 Increase in desired behaviours 2 Getting spoiled by exploiting TPC 1 Increase in academic performance 2 Developing a negative attitude towards teachers 1 Increase in school and peer orientation 2 Decreased motivation & feeling of loneliness 1 Increase in female students’ school attendance 1 Increase in undesired behaviours/ misbehaviours 1 Facilitated learning process 1 As given in Table 2, the teachers stated that TPC has certain strengths for students such as feeling worthy, improved school commitment, increase in academic performance and facilitation of the learning process. The following extracts were drawn from the interviews with the teachers. “Students become more committed to school, and feel worthy when they know that their teachers and parents are in contact with each other. In such a case, s/he becomes happy since they believe that his/ her parents care about him/ her.” (T1) “We usually observe improvement in students’ behaviours when we communicate with their parents. We also observe that they tend to act in a more mature way, to do assigned tasks on time, and to get prepared for the classes.” (T7) Ünsal&Ağçam 420 “When students are aware of their parents and teachers are in contact, they pay more attention to the way they communicate with their friends, and the way they behave towards their teachers and friends. In consequence, they try to behave their teachers and friends in a more respectful and moderate manner.” (T10) “I am working in a village where education does not receive enough attention from parents and female students are not allowed to go to school. Thanks to our home visits and regular phone calls, a few more parents began to attend parental meetings, and send their daughters to the school. Furthermore, we observed positive changes in students’ behaviours, and communicate with them in a more efficient way.” (T3) Teachers reported that TPC might have some weaknesses from the perspective of students such as exposure to psychological pressure and violence from parents, parents’ reluctance to attend parental meetings, increase in student misbehaviour, and causing students to develop a negative attitude towards teachers. The following are the remarks of a female Turkish language teacher with an experience of four years. “I am working with the students whose parents are mostly indifferent to their children’s education and intolerant of criticism. They are mostly illiterate people of low socio-economic level. So, I need to be much more careful while criticising their children. Otherwise, the students may face psychological and/ or physical pressure from their parents.” (T6) “The school I am working at is located in a village where is mostly populated by seasonal workers. They do not generally control their children’s behaviours, reward them for their academic success or provide negative reinforcement against their undesired behaviours. So, the students become indifferent to classes and home assignments. Consequently, they become less eager to attend classes.” (T8) In the absence or deficiency of TPC, students are likely to feel lonely and/ or become less committed to school, and their academic success is likely to decrease. The following are the expressions obtained from teacher interviews. “Students tend to make false friends to display misbehaviours, and acquire bad habits once they are aware of the lack of communication between their parents and teachers.” (T5) “Students are likely to develop negative attitude towards their teachers, to behave disrespectfully towards them, to skip classes, and to show symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder.” (T2) The second research question was posed to find out TPC-driven opportunities and threats from the perspective of students. The related findings are given in Table 3. Table 3. TPC-driven opportunities and threats from students’ perspective Opportunities f Threats f Learning to take responsibility 2 Development of dependent personality disorder 2 Preparation for the future 2 Feeling of uneasiness with himself/ herself 2 Gaining self-awareness 1 Loss of confidence in teachers 2 Increasing self-confidence 1 Decrease in academic performance 1 Eliminating of undesired behaviours 1 Improving feeling of worthiness 1 International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2019, 6(2), 416-430 421 As can be seen in Table 3, there is a relatively balanced distribution between the opportunities and threats entailed by TPC based on teachers’ views. Namely, the teachers believe that it helps students learn to take responsibility, get prepared for the future, gain self- awareness, and improve their self-confidence. In addition, it facilitates the elimination of the undesired student behaviors and improving their feeling of worthiness. It might, on the contrary, trigger development of dependent personality disorder in students, and cause them to feel uneasy in the classroom, to lose confidence in their teachers and to fail to attain desired academic achievement. The related teachers’ views are exemplified in the following quotes: “TPC facilitates classroom management keeping students under control. As they become aware of their responsibilities, they begin to try to fulfill them, to do homework assignments on time, and to attend classes on time.” (T2) “Students’ parents feel proud and happy when the teachers inform them about the success their children have attained. In addition, the students become conscious of their own potential, think about what they can do, and act. In such a case, their self-confidence increases, and they endeavor to prove themselves.” (T8) “I got many benefits from TPC during my career. I work in collaboration with both their parents and school consultancy staff especially when the students display undesired behaviors. In such a case, they begin to act more carefully because they are convinced that they are precious for all of us -including their parents and teachers.” (T4) The teachers' responses pertaining to TPC-driven threats from the perspective of students were categorized into four groups. First, it might cause students' loss of trust in teachers. Second, it might lead them to feel uneasy. Third, it might cause a decline in their academic achievement. Lastly, it might cause them to develop a dependent personality disorder. Some of the related views are presented in the following extracts. “My subject area requires me to communicate with the parents at a regular and frequent basis. A negative TPC is likely to influence the students in a negative way. Namely, they tend to feel inadequate and to feel embarrassed by their family. As a result, their motivation for classes mostly declines”. (T2) “Students whose parents frequently visit school sometimes feel anxious because they think that they are being kept under control. Besides, they might lose confidence in their teachers believing that they share every piece of information about them with their parents. Hence, they are likely to hesitate to express themselves with confidence, and to negotiate with the teachers.” (T9) The third research problem of the study was intended to cover TPC-driven strengths and weaknesses from the teachers’ perspective. The findings elicited from the interviews with the teachers are demonstrated in Table 4. Table 4. TPC-driven strengths and weaknesses from teachers’ perspective Strengths f Weaknesses f Recognition of students from different angles 2 Abusing the goodwill (demanding a higher grade, passing class) 1 Parental contribution to education 3 Students’ developing fallacious belief on teachers’ unfair treatment toward them 1 Ünsal&Ağçam 422 Improving teachers’ status and prestige in parents’ eyes 1 Parental interference with formal education 1 Collaboration between teachers and parents 1 Interruption of education by parents’ untimely wishes to meet 3 Reducing teachers’ workload 1 Communication problems (e.g. misunderstandings) 1 As shown in Table 4, teachers are of the opinion that TPC facilitates recognizing students from different angles, makes positive contributions to learning process, improves teachers’ prestige, and reduces teachers’ workload through collaboration with parents. The following are the extracts on related opinions of the teachers driven from the interviews. “I can create a learning environment that is appropriate for the students’ cognitive and emotional development level when I know them better from different angles. I can also provide them with emotional support based on their psychological state and external circumstances.” (T4) “Thanks to TPC, we teachers have in-depth knowledge about both students' and their parents' mentality, their socio-cultural and economic background, and customs and traditions, which will be useful in our teaching.” (T6) “TPC improves teachers’ prestige in the eye of the parents, which is reflected upon their children. Namely, they display more respectfully towards us when they see we are respected by their parents.” (T1) As for TPC-driven weaknesses from the perspective of teachers, teachers mostly reported that the educational process is interrupted by parents' untimely wish to visit the school. Exploiting teachers, parental interference with formal education, and communication problems could be identified as the other negative aspects of TPC reported by the teachers. A male teacher with 6 years of experience in physical education complains, “Parents sometimes disregard the fact that we are teachers and act in an unacceptable manner. They sometimes attempt to abuse our goodwill and to request us to give unmerited grades to their children”. (T5) “Socio-economic and educational profile of the district where we are working is of great significance for TPC. It is generally hard for us to initiate and sustain healthy communication with uneducated parents with a low socio-economic background. What is more, some of them do not have a good command of Turkish mostly because they speak a different mother tongue, which negatively influences the quality of our communication. They, most of the time, misunderstand us.” (T6) “Some parents overstep and try to interfere with the learning environment –classroom design, classroom management, methods and techniques as well as teaching materials to use in the classroom.” (T7) The last research question of the study aimed to explore TPC-driven opportunities and threats from teachers’ perspectives. The related responses are summarized in Table 5. Table 5. TPC-driven opportunities and threats from teachers’ perspective Opportunities f Threats f Preventing undesired student 2 Parents’ imposing psychological pressure 2 International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2019, 6(2), 416-430 423 behaviours on teachers Effective expression of teachers’ views 1 Threat of parental complaint against teachers 1 Increasing confidence in teachers 1 Parents’ displaying disrespectful behaviours towards teachers 1 Parental support for supplying school needs 1 Teachers' exposure to violence 1 The teachers’ views on TPC-driven opportunities have revealed that it might be beneficial for them in that it helps preventing undesired student behaviours, enables teachers to express themselves more effectively, and increases students’ confidence in teachers. Another TPC- driven opportunity reported by the teachers is that parents might display awareness of the school and classroom needs through TPC, and try to supply them within the bounds of financial possibilities. In this vein, the male school counsellor with 2 years of experience in middle schools states that TPC offers teachers with the opportunities to know their students well, to know about their strengths and weaknesses, and to act sensitively towards them. Another male teacher with 2 years of experience in teaching natural sciences underlines that TPC gives him a chance to eliminate student-driven misunderstandings through face-to-face communication, which he believes eliminates the communication breakdown between the two stakeholders. The most experienced teacher of the sampling group states, “Teachers seize the opportunity to predict possible management problems, and to develop strategies to prevent them using TPC. They also have a chance to deal with the problems and to offer permanent solutions to them.” (T7) As for TPC-driven threats from the perspective of teachers, the participants highlight that teachers might be exposed to psychological pressure, that teachers might be threatened with official complaints, that parents might act disrespectfully towards the teachers, and that teachers might be exposed violence from students or parents. A male teacher with 4 years of experience in mathematics teaching expresses, “Parents may not be eager to accept the (ugly) truths about their children. In such a case, they mostly blame teachers and learning environment for the students’ failure. They also threaten teachers with dialling 147 complaint line affiliated to the Ministry of National Education (MoNE)." (T9) “Parental interviews with negative outcomes may lead parents and/ or students to bully teachers, or to develop negative stance towards them.” (T4) The following section is motivated to outline the afore-mentioned findings elicited from teacher interviews, and to offer practical implications for teachers, school administrators, prospective teachers, parents as well as students. 3. Discussion The findings of the study have demonstrated that TPC offers certain strengths from the students’ perspective such as enhancing feeling of worthiness, improving school commitment, increasing students’ academic performance, and facilitating the learning process. In other words, TPC has several positive influences on the students’ academic and social development. This particular finding overlaps with Hill and Taylor (2004) who reported that students’ academic success is increased by the positive relationship between teachers and parents, and Garbacz et al. (2015) who concluded that congruent parent-teacher communication improves children's social skills. It is also in line with Bicer et al. (2013) who Ünsal&Ağçam 424 found that TPC contributes to learning mathematics and Biber (2003) who concluded that TPC is the most significant factor that influences students’ success and positive behaviours. That is, development of desired student behaviours, and achievement in education are likely to occur thanks to an efficient collaboration between parents and school of which initiation and sustainability is overwhelmingly influenced by TPC. In order to derive optimal benefit from this communication, both teachers and parents are supposed to fulfill a set of responsibilities. It requires effort and time from the perspective of teachers, which might reduce teachers' motivation for building communication with parents. Communication tools and social networks could be utilized in order to eliminate this problem and to improve the communication between teachers and parents (Strayhorn, 2010; Bicer et al., 2013; Cumbee, 2017; Tłuściak-Deliowska, 2018). Concerning TPC-driven weaknesses from students’ perspectives, teachers mentioned exposure to parental violence and psychological pressure, siding against teachers, and increase in undesired student behaviours. In the light of this finding, it could be suggested for teachers to pay serious attention to their way of communication, and to predict how they might be interpreted by the parents for the purpose of attaining intended outcomes from TPC. They could also be recommended to adopt a meticulous way of communication with the parents especially whose children display behavioural problems or who has low academic achievement. It should be reminded that the use of accusatory, judicial and complaining expressions are likely to trigger parental violence on students, and to increase parental indifference to the education of students who display relatively lower academic performance than their peers (Erdoğan & Demrikanoğlu, 2010). This recommendation is in perfect agreement with Demirbulak (2000) who noted that TPC is limited to convey complaints about students to their parents. Yapıcı and Yapıcı (2003), on the other hand, stress that parental violence on students has to do more with parents’ unconsciousness about how to handle their children’s undesired behaviours than TPC. The teachers mostly remarked that parents begin to interfere with the formal educational process as a TPC-driven weakness from the perspective of teachers. This finding confirms Erdoğan and Demirkasımoğlu (2010) who found that teachers and school administrators feel uncomfortable with the parents’ interference in school and educational affairs/ concerns. TPC and teacher-parent interaction should be initiated and sustained very carefully in order to improve the quality of education and to improve students’ academic achievement. Accordingly, a consensus is strongly needed among the relevant stakeholders on how and to what extent parents are involved in educational process. In order to attain such consensus and to build consciousness in parents, students’ parents should be informed through contact meetings on their rights and liabilities in TPC, and how to use these rights (Erdoğan and Demirkasımoğlu, 2010). Another finding elicited from the interviews concerning TPC-driven weaknesses from the perspective of teachers is that educational process is interrupted by parents’ untimely demand for interview with teachers. To overcome this weakness, it is suggested that TPC should be held at regular basis and systematically. Alternatively, organization of parental meetings and regular social activities is considered beneficial in this sense (Gökçe, 2000). The finding in concern coincides with Açıkalın (1989) who reported that parents expect teachers and school administrators to communicate with them more frequently. The present findings have also shown that especially parents of low socio-economic level are unwilling to communicate with the teachers, which extensively overlaps with Balkar (2009). Most of the researchers and educators attribute this to parental indifference to the students’ education. According to Finders and Lewis (1994), however, educators should try to identify the factors that prevent parents from getting involved in their children’s education. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET) 2019, 6(2), 416-430 425 It is considered beneficial to improve communication between school staff and parents through school administrators and teachers’ showing sympathy towards parents with the aim of identifying and eliminating such factors (Balkar, 2009). The participant teachers reported that TPC offers them with the opportunity to prevent students’ undesired behaviours, which is in parallel with Aslanargun (2007) who advocates that steps to take for strengthening TPC are likely to improve academic achievement of the students, and to prevent discipline problems in schools, and Cheng and Chen (2018) who concluded that the mediating role of parents contributes to effective classroom management. 4. Conclusion The current research was carried out with a specific focus on TPC to reveal its strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities from the perspective of teachers and students. The research findings have revealed that TPC positively affects students’ academic, social and emotional development (strength from the students’ perspective), and helps teachers get to know their students better and receive parental support for their teaching (strengths from the teachers’ perspective). Concerning the weaknesses, it was shown that it may result in exposure to parental violence and psychological pressure (weakness from the students’ perspective), and undesired parental interference in formal educational processes and interruption of education by parents’ untimely wishes to meet (weaknesses from the teachers’ perspective). The study also indicated that TPC could offer such opportunities as encouraging students to take responsibilities (opportunity from the students’ perspective) and prevention of undesired student behaviours (opportunity from the teachers’ perspective). Lastly, it was demonstrated that TPC might entail undesired consequences such as development of dependent personality disorder (threat from the students’ perspective), and parental psychological pressure on teachers (threat from the teachers’ perspective). Overall, it could be concluded that TPC is likely to result in desired outcomes in education once it is employed by exploiting the strengths and opportunities it offers and developing strategies to handle its weaknesses and the threats it might entail. 4.1. Practical Implications In the light of the aforementioned findings, the following practical implications have been suggested for the benefit of all stakeholders of education particularly teachers, school administrators, and prospective teachers. 1. Legislative regulations should be made in order to realize TPC in a systematic and planned way. 2. Teachers might be recommended to take the phenomenon of individual differences in education into account in their classroom and to keep in mind that there might also be individual differences in communication. Hence, they are suggested to use a common and comprehensible language that facilitates sustaining communication especially with parents whose children display low academic performance. 3. Teachers should have detailed information about their students before meeting their parents, and inform them about their children’ personal and academic development. 4. Technology might be effectively utilized in TPC in order to save time and energy for both parties. The use of modern communication tools might be encouraged (e.g. phone, email, school bulletin, social media, and school blog). 5. Physical facilities might be offered at school for effective TPC (e.g. allocation of a parental meeting room and arrangement of parental meeting hours on a particular day when Ünsal&Ağçam 426 teachers are not assigned with courses), and parental meetings should be held on a regular basis. 6. Parents should be convinced that teachers are educational experts, and that their practical applications and recommendations are only intended to increase students’ academic achievement, and social, moral and emotional development. 7. Schools are the institutions that are designed to meet educational needs of the societies; however, they need to work in an effective collaboration with parents in developing desired habits in students. 8. Teachers could be suggested to conduct home visits especially for the students who are not allowed to go to school, and to inform their parents about the significance of education and school attendance for their children. 9. Educational events like seminars and conferences might be organized in order to raise parental consciousness of education and the significance of their involvement in their children’s education, and to increase their confidence in schools. 10. In-service training activities could be organized especially in order to improve communication skills of primary school teachers who are typically the first to contact with parents in the countries where pre-school education is not compulsory. 4.2. Limitations of the Study The present study is limited in methodological design and sampling. It required the qualitative analysis of views elicited from 10 teachers of different subject areas who were working at state middle schools in Turkey. So, it might be furthered to analyze strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats driven by TPC based on views obtained from a larger sampling of teachers. 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