Professionalism in parent-teacher conversations: Aspects, determinants, and consequences. A competence-oriented discussion

Considering the initial questions of “Who is afraid of talking to teachers?”, “Why are teachers afraid of talking to parents?”, and “What is to be done to reduce this problem?” [the authors] conclude that each article in this issue makes an important contribution toward answering these questions. The integration of the underlying competence models of counseling and communication in parent-teacher conversations, and especially of the empirical results given in this issue in a model of determinants and consequences of teachers’ professional competence, has shown the necessity to bring the different approaches together. In a further step, the different aspects of competence can be combined with determinants and consequences of competence. (DIPF/Orig.)