At its core, a partnership school combines the approaches of each part of the education and learning process, including parents, school, and community. This strategy allows for children to be integrated into society seamlessly by learning not only academic knowledge but leadership and the values of the community. In this case, Johns Hopkins University helps guide schools, districts, and states to apply the best practices to these schools based on extensive research. It offers six types of involvement and approaches to action in a team to contribute to the development of children. However, despite the clear benefits, some aspects of this program are unclear.
One of the main questions in the program is regarding mental health. Over the years, mental health has become a serious issue. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbates the issue, with many countries across the globe recognizing the mental health epidemic and deeming it a public health crisis. Therefore, supporting students, families, and educators regarding mental health is increasingly important. Considering their developing brain and sensitive psyche, children are at risk of mental health illnesses. On the other hand, teachers and parents continue to struggle to adapt to the changing teaching and learning modes. Thus, many programs of school-hospital collaboration have been established (Walter et al., 2019). In this atmosphere, it is not clear how the program addresses these issues, as the presentation fails to mention them.
The program does not mention how with increased communication, the relationship between teachers and parents is meant to be improved. The second question is how the program intends to resolve the conflict situation between parents and educators. The first stages of improved communication can sometimes lead to increased conflict and negative outcomes. First, the parents may also be disturbed by the increased involvement and question the teaching techniques of the educators (Kong, 2018). On the other hand, the teachers will have an increased burden of communicating with parents and tailoring their approach to teaching. This leads to the third question about the initially increased workload of the teachers. As mentioned before, the pandemic made the teachers’ work even more complicated (Pressley, 2021). Considering this change, the responsibilities of the teachers may skyrocket at the first stages of implementation, leading to burnout and a decrease in the quality of their performance.
References
Kong, S. C. (2018). Parents’ perceptions of e-learning in school education: Implications for the partnership between schools and parents.Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 27(1), 15-31. Web.
Pressley, T. (2021). Factors contributing to teacher burnout during COVID-19.Educational Researcher, 50(5), 325-327. Web.
Walter, H. J., Kaye, A. J., Dennery, K. M., & DeMaso, D. R. (2019). Three‐year outcomes of a school‐hospital partnership providing multitiered mental health services in urban schools.Journal of school health, 89(8), 643-652. Web.