Parent and Teacher Communication: A Case Study in Vietnam - Innovative Management in Information and Production - page 293

Tabl e 3 Communication channels used frequently by first grade teachers and
upper grade teachers

Groups
(first grade) (second-fifth grades)

n = 241 n = 553

Communication subjects Mean SD Mean SD t

Phone call report 2.40 0.62 2.24 0.61 2.68 **

Scheduled notification 3.16 0.77 2.78 0.79 4.85 ***

Unscheduled notification 2.46 0.89 2.23 0.80 2.41 *

* p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01 ; *** p < 0.001

Tabl e 4 Family-school communicated subjects: grade level differences according to the parents'
perspective

Groups
(first grade) (second-fifth grades)

n = 241 n = 553

Communication subjects Mean SD Mean SD t

Student learning activities 3.12 0.65 3.00 0.63 2.86 **

Student behavior at school 2.86 0.77 2.62 0.72 3.67 ***

Student relationship 2.71 0.84 2.37 0.79 4.70 ***

Student psychophysiological problems 2.68 0.84 2.36 0.86 4.22 ***

Parent financial contributions 2.60 0.72 2.48 0.65 2.02 *

* p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01 ; *** p < 0.001

seem to use the scheduled and unscheduled notifications more often than teachers
in the upper grades. Besides the phone call reports, teachers of the first grade often
use printed materials hat are sent home to parents.
Significant differences occurred not only in teachers' modes of communica-tions,
but also in exchanged subjects with parents. The frequency of exchanged subjects
was analyzed using the independent samples t test between two groups of the parents
of first grade and upper grade students. Table 4 showsthemeansandthe t -value for
this analysis.
In comparison with the parents of upper grade students, the finding reveals
that teachers and parents of first grade students are significantly interested in
exchanged subjects re-levant to Student learning activities, Student behavior at
school, Student relationship, Students psychophysiological problems' and Parent
financial contributions.

4 Discussion and Conclusion

Besides the traditional report card—the usual mode of communication between
parents and teachers—the Vietnamese parents preferred the new modes, which were