Parents’ and teachers’ well-functioning communication supports their partnership and also benefits pupils’ well-being. Today, communication largely takes place using electronic tools. In the current study, Finnish parents’ (N = 1123) and teachers’ (N = 118) opinions on digital communication in urban and rural areas were studied by applying a new 14-item Digital Communication Scale (DCS) created for the purpose. The three-factor structured DCS was used to elucidate parents’ and teachers’ views on their partnership, feedback, and clarity of messaging. In contrast to some negative headlines and myths, the main finding of our study was overall satisfaction with digital communication, which was seen as supporting the parent-teacher partnership and providing valuable information on pupils’ development and their everyday issues. In particular, rural parents seemed satisfied with digital communication as a partnership-building tool. However, the view of parents was that they received less encouraging feedback about their children than teachers believed they had given. On the other hand, teachers experienced more ambiguity in digital communication than parents. This was more salient among urban teachers than among rural teachers. To summarize, rural parents and rural teachers saw digital communication as serving their collaboration better than did their urban peers. The results of the current study can be used for further development of parent-teacher communication in digital environments.

中文翻译：

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芬兰家长和教师对数字通信的看法

父母和老师良好的沟通不仅支持他们的伙伴关系，也有利于学生的幸福。如今，通信主要通过电子工具进行。在本研究中，通过应用为此目的创建的新的14项数字通信量表（DCS），研究了芬兰父母（N = 1123）和教师（N = 118）对城乡地区的数字通信的看法。三要素结构化DCS用于阐明父母和老师对他们的伙伴关系，反馈和信息传递清晰性的观点。与一些负面的标题和神话相反，我们的研究的主要发现是对数字交流的总体满意度，这被视为支持父母与老师之间的伙伴关系，并为学生的发展及其日常问题提供了有价值的信息。特别是，农村父母似乎对数字通信作为建立伙伴关系的工具感到满意。但是，父母的看法是，他们得到的关于孩子的令人鼓舞的反馈少于老师认为的反馈。另一方面，与父母相比，教师在数字通信中经历了更多的歧义。在城市教师中，这比在农村教师中更为突出。总之，农村父母和农村教师认为数字通信比城市同行更好地为他们的协作提供了服务。本研究的结果可用于进一步发展数字环境下的家长教师交流。父母的观点是，与老师认为的相比，他们得到的关于孩子的令人鼓舞的反馈要少。另一方面，与父母相比，教师在数字通信中经历了更多的歧义。在城市教师中，这比在农村教师中更为突出。总之，农村父母和农村教师认为数字通信比城市同行更好地为他们的协作提供了服务。本研究的结果可用于进一步发展数字环境下的家长教师交流。父母的观点是，与老师认为的相比，他们得到的关于孩子的令人鼓舞的反馈要少。另一方面，与父母相比，教师在数字通信中经历了更多的歧义。在城市教师中，这比在农村教师中更为突出。总之，农村父母和农村教师认为数字通信比城市同行更好地为他们的协作提供了服务。本研究的结果可用于进一步发展数字环境下的家长教师交流。农村父母和农村教师认为数字通信比城市同行更好地为他们的协作提供了服务。本研究的结果可用于进一步发展数字环境下的家长教师交流。农村父母和农村教师认为数字通信比城市同行更好地为他们的协作提供了服务。本研究的结果可用于进一步发展数字环境下的家长教师交流。