parents and principals as partners in creating a culture of learning

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Both partners experience and share successes and failures; they should not
begrudge each other for their successes or reproach each other for failures.
Responsibilities and accountability are borne jointly and individually.
Specialisation is built into the relationship; each partner is responsible for
hislher own speciality. This means that the parents and the principal have
to respect each other's sovereign areas of competence. The principles of
equal worth and mutual respect and esteem are therefore among the basic
characteristics of the relationship.
Partnership between the parents and the principal presupposes planning,
careful consideration and an equal say in discussions.
The parents and the principal must trust each other. To create trust, facets
such as openness, honesty and interest in each other's concerns must be
built into the partnership.
Harmony in parent-principal partnership is a prerequisite, because when the
parents and the principal achieve sympathetic appreciation and active
cooperation, there is continuity in the educative teaching of the child, who
then experiences security.
Both the parents and principals have a fundamental task in this relationship. The
partnership can only be harmonious and effective if there is effective
communication between the parmers.
The family is unique in its involvement in formal education because it is the
parents that carry the final responsibility for the education and schooling of the
child. Many of the barriers to effective parent involvement can be eliminated if