International Kindergarten Teachers’ Challenges Working with Parents in Thailand

Abstract

Aim/Purpose: Aside from their dedication to working with kindergarten children the entire day, kindergarten teachers encounter additional challenges working with parents. The purpose of this study was to investigate the parental challenges that kindergarten teachers in Thailand encounter and their impact. It also sought to find out how students and parents have changed over the years, the interactions that teachers have with parents, and tips on dealing with parental challenges.

Introduction/Background: Kindergarten is fundamental to a child’s overall development. Parents work closely with kindergarten teachers to successfully implement their roles and strengthen their child-rearing competencies. Teachers play an important role in providing advice and support by helping parents to understand not only child-raising and development, but also their important role as parents. As kindergarten teachers and parents work together, teachers experience some challenges in this collaboration. 

Methodology: A qualitative narrative research methodology was selected for this study. A convenience sampling method was used, and invitations were sent to 11 kindergarten teachers at International (English-medium) schools in Thailand through the researcher’s professional and personal networks. Eight participants participated through in-depth structured open-ended interviews lasting for approximately 45 minutes. The interview protocol included five main structured questions covering: (1) Differences in kindergarten students and parents over the years; (2) Level of comfort in interacting with parents; (3) Challenges encountered when dealing with parents; (4) Impacts of parental challenges on teachers; and (5) Tips for dealing with parents.

Findings: Excel spreadsheets were used to compile and analyze the interview data, with clusters of similar codes being combined into categories as themes and sub-themes. Today’s kindergarteners are said to be less sociable and independent, preferring blogs and demonstrating less interest in reading books. Extensive exposure to today’s technology has resulted in shorter attention spans and lower fine motor skills. However, it has also resulted in more knowledgeable students, which has led to a need to revise curricula. Parents were said to be more demanding and straightforward, and some lack parenting skills. Numerous challenges included parental attitudes, language barriers, and dealing with difficult parents. These “Challenging Parents” were categorized as:  Demanding and Micromanaging Parents, Uncooperative Parents, Unconcerned Parents, Comparing Parents, Parents who Idolize Their Children, and Denying Parents. The mental and emotional impacts of parental challenges were severe, causing teachers to be stressed out, overwhelmed, drained, burned-out, frightened, questioning their teaching abilities, or wanting to quit, with the situation much more challenging for newer teachers. The participants also shared tips on how to handle kindergarten parents, emphasizing proper use of communication techniques, genuine concern for children’s well-being, and seeking assistance from peers and superiors.

Contribution/Impact on Society: This study provided a voice for a small group of kindergarten teachers to express the emotional and psychological challenges that they face when interacting with parents. Their struggles continue, but the teachers also continue in their roles as educators. Their stories and insights are invaluable to kindergarten educators, principals, school administrators, and other readers who vicariously enter their classrooms to relive what they went through and admire their resilience. The findings offer valuable insights for school leaders, policymakers, and teacher-training institutions in strengthening support systems that promote teachers’ well-being and effective parent–teacher collaboration. The literature on teacher-parent dynamics in early childhood education is scant, and the results of this study help to fill this research gap.  

Recommendations: This study provides a wealth of useful information regarding today’s kindergarten students for their teachers, principals, school leaders, and academicians. It is helpful as they plan and revise curricula not only for this age group, but for other educational levels as well. The kindergarten teachers were open and insightful regarding their many challenges and how those challenges have greatly impacted them mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. It is recommended that school leaders and principals carefully consider ways of reducing these parental challenges so that their impact on teachers will also be reduced accordingly.

Research Limitation: The main limitation of this study was the small number of participants (eight). Although ten teachers initially agreed to participate, two of them eventually withdrew from the study.  

Future Research: Recommendations for further study include extending the study to investigate the challenges faced by elementary, middle school, and high school teachers. Since parents are less involved in children’s middle and high school studies, this topic could be expanded to include general challenges as well.