The relationship between mothers & teachers
​In the mother-teacher-student relationship trust is a fundamental element, as well as respect, in making and keeping a family-school relationship among them. Trust and respect correlates with how well the student performs at school. Also, teachers and mothers working together increase the student’s performance. Many believe that mothers and teachers should not work together because the best way is to allow each entity to use their efforts separately to educate the student. But this can lead to miscommunication, and no cooperation, coordination or collaboration among the two. The result is parents not trusting the teacher's teaching and interfering with the teacher’s authority.
One study suggests that a child’s gender and race or ethnicity affects their relationship with the teacher as well as their parents’ relationship with the teacher. Some say that if the student and the teacher share the same racial background, then the student will have a stronger, more supportive relationship with the teacher. If the student does not have a strong, supportive relationship with their teacher, then it may be a result of the child’s parent-teacher relationship. According to Lasky and Ogbu, most teachers in the United States are white and middle class, and may have several misunderstandings with minority parents of a low socio-economic status (Hughes and Kwok). Therefore, if the parents and teachers are not communicating effectively, then the teacher's misunderstandings of education practices and behavioral treatment will adversely affect the child’s achievement in school.
Trust, Gender & Race
Parent Involvement
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Strained Communication
​Parents want to interfere with teachers' authority more than ever. Parents want to see more curved grades from teachers, so they are looking out for their child. There is also strain on the relationship because of content distortion by students’ reports to parents. Then the first interaction with a teacher is tainted by comments made by students (Blase, 1897). The first interaction between teacher and mother is the most important because there are not many different opportunities for interactions. Often, teachers only meet parents in crisis or when they come to a conference or meeting. Teachers often have good relationships with parents who will volunteer in their class or at school related events. It is rare for teachers and mothers to form relationships; they usually only keep up communication which is not really a relationship. When they cannot interact regularly, there is little time to develop trust and rapport. There is little to no opportunity for relationships to develop except with the mothers who will volunteer in class or with PTA.​
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Teachers use tactical power to protect themselves from the wills of parents and teachers have to keep great records so that the parents cannot argue about the grades. Now, teachers are expected to have the burden of proving students’ short comings. Teachers generally try to tread lightly when talking about the failure of a student. Student discipline can be a contention point because there are differences in household rules and the world of school. When a teacher feels like the parent is not doing the right things for their child, they become frustrated with them. Mothers and teachers that do not see eye to eye about the discipline of the child usually develop negative communication, which consist of criticism or helplessness on the teacher's part (Lasky,2000).
It is always good for parents to be involved in their child’s school and education, but their primary reason for doing so has a huge impact on the school overall. In a study of two schools-one an affluent school in a lavish neighborhood and the other, an impoverished school on the brink of closing down-shows how much parents involvement affects the school. Primarily middle class, parents of children at the affluent school wanted mostly for their child to succeed and for more middle class children to attend the school. They only cared about their child and the economic status of the school. Needless to say, this type of individualistic approach only helped that one child and not the school as a whole. However, parents of the children at the impoverished school had a more collective approach wanting all children in the school to achieve. Over the course of 30 years, these parents were able to bring in more educated teachers, better equipment and ultimately save the school from closing.