THE ROLE OF TEACHERS IN IMPLEMENTING THE SCHOOL-FAMILY PARTNERSHIP

The teacher needs to know the conditions in which his pupil has been grown and lives, the strengths and things that disturb him, his desires or needs. All of this irreplaceable information and resource for successful teaching can only be provided through co-operation and interaction with parents and pupils who can also be a powerful supporter of classroom work through the assistance they can provide in performing their duties at home, or even other home activities. Parents with their knowledge and experience can be of added value to the school. Partnership tends to weaken over the years if the school and teachers do not work to develop and implement appropriate partnership practices for each classroom level (Epstein and others, 2002). Beyond evaluation and rhetoric in the reality of schools, this cooperation does not always happen, which requires the readiness of both parties, but school and school staff are those who have the responsibility, legal obligation and expertise needed to enable the launch, promotion and support this partnership for the benefit of the quality and sustainable formation of pupils. Not rarely, this co-operation faces difficulties, which this paper attempts to highlight based on the teachers' viewpoint. For the realization of this study, 300 teachers of elementary education schools in Elbasan were surveyed. Study findings showed that teachers value the importance and usefulness of school-to-family partnerships and especially parent-teacher communication, but on the other hand it is noted that in everyday school reality relationships are often far from being collaborative.